Marie Clothilde of France

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Marie Clothilde of France
Karl and his younger sister Clothilde are milking a goat

Marie Clothilde of France (Marie Adélaïde Clotilde Xavière; born September 23, 1759 in Versailles , † March 7, 1802 in Naples ) was a French princess and from October 16, 1796 to March 7, 1802 Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont .

parents

Marie Adélaïde Clotilde Xavière , briefly referred to as Marie Clotilde (or just Clotilde), was a daughter of the Dauphin Ludwig Ferdinand of Bourbon and his second wife Maria Josepha of Saxony , daughter of King August III. from Poland . Marie Clotilde was thus the granddaughter of King Louis XV through her father .

siblings

Marie Clotilde was among other things the sister of three French kings and Madame Elisabeth :

youth

Marie Clotilde lost her parents as a young girl, as her father died in 1765 and her mother in 1767. She was raised by the Comtesse de Marsan together with her younger sister Elisabeth . Very early on she showed a penchant for religiosity. Because of her enormous obesity, she was nicknamed Gros Madame , which was first given to her by a Swiss Guardsman.

Marriage and early years of marriage

Marie Clotilde was inclined to pursue a spiritual career. But her brother Louis XVI, who came to power in 1774. For political reasons she married on August 27, 1775 at Versailles by procuration with the Sardinian Crown Prince Karl Emanuel IV. , the eldest son of King Viktor Amadeus III. of Sardinia-Piedmont and Duke of Savoy and his wife Maria Antonia . Marie Clotilde then set off for Turin , met her husband on the way in Pont-de-Beauvoisin and finally her father-in-law and the rest of the Sardinian court in Chambéry , where the actual wedding ceremony took place. The marriage remained childless, but the couple were very fond of each other. Marie Clotilde proved to be an exemplary wife, who always gave her husband self-sacrificing support.

As in her homeland - to which she was never to return - Marie Clotilde lived according to strict religious rules in Turin. She tried to avoid the pleasures customary at court, was reluctant to wear expensive clothes and jewelry appropriate to her rank, practiced benevolent and pious works and was the patroness of charitable associations. She also showed her devotion to the Pope . She suffered from the blows of fate that befell her siblings, namely the execution of Louis XVI after the outbreak of the French Revolution . and Madame Elisabeth (1793/94), whom she loved very much. Since then she has only wore simple robes. Her youngest brother, Karl (X.), had emigrated in 1789 and initially stayed in Turin under the protection of her father-in-law, the Sardinian king. In 1791 Marie Clotilde received a visit from her aunts Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon and Marie Louise Thérèse Victoire, who had also fled .

Accession to the throne, exile and death

After the death of King Viktor Amadeus III. (October 16, 1796) Marie Clotilde became Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont, since her husband now ascended the throne as Charles Emanuel IV. Even in her new position she operated charitable welfare; it also promoted the churches and the arts.

On December 6, 1798, the French declared war on Charles Emanuel IV. He had to leave Turin on December 9th and lost the part of his empire located on the Italian mainland to the Grande Nation . He traveled with his wife through Tuscany and crossed with her on February 24, 1799 from Livorno to Sardinia. He spent six months there with his wife. Then, on the news of victories by the Russians and Austrians, the couple returned to continental Italy in the hope of re-entering their empire. However, these expectations were not fulfilled. Instead, the Sardinian royal couple had to change their whereabouts several times due to the military engagement of the French. Marie Clotilde stayed with her husband in Florence , then in Rome and finally in Naples. She adhered to her religious behavior, gave self-sacrificing support to her ailing husband, attended churches and helped the needy and sick. She was on a strict diet and took slimming pills to lose her excess weight.

Marie Clotilde died in Naples in 1802 at the age of 43 and was buried there in the church of Santa Caterina a Chiaia . Her death hurt her husband so much that he on his royal title in favor of his younger brother I. Victor Emmanuel waived.

Pope Pius VII , who had known Marie Clotilde personally, initiated her beatification process on April 10, 1808 , during which she was declared Venerable Servant of God . Postulator of the case was the later Cardinal Luigi Bottiglia Savoulx (1752-1836), who wrote a biography about her as early as 1816.

Issue of correspondence

The Comte de Reise published numerous letters from Marie Clotilde:

  • Lettres inédites de Marie-Antoinette et de Marie-Clotilde de France , Paris 1876.

literature

  • Marie-Clotilde de France . In: Nouvelle biography générale . Vol. 33, Col. 722f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ La Civiltà cattolica , 1864, p. 594 of the year, (Digitalscan)
predecessor Office Successor
Maria Antonia of Spain Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont
1796–1802 		Maria Theresa of Austria-Este
personal data
SURNAME Marie Clothilde of France
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French princess, Queen of Sardinia-Piedmont by marriage
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1759
PLACE OF BIRTH Versailles
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1802
Place of death Naples