Royalty of the Week - Princess Marie Adélaïde de France, Daughter of France

Marie Adélaïde de France, Daughter of France was the was the fourth daughter and sixth child of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort, Maria Leszczyńska. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France. She was referred to as Madame Adélaïde from 1737 to 1755 and from 1759 to her death, and simply as Madame from 1755 to 1759.

Originally known as Madame Quatrième ("Madame the Fourth"), until the death of her older sister Louise Marie in 1733, she became Madame Troisième, ("Madame the Third"). Adélaïde also possessed the Duchy of Louvois with her sister Madame Sophie from 1777, and which had been created for them by their nephew Louis XVI, in their own right.
She outlived both of her parents and all nine of her siblings. Adélaïde, as well as her brother and sisters, attempted without success to prevent their father's liaison with Madame de Pompadour, which began in 1750.
She was deeply affected by the death of her sister Henriette at the age of twenty-five in 1752, and by the death of her brother, the Dauphin, in 1765. She became the head of the group of the three unmarried, younger sisters who survived into adulthood, the others being Madame Victoire and Madame Sophie. They all found solace in music.
Adélaïde despised her father's last maîtresse-en-titre, Madame du Barry. When the fourteen-year old Marie-Antoinette became Dauphine in 1770, Adélaïde tried to win her support against Mme du Barry, but the empress Maria Theresa opposed it. This was a factor which would cause Adélaide to bear subsequent malice toward Marie Antoinette and to become one of the most vicious rumour-mongers at Versailles.
After the dauphin's death in 1765, followed in 1767 by that of his second wife, Marie-Josèphe, Adélaïde took custody of the late dauphine's papers, with instructions concerning their son, Louis Auguste, should he become king. The papers were opened on 12 May 1774, after the death of Louis XV, who was succeeded by his grandson Louis Auguste as Louis XVI. Three distinguished names were suggested for the position of Prime Minister (Premier Ministre), that of Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas, Emmanuel-Armand de Richelieu, duc d'Aiguillon, and Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville.

Madame Adélaïde left Versailles with Madame Victoire on 6 October 1789 with the rest of the Royal Family, on 6 October 1789, the day following the Parisian women's march to Versailles and they took up residence at the Château de Bellevue.
Revolutionary laws against the Catholic Church caused them to leave France for Italy on 20 February 1791. On their way, they were arrested and detained for several days at Arnay-le-Duc before they were allowed to continue their journey. They visited their niece Clotilde, sister of Louis XVI, in Turin, and arrived in Rome on 16 April 1791. As a result of the increasing influence of Revolutionary France, they traveled farther afield, moving to Naples in 1796, where Marie Antoine's sister, Marie Caroline, was queen.
They moved to Corfu in 1799, and finally settled in Trieste, where Victoire died of breast cancer. Adélaïde died one year later. Their bodies were returned to France by Louis XVIII at the time of the Bourbon Restoration, and buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis.
Among her nephews were the kings of France Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X, and Ferdinand, Duke of Parma. She had as nieces Madame Élisabeth, Clotilde, Queen Consort of Sardinia, and Queen Maria Luisa of Spain.

Royalty of the Week - Marie-Louise, princesse de Lamballe

Marie-Louise, or Maria Teresa Louisa as she was baptisted was born on 8 september 1749 as the daughter of Luigi Vittorio di Savoia-Carignano, Principe di Carignano and Christine Henriette of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. On 30 januari 1767 she married Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, prince de Lamballe, a member of the french royal house. Soon after their marriage, her husband continued the life of a libertine, and died in 1768, making Marie-Thérèse a widow at the age of nineteen. She was left an enormous fortune, becoming one of the wealthiest women in France.

