Marie Louise d'Orléans
Marie Louise d'Orléans ( Spanish María Luisa de Orléans ; born March 27, 1662 in the Palais Royal in Paris , † February 12, 1689 in Madrid ) was a member of the French royal family from the House of Bourbon-Orléans . As the first wife of the last Spanish king of the Habsburg dynasty , Charles II , she was Queen of Spain from 1679 to 1689.
Parentage and childhood
Marie Louise was the eldest daughter of Duke Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans , the younger brother of the French King Louis XIV , and his first wife Henrietta Anne , a daughter of the English King Charles I. She was born to Cardinal de Retz and the Princess Harcourt held about the baptism.
The charming and graceful Marie Louise was the favorite child of her father and had a happy childhood mostly in the Palais Royal and a few kilometers west of Paris located Castle Saint-Cloud . She spent a lot of time with her two grandmothers Anna of Austria and Henrietta Maria of France . Anna of Austria absolutely loved her granddaughter Marie Louise and after her death (1666) left her a considerable part of her fortune. Henrietta Maria of France was the widow of King Charles I of England, who was executed in 1649, and often lived in Colombes , where Marie Louise met her little cousin Anne , born in 1665 , who would later become Queen of Great Britain.
After Marie Louise's mother, Henrietta Anne, gave birth to another daughter in 1669, who later became Queen Anne Marie of Sardinia , she died unexpectedly in 1670 at the age of only 26. It was suspected that she had been poisoned. In 1671 the widower Philip I of Orléans married Liselotte of the Palatinate for the second time . This became a real mother for Marie Louise and her younger sister Anne Marie and gave them three half-siblings, u. a. the Duke Philip II d'Orléans, Regent of France, Duke of Orléans and Élisabeth Charlotte . Marie Louise was to have a lifelong affectionate correspondence with Liselotte von der Pfalz, who later declared, referring to her stepdaughter, that no one was more unhappy than a Spanish queen. According to a letter from Madame de Sévigné dated October 15, 1677, Louis XIV allegedly suspected Carmelites of having carried out an unsuccessful poisoning attack on 15-year-old Marie Louise.
Marriage to Charles II of Spain
Marie Louise is said to have loved the Dauphin Louis and wished to marry him, but letters from her stepmother Liselotte refute this claim.
In order to deepen the balance between Spain and France, following the Peace of Nijmegen (1678), Marie Louise's marriage to the mentally limited Spanish King Charles II was agreed. The Sun King hoped from this marriage to be able to tie Spain more closely to his kingdom. At that time Spain had already lost much of its previous position of power. But this marriage alliance also contributed to the permanent estrangement between the courts of Madrid and Vienna since 1648.
Marie Louise was very unhappy about the marriage arranged for her and is said to have replied to her uncle Louis XIV's statement that she would now be the Spanish Queen and that he could not have done more for his own daughter either: “But you would have more for Your niece can do. "(" Vous pourriez faire quelque chose de plus pour votre nièce! ")
One day after the marriage contract was signed, Marie Louise was married by procurationem to Charles II on August 31, 1679 in Fontainebleau Castle , with her distant relative Louis Armand I. de Bourbon, prince de Conti , taking the place of her bridegroom. When they said goodbye on September 20, 1679, Louis XIV remarked to Marie Louise that he would now say goodbye to her forever and that it would be a great misfortune for her if she ever saw her homeland again. With this, the king reprimanded the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Marguerite Louise d'Orléans , who was present at this conversation and who gave her husband Cosimo III. de 'Medici had left in 1675 and returned to France.
Before leaving for Spain, Marie Louise visited the Val-de-Grâce monastery , where her mother's heart was kept. She met her husband for the first time on November 19, 1679, on which day the couple celebrated their actual, rather pompous wedding in Quintanapalla near Burgos . However, since Marie Louise did not speak Spanish and Charles II did not speak French, both spouses had to rely on an interpreter when they first met. The royal couple went from Burgos to Madrid, and Marie Louise immediately wrote to the French monarch that her husband was more amiable than she had thought. To celebrate this marital union, a car dairy took place in Madrid , during which 22 people were burned and 60 other corporal punishments.
