Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse

Louis Alexandre, comte de Toulouse; Painting by Hyacinthe Rigaud

Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse (born June 6, 1678 in Versailles , † December 1, 1737 in Rambouillet ), Duke of Damville , Penthièvre , Châteauvillain and Rambouillet, was a natural, legitimate son of Louis XIV with Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, marquise de Montespan . He was peer of France and held the offices of a great hunter master and admiral of France .

Life

Louis-Alexandre was legitimized in 1681 and in 1683 at the age of five Admiral of France and Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit . At the age of twelve he accompanied his father on his campaign to the Netherlands , where he was wounded during the siege of Namur .

He distinguished himself as a squadron leader in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702 and inflicted heavy losses on the British Royal Navy under Admiral Rooke on August 24, 1704 in the Battle of Vélez-Málaga .

In 1714 the king raised him, like his older brother Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine , for himself and his descendants - with all rights, including those of successor - to prince of the blood . In view of the fact that at this time all male descendants of Louis XIV. In the royal line except for the later Louis XV. had died or, as the Spanish line had to renounce their claims to the French throne, at that time Louis-Alexandre was very close to the succession, at least according to his father's wishes. However, the will of the king on this matter was immediately annulled by the other princes of the blood, above all the regent Philippe d'Orléans , with the help of parliament. As a result, he and his brother fell out of the line of succession.

During the Régence , the Count of Toulouse was a member of the Regency Council from 1715 to 1723 and was in high favor at court - because of his amiable manner, as Saint-Simon reports. He stayed away from the intrigues of his sister-in-law Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon , Duchess of Maine. Therefore, unlike his brother, the Duke of Maine , the throne court that the regent held on August 26, 1718, did not deprive him of his rank as Prince of the Blood.

He died on December 1, 1737 at Rambouillet Castle .

The Count of Toulouse was married to Marie-Victoire-Sophie de Noailles , Marquise de Gondrin , from 1723 . His son Louis Jean Marie , Duke of Penthièvre , followed him in his offices and as Grand Admiral . His granddaughter Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre married Louis-Philippe II. De Bourbon , later Duke of Orléans , and became the mother of the Citizen King Louis-Philippe I.

literature

• Jean Duma: Les Bourbon-Penthièvre (1678-1793). Une nébuleuse aristocratique au XVIIIe siècle . Ed. Publications de la Sorbonne, Paris 1995, ISBN 2-85944-272-3 .

Web links

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