Proud, lazy and attractive, she successfully intrigued to have her daughters marry well to the Prince of Conti, Duke of Berry, Duke of Modena and King of Spain, mostly to spite her sister Louise Françoise de Bourbon, the Duchess of Bourbon. However, she welded little political influence considering her proximity to the political circle of the era. She was involved in the Cellamare Conspiracy in 1718 which was supposed to overthrow her own husband Philippe d'Orléans as Regent of the Kingdom and replace him with her favourite brother the Duke of Maine. The "marquis d'Argenson" said she was very like her mother, Madame de Montespan, but also had Louis XIV's orderly mind with his failings of injustice and harshness.
Among her male line descendents are Philippe Egalité, Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and Prince Henri, Count of Paris, the present Orléanist pretender to the French throne. She is also an ancestor of Juan Carlos I of Spain, Philippe, King of the Belgians, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, the pretender to the Italian throne.
Louis, Duke of Orléans (1703–1752)
Louis d'Orléans (4 August 1703 – 4 February 1752) was the Duke of Orléans and a "prince du sang". At his father's death, he became the First Prince of the Blood ("Premier Prince du Sang"). Known as "Louis le Pieux" and also as "Louis le Génovéfain", Louis was a pious, charitable and cultured prince, who took very little part in the politics of the time.
Louis d'Orléans was born at the Palace of Versailles in 1703 to Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and his wife, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and of his mistress Madame de Montespan. At his birth, he was given the courtesy title of Duke of Chartres.
He was brought up by his mother and his grandmother, Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate. Louis was very close to his younger sister Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans. Upon the death of his father on 2 December 1723, he became Duke of Orléans.
He married Johanna of Baden-Baden (1704–1726), the daughter of Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden and his wife Sibylle Auguste of Saxe-Lauenburg, on 18 June 1724. The couple were very happy but Joanne died in childbirth in 1726 and Louis mourned her intensely. He never remarried.
He died in 1752, at the age of forty-eight, at the Abbaye de Sainte Geneviève, having lost most of his sanity. He was buried at the Val-de-Grâce in Paris.
Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe d'Orléans (12 May 1725 – 18 November 1785) was Duke of Orléans and the father of "Philippe Égalité". He greatly augmented the already huge wealth of the House of Orléans.
"Louis Philippe d'Orléans" was born at the Palace of Versailles on 12 May 1725. As the only son of Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and his wife Johanna of Baden-Baden.
In 1743, his paternal grandmother, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon the formidable Dowager Duchess of Orléans, and Louise Élisabeth, Dowager Princess of Conti arranged his marriage to his seventeen-year old cousin, Louise Henriette de Bourbon. The couple was married on 17 December 1743 at Versailles.
After a few months of a passion that surprised everyone at court, the couple started to drift apart as the young Duchess of Chartres began to lead a scandalous life.
After the death of Louise Henriette on 9 February 1759, Louis Philippe took as his mistress Étiennette Le Marquis, a former dancer who liked to act in comedy plays, and who introduced him into the world of the theater. Louis Philippe had three children with Étiennette, they were raised under the care of the Orléans family:
In spite of his liaison with Étiennette, Louis Philippe had several other mistresses until he met, in July 1766, Madame de Montesson, a witty but married twenty-eight year old. After the death of the Marquis of Montesson in 1769, Louis Philippe tried to obtain Louis XV's authorisation to marry the young widow. Finally, in December 1772, the King gave his consent on the condition that the Marquise of Montesson would never become Duchess of Orléans or succeed to any other Orléans titles. In addition, the couple was to live a quiet life away from the court. The morganatic wedding took place on 23 April 1773.
Surrounded by all the members of his immediate family, even his three children by Etiennette Le Marquis, Louis-Philippe died on 18 November 1785, at Sainte-Assise at the age of sixty. He was buried at the Val-de-Grâce convent in Paris, built by his ancestor Anne of Austria to celebrate the birth of Louis XIV of France, Louis Philippe's great grandfather.
Philippe Égalité
Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans ("Louis Philippe Joseph"; 13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793) commonly known as "Philippe", was a member of the House of Orléans. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was still guillotined during the Reign of Terror. His son