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.