Charlotte de La Mothe-Houdancourt

Charlotte de La Mothe-Houdancourt

Charlotte-Eléonore Magdeleine de la Mothe-Houdancourt (* 1654 ; † December 13, 1744 in the Château de Glatigny, Versailles ) was the governess of the royal children of France, governess des enfants royaux , especially of the young Louis XV. Like her mother, she held this position. She was known as Madame de Ventadour .

Life

childhood

Charlotte-Eléonore Magdeleine de la Mothe-Houdancourt was born the youngest of three daughters of Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt , Duke of Cardona and Marshal of France (1657), and his wife Louise de Prie, Marquise of Toucy. Her sisters were:

• Françoise Angélique de La Mothe Houdancourt, dame de Fayel, (* 1650 - † April 5, 1711), married Louis Marie Victor, duc d'Aumont, on November 28, 1669
• Marie Isabelle Angélique de la Mothe Houdancourt, (* 1654; † 1726), married to the Duke de La Ferté Senneterre

marriage

On March 14, 1671, the wedding of the later Madame de Ventadour and Louis-Charles de Lévis, Duke of Ventadour, Baron of Rochemaure and Governor of the Limousin, (* 1647 - 18 September 1717), took place in Paris . They had a daughter:

• Anne Geneviève de Lévis (* February 1673; † March 20, 1727), was married twice extremely favorably and has held the title Her or Your Highness since their first marriage . Her spouses were:

1. Louis-Charles de La Tour d'Auvergne, Prince de Turenne (married February 16, 1691)
2. Hercule Mériadec de Rohan, (married on February 15, 1694), from this marriage had 5 children

Royal governess

Madame de Ventadour took office as governess des enfants royaux in 1704. Her first protégé was the little Duke de Bretagne.

When measles broke out in 1712, Ludwig of Burgundy and his wife Maria Adelaide of Savoy died of it . Thus, the future Louis XV, who, however, carried the title of Duke of Anjou from birth until 1715, was an orphan. When the young prince was also threatened with measles, Madame de Ventadour forbade the doctors from entering the young duke. By bloodletting they would probably have weakened the young prince to the point of death. Then she nursed him back to health with the help of some chambermaids. During his life Louis XV. have refused against bloodletting. Louis XV called her maman Ventadour or just maman

Madame de Ventadour became a good surrogate mother to the young Louis, and their relationship was characterized by affection until her death. She held her position until 1717, because from the age of 7 a royal prince and especially the young king got a male tutor.

More years and death

Her husband died the same year she left the young king. She was then appointed lady-in-waiting to Liselotte von der Pfalz .

In 1727 she was again appointed royal governess. Now she was the governess of the children of her former protégé. This appointment proves how much she was in the king's favor. After all, she was already 73 years old when she was appointed for the second time, so she was already an old woman at the time. She held the post of royal governess for almost eleven years, because from 1738 the royal princesses, who were over 6 years old, were brought up in the Fontevrault Abbey in order to decimate the high costs of their court. This marked the beginning of Madame de Ventadour's retirement.

Madame de Ventadour died at the age of 89 on December 15, 1744 in the Château de Glatigny in Versailles.

swell

1. Madame de Sévigné, Correspondance. Nouvelle édition […] by R. Duchêne (Paris 1972–1978)
2. Dirk Van der Cruysse: Being a Madame is a great craft. Liselotte von der Pfalz - A German princess at the court of the Sun King. From the French by Inge Leipold. 7th edition. Piper, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-492-22141-6 .
3. Heinz Herz (Ed.): Letters from Duchess Elisabeth Charlotte von Orléans to her siblings. Leipzig 1972.