Queen of Spain
The marriage of the Spanish royal couple went relatively well despite the difficult circumstances. According to many contemporaries, Charles II genuinely loved his wife. He taught her Spanish and received French lessons from her. Marie Louise had no major influence on court life, although she was able to have a say in some new appointments to high state offices. Power was mainly exercised by her mother-in-law Maria Anna of Austria and her ministers. Marie Louise was politically unambitious and could not meet the expectations of Louis XIV. Incidentally, despite his niece's marriage to Charles II, the French king was not prepared to forego further military ventures against Spain.
Marie Louise increasingly sought to be able to pursue her favorite pastimes as often as possible and, for example, was very excessive in horse riding. She lived mainly in the gloomy Real Alcázar de Madrid, in the Palacio del Buen Retiro, where she was allowed to keep her French horses, as well as in her presumably favorite residence Palacio Real de Aranjuez south of Madrid.
The fact that Marie Louise had no offspring earned her many hurtful words since 1686. She suffered from being looked for to be the cause of her childlessness and repeatedly feigned pregnancy. Several scandals in her immediate vicinity also cost her many of the sympathies she had initially shown. Her monotonous and sad life in isolation and loneliness as well as the rigid court etiquette also burdened the Spanish queen, as she was used to holding numerous splendid celebrations in her home country. She increasingly longed for her happy life in France, developed enormous appetites, and became overweight.
Alleged poisoning
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Marie Louise died suddenly on February 12, 1689 and was buried in Chapel 9 of the Pantheon of the Infants in the Real Sitio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial . The news of her demise reached Versailles a week later and caused a sensation. Like her mother, she only reached the age of 26 years. As with her mother, it was immediately suspected that she was a victim of a poison attack. This claim was particularly believed by sympathizers of France. Either Austria or the Queen Mother Maria Anna were suspected of instigating the alleged assassination attempt. The latter had originally preferred another marriage option for her son Charles II, but later developed a good relationship with her Bourbon daughter-in-law and was very dismayed by her unexpected death.
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon , in his memoirs accused the court in Vienna of having initiated the alleged poisoning. At the Viennese court it was feared that Marie Louise, through her influence on Charles II, could completely detach Spain from his traditional alliance with Austria. The scheming Olympia Mancini , Countess of Soissons and mother of the famous Eugene of Savoy , who emigrated from France , had earned Marie Louise's trust and, according to Saint-Simon, the Spanish Queen is supposed to go through with the Emperor's ambassador in Madrid, the Count of Mansfeld killed poisoned ice-cold milk. Thereupon the Countess von Soissons fled to Germany in time, while the Count von Mansfeld was called back to Vienna.
However, it is now considered certain that the cause of Marie Louise's death was gastrointestinal inflammation as a result of an infection by Salmonella after eating oysters and lots of ice-cold milk. Even Voltaire had denied the poisoning theory.
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Habsburg, Maria Ludovica von Orleans . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 7th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1861, p. 52 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Marie Louise d'Orléans . In: Brigitte Hamann (Ed.): The Habsburgs. A biographical lexicon. Piper, Munich, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-492-03163-3 , pp. 330–331.
- Helga Thoma: Unloved Queen . Marriage tragedies at Europe's royal courts. 1st edition. Ueberreuter , Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-8000-3783-1 (as paperback: Series Piper 3526, Munich, Zurich 2003, ISBN 3-492-23526-3 ).
- Juan Antonio Sánchez Belén: María Luisa de Borbón-Orleans y Estuardo , in: Diccionario biográfico español , Madrid 2009–2013, online version
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ According to other sources, Marie Louise was born on April 26, 1662 ( Brigitte Hamann , Die Habsburger , p. 330).
- ^ Marie-Louise d'Orléans. In: Nouvelle biography générale. Volume 33, 1860, Col. 665.
- ^ Gottfried Mraz : Maria Anna, Archduchess of Austria. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , pp. 203 f. ( Digitized version ).
- ^ Marie-Louise d'Orléans. In: Nouvelle biography générale. Volume 33, 1860, Col. 666.
- ^ Brigitte Hamann: The Habsburgs. 1988, p. 331.
| predecessor | Office | Successor |
|---|---|---|
| Maria Anna of Austria |
Queen of Spain 1679–1689 |
Maria Anna of the Palatinate |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Marie Louise d'Orléans |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | María Luisa de Orléans |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French noblewoman, Spanish queen |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 27, 1662 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Palais Royal, Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 12, 1689 |
| Place of death | Madrid |