She befriended Marie-Antoinette shortly after the latter's marriage to the future Louis XVI. Marie-Antoinette appointed her Superintendent of the her Household, the highest rank possible for a lady-in-waiting at Versailles, which earned Lamballe the resentment of many other aristocrats. Her pre-eminence in courtly high society was eventually eclipsed by Yolande de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac, who arrived at Versailles in 1775. In popular anti-monarchist propaganda of the time, the princesse de Lamballe was regularly portrayed in pornographic pamphlets, showing her as the queen's lesbian lover. Lamballe was by nature extremely prudish and, at Versailles, there was never any gossip about her private life. However, the real purpose of the pamphlets was not to report the truth, but rather to undermine the public image of the monarchy by eroding respect for its central figures. Later, the duchesse de Polignac and comte d'Artois also became staple figures in the pamphlets.


The Princesse de Lamballe accompanied the royal family to the Tuileries Palace after the Women's March on Versailles in October 1789. In Paris, her salon served as a meeting place for the queen and the members of the National Constituent Assembly, many of whom the queen wished to win over to the cause of the Bourbon Monarchy.
During a visit to Great Britain in 1791 to appeal for help for the royal family, the princess wrote her will, since she feared death upon returning to Paris, which she nonetheless did out of loyalty to Marie-Antoinette. She returned to the Tuileries, and continued her services to the queen until the attack on the Palace on 10 August 1792, when the Royal Family took refuge in the Legislative Assembly, and after it was taken to the Temple.

On 19 August, she and the Marquise de Tourzel, governess to the royal children, were separated from the royal family and transferred to the La Force prison. On 3 September, she was brought before a hastily assembled tribunal, who demanded she "take an oath to love liberty and equality and to swear hatred to the King and the Queen and to the monarchy". The latter she refused to swear, upon which her trial summarily ended with the words: Élargissez madame ("Take madame away"). She was immediately brought to the street and thrown to a group of men who killed her within minutes.
Some reports allege that she was raped and that her breasts were cut off, in addition to other bodily mutilations, and that her head was cut off and stuck on a pike. Other reports say that it was brought to a nearby café where it was laid in front of the customers, who were asked to drink in celebration of her death. Other reports state that the head was taken to a barber in order to dress the hair to make it instantly recognizable, though this has been contested. Following this, the head was replaced upon the pike and was paraded beneath Marie Antoinette’s window at the Temple. Those who were carrying it wished the Queen to kiss the lips of her favourite, as it was a frequent rumor that the two had been lovers. The head was not allowed to be brought into the building, but the Queen's guards did force her to look out of the window at the sight, whereupon the Queen fainted almost immediately. In her historical biography, Marie Antoinette : The Journey Antonia Fraser claims that the Queen did not actually see the head of her long-time friend, but was aware of what was occuring, stating; "...the municipal officers had had the decency to close the shutters and the commissioners kept them away from the windows...one of these officers told the King '..they are trying to show you the head of Madame de Lamballe'...Mercifully, the Queen then fainted away". Five citizens of the local section in Paris delivered her body (minus her head which was then being displayed on a pike) to the authorities shortly after her death. Royalist accounts of the incident claimed her body was displayed on the street for a full day. According to author Blanche Christabel Hardy, her heartbroken father-in-law finally succeeded in retrieving her corpse and had it interred in the Penthièvre family crypt at Dreux. However, French historian Michel de Decker writes that her body was never found, (as was never found that of her brother-in-law Philippe Égalité), which is the reason why she is not inhumed in the Orléans family necropolis at Dreux. Marie Grosholtz, better known as Madame Tussaud, was ordered to make the death mask.

Royalty of the Week - Princess Sophie-Philippine of France

Princess Sophie-Philippine of France, or, Sophie Philippine Élisabeth Justine de France, Princess of France, was born on the 27 July 1734 in Palace of Versailles as the sixth daughter to Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France.

Madame Sophie, as she was called, is less well known than many of her siblings. Unlike her older siblings she was not raised at Versailles, but sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud with her older sister Victoire and younger sisters Félicité (who died young) and Louise.

Madame Sophie was considerd ugly and uninteresting. She did not exercise any influence at the court, but let herself be directed by her older sister Adélaïde, following her in her antipathy against her father's mistresses, Madame de Pompadour and then Madame du Barry.
She was one of the four royal sisters to survive their parents. Her mother died on 24 June 1768 and all of her children were badly effected. Her father died 6 years later on 10 May 1774. During the reign of her nephew Louis XVI of France, she and her sisters were allowed to maintain their apartments at Versailles and often stayed at the Château de Bellevue - made famous by the mistress of her father. She died on 2 of march 1782. She was buried in the royal tomb at the Abbey of Saint-Denis which was plundered and destroyed at the time of the French Revolution.

Yolande de Polastron, Duchesse de Polignac

Yolande de Polastron was born on the 8 September 1749 in Paris, but moved to Languedoc. The Polignac family were of ancient lineage and well-respected, but encumbered by many debts. She lost her mother, Jeanne Charlotte Hérault, at the age of three and went to her aunt, who put her in a convent - a common practice for the education of young girls of the aristocracy. She was engaged to Jules François Armand, comte de Polignac, whom she married on 7 July 1767.

When her sister-in-law invited her to the Court at Versailles, she came with her husband and was presented at a formal reception in 1775. Queen Marie-Antoinette became instantly attached to her and agreed to settle the family's many outstanding debts; Gabrielle also won the friendship of the king's younger brother the comte d'Artois and the approval of King Louis XVI himself, who was grateful for her calming influence on his wife, encouraging their friendship. Charismatic and beautiful, Yolande became the undisputed leader of the queen's exclusive circle, ensuring that few entered without her approval. The entire Polignac family benefited enormously from the queen's considerable generosity, but their increasing wealth outraged many aristocratic families, who resented their dominance at Court. Ultimately, the queen's favouritism towards Yolande and her family was one of the many causes which fueled Marie-Antoinette's unpopularity with some of her subjects (especially Parisians) and members of the politically-liberal nobility.
Yolande was eventually appointed Governess to the Royal Children, including the future Louis XVII of France and Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de France, Madame Royale. At the time, her appointment generated further outrage at Court, where it was felt Yolande was unsuitable for the post. Her husband was later promoted through two rungs of the aristocratic ladder, thus making him a duc and Gabrielle a duchesse - a further source of irritation to the courtiers at Versailles.
The months leading up to the outbreak of the French Revolution in July 1789 saw the queen and the duchesse de Polignac become close again. Politically, Yolande and her friends supported the ultra-monarchist movement in Versailles, with Yolande becoming increasingly important in royalist intrigues as the summer progressed.
The marquis de Bombelles remembered her ceaseless work to promote hardline responses against the emergent revolution. Together with Bombelles' godfather, the ex-diplomat and politician baron de Breteuil, and the comte d'Artois, they persuaded Marie-Antoinette to help depose the king's liberal chief minister, Jacques Necker. However, without the necessary military support to crush the insurrection, Necker's dismissal fuelled the already-serious violence in Paris, culminating in the attack on the Bastille Fortress.
After the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, several members of the Polignac family decided to emigrate. On Louis XVI's express orders, the comte d'Artois left, as did Breteuil; Yolande went with her family to Switzerland, where she kept in contact with the Queen through letters. After she had left, the care of the royal children was entrusted to the Marquise de Tourzel.
Yolande developed cancer while living in Switzerland, although she had arguably been in poor health for several years. She died in December 1793, shortly after hearing of the execution of Marie-Antoinette. Her family simply announced that she had died as a result of heartbreak and suffering. Contradictory royalist reports of her death suggested consumption as an alternative cause of death, but no specific mention of her disease was made in the various allegorical pamphlets which showed the Angel of Death descending to take the soul of the still-beautiful duchesse de Polignac. Her beauty and early death became metaphors for the demise of the old regime, at least in early pamphlets and in subsequent family correspondence, the duchess's beauty was a much-emphasised point.

Royalty of the Week - Marie Louise Thérèse Victoire de France, Princess of France

Princess Victoire was seventh child and fifth daughter of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort Maria Leszczyńska. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France.

Marie Louise Thérèse Victoire de France was born at the Palace of Versailles. Unlike the older children of Louis XV (including Adélaïde, just one year her senior), Victoire was not raised at the Palace of Versailles, but sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud. She would remain there till 1748 when she was 15. She was one of many children. Her siblings were:
Princess Marie Louise Élisabeth (14 August 1727 – 6 December 1759) Duchess of Parma,

Princess Henriette Anne (14 August 1727 – 10 February 1752) died unmarried,

Marie-Louise (28 July 1728 – 19 February 1733) died in childhood:

Prince Louis, Dauphin of France (4 September 1729 – 20 December 1765) married Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain; had issue then married Duchess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony and had issue;

Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou (30 August 1730 – 17 April 1733) died in childhood

Princess Marie Adélaïde (23 March 1732 – 27 February 1800) died unmarried,

Princess Sophie Philippine Élisabeth Justine (17 July 1734 – 3 March 1782); died unmarried,

Stillborn Child (28 March 1735 – 28 March 1735)

Princess Thérèse-Félicité (16 May 1736 – 28 September 1744) died in childhood

Princess Louise Marie (5 July 1737 – 23 December 1787) was a nun, died unmarried.

At 15 she was allowed to return to her fathers court. Very close to her mother, brother and her sisters, like most of the family her father's constant mistresses at court posed a problem and pushed the family away from him. He turned more and more to Madame de Pompadour and later Madame du Barry.
Often thought to be the most beautiful of the kings daughters, she was to never marry although in 1753, it was suggested that she marry her brother-in-law Ferdinand VI of Spain (her sister had married his younger brother Philip, Duke of Parma) as his wife, Maria Barbara of Portugal, was ill at the time. Despite that, the queen survived another five years dying at 46 leaving her husband distraught.

The next big event at court was the marriage of Louis-Auguste, the Dauphin of France to Archduchess Maria Antonia of Habsburg-Lorraine. The wedding occurred at the palace on 16 May 1770. Victoire and her sister, by then known as Madame Adélaïde, met the girl and tried to use her influence over the king in order to get rid of La du Barry. This idea did not work but before their father died in 1774, he was obliged to remove her from the palace. His successor Louis XVI, Victoire's nephew, then exiled her from court forever.

The two sisters (Victoire and Marie Adélaïde), now alone as the only children of Louis XV still alive by 1787, took up residence at Château de Bellevue from 6 October 1789 after the infamous storming of their birthplace. Revolutionary laws against the church caused them to leave for Italy on 20 February 1791, although they were arrested and detained for several days at Arnay-le-Duc before they were allowed to depart.
They visited their niece Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia, sister of Louis XVI, in Turin, and arrived in Rome on 16 April 1791.

As a result of the increasing influence of Revolutionary France, they travelled further afield, moving to Naples in 1796, where Marie Caroline, sister of Marie Antoinette, was Queen. They moved to Corfu in 1799, and finally ended up in Trieste, where Victoire died of breast cancer. Adélaïde died one year later in Rome. The bodies of both princesses were later returned to France by their nephew, King Louis XVIII, and buried at the Abbey of Saint-Denis.

Château de Versailles - The centre of power and etiquette

Versailles was from the beginning a simple hunting castle until the reign of Louis XIV who in 1682 moved his court away from Paris and in to versailles.

The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.

But the hall of mirrors or Galerie des Glaces wasn't finished until 1684. Here in Versailles Louis XIV gattered all the nobility under his watchfull eye. In the hall of mirrors there are 357 mirrors, and it is 73 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 12 meters high. The hall of mirrors is located between the Peace hall and the war hall. In the diary of Marie-Antoinette the hall is often mentioned.




In the centre of the castle is the King's Bedchamber (La Chambre du Roi), and everyone passing have to bow in front of it. Rank and status dictated everything in Versailles; not least among that list was one's lodgings. Louis XIV envisaged Versailles as a seat for all the Bourbons, as well as his troublesome nobles. These nobles were, so to say, placed within a "gilded cage" (Duc de Saint-Simon). Luxury and opulence was not always in the description given to their residences. Many nobles had to make do with one or two room apartments; forcing many nobles to buy town-houses in proper Versailles, keeping their palace rooms for changes of clothes or entertaining guests, rarely sleeping there. Rooms at Versailles were immensely useful for an ambitious courtier. They allowed to palace residents easy and constant access to the monarch, essential to their ambitions, and gave them constant access to the latest gossip and news.

Life at the court was narrowly regulated by court etiquette. Étiquette became the means of social advancement for the court.
Louis XIV’s elaborate rules of etiquette included the following:

People who wanted to speak to the king could not knock on his door. Instead, using the left little finger, they had to gently scratch on the door, until they were granted permission to enter. As a result, many courtiers grew that fingernail longer than the others;

A lady never held hands or linked arms with a gentleman. Besides being in bad taste, this practice would have been impossible because a woman’s hooped skirts were so wide. Instead, she was to place her hand on top of the gentleman’s bent arm as they strolled through the gardens and chambers of Versailles. It is also mentioned that the ladies were only allowed to touch fingertips with the men.

When a gentleman sat down, he slid his left foot in front of the other, placed his hands on the sides of the chair and gently lowered himself into the chair.

Women and men were not allowed to cross their legs in public.

When a gentleman passed an acquaintance on the street, he was to raise his hat high off his head until the other person passed.

A gentleman was to do no work except writing letters, giving speeches, practicing fencing, or dancing. For pleasure, he engaged in hawking, archery, indoor tennis, or hunting. A gentleman would also take part in battle and would sometimes serve as a public officer, paying the soldiers.

Ladies’ clothing did not allow them to do much besides sit and walk. However, they passed the time sewing, knitting, writing letters, painting, making their own lace, and creating their own cosmetics and perfumes.

In addition, etiquette ordained the order of prominence at court, limited or extended access based on rank or favor, rigidly maintained complex customs of address, and even who could sit or stand under what circumstances in the royal presence or that of the great nobles.

"leave me on the ground, we must wait for Madame Etiquette. She will show us the right way to

pick up a Dauphine who has tumbled off a donkey."

Royalty of the Week - Prince Louis Stanislas Xavier, comte de Provence

Louis Stanislas was born as a petit-fils de France ( since he was a son of the Dauphin ) on 17 November 1755 in the Palace of Versailles. His mother was Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony and his father was Louis-Ferdinand, Dauphin of France.


At the time of his birth, Louis Stanislas was fourth in line to the throne of France, behind his father the Dauphin and his two elder brothers, Louis Joseph Xavier, duc de Bourgogne, and Louis Auguste, duc de Berry. After the death of the duc de Bourgogne in 1761 and the death of his father in 1765, Louis Stanislas was second in line to the throne after his brother Louis Auguste, Dauphine of France.



On 14 May 1771, Louis Stanislas married Princess Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy, the daughter of the Duke of Sardinia, future king Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia. The new comtesse de Provence was considered to be ugly. She never brushed her teeth, plucked her eyebrows, or used any perfumes. The comtesse was pregnant two times; one time in 1774, and one time in 1781. but both pregnancies ended in miscarriages. The marrige was childless.



Louis Stanislas longed for political influence. He attempted to gain admittance to the King’s council in 1774, ultimately failing.



Louis Stanislas left France in 1791 and he didn't return until the fall of Napoleon. In 1814 he became the king of France. He wore the title from 1814-1815 and from 1815-1824. He died 16 september 1824.

Anne Claudine Louise d'Arpajon, Comtesse de Noailles - "Madame Etiquette"

Anne Claudine Louise d'Arpajon, Comtesse de Noailles was born 4 March 1729 in Arpajon, France. She was a daughter of Anne Charlotte Le Bas de Montargis 1695-1767 and Louis de Sévérac, Marquis d'Arpajon-sur-Cère 1667-1736. Her mother, Anne Charlotte, was lady in waiting of teh Duchesse de Berry.

Anne Claudine married Philippe de Noailles, duc de Mouchy on 27 November 1741. The couple had seven children, and they were:

Louise Henriette Charlotte Philippine de Noailles (1745–1832)

Charles Adrien de Noailles (1747) Prince de Poix

Louis Philippe de Noailles (1748–1750) Prince de Poix

Daniel François Marie de Noailles (1750–1752) Marquis de Noailles later Prince de Poix

Philippe Louis Marc Antoine de Noailles (1752–1819) Prince-duc de Poix and Duc de Mouchy

Louis-Marie, vicomte de Noailles (1756–1804) Vicomte de Noailles

Louis Marie de Noailles (1756-) Chevalier d'Arpajon

Comtesse de Noailles was first lady of honor to Queen Maria Leszczynska, and later to the Austrian Archduchess, Marie Antoinette Dauphine and later queen. She taught the new young Dauphine French ceremonial etiquette and Marie Antoinette gave her the nickname, "Madame Etiquette".

Anne Claudine, her husband, his sister, their daughter-in-law, Vicomtesse de Noailles, and their niece Duchesse d'Ayen, were guillotined on 27 June 1794 at Barriere du Trone, Paris. On 22 July, the wife, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter of Philippe's brother, Louis, 4th duc de Noailles, were guillotined.

Royalty of the week - Marie Louise Élisabeth de France

The royalty of the week is princess Marie Louise Élisabeth de France, Duchess Consort of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. She was the eldest daughter of Louis XV and queen Maria Leszczyńska and she was born 14 August 1727 at Versailles. As a daughter of the king she she ranked as a fille de France ( daughter of France ).

She married Philip of Spain, Duke of Parma, Plasencia and Guastalla. There marrige was not a happy one but the couple had three children: Princess Isabella Maria of Parma, Ferdinand, Duke of Parma and Maria Luisa of Parma.

She died december 6, 1759 in a age of 32 at Versailles.

Bed of Marie-Antoinette

This beatuiful bed who belonged to queen Marie-Antoinette is located in the huge baroque palace Versailles. It's maybe the most grand and royal bed in Europe and I would love to sleep one night in it and just breath the royal.

"The Duchess"

I've just seen the very interesting movie "The Duchess" with Keira Knightley as Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, it's uploaded on youtube. The movie is about the young Duchess's life married to William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire.

Georgiana's most important task in the marrige is to produce a male heir, a 6th Duke of Devonshire. But when she have given birth to two girls and after six years of marrige she still haven get birth to a son her husband starts to get tired of her and then starts to cheath with Georgiana's friend Lady Elizabeth Foster, who will later be duchess of Devonshire when Georgiana passes away.

Sofia Coppola's "Marie-Antoinette"

I love how Sofia Coppola has captured the 18 century spirit in her beautiful movie "Marie-Antoinette". The movie is full of vibrant colours and lovely clothes. I love Princess de Lamballe and the Duchess of Polignac. A favourite part of the film is the grand aweakening of queen Marie-Antoinette, when the high nobility have the honor to see the queen dress, but most of all; to be seen.

Madame de Pompadour - The queen of rococo

Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour is maybe one of the 18 century most famous women. She was born with no title but she climbed up on the social ladder to be a Marquise and Maîtresse-en-titrev ( Chief mistress of the king of France ). Jeanne-Antoinette was beautiful and she exerted strong cultural, intellectual and political influence at the French court. She will always be rememberd as
Madame de Pompadour - The queen of rococo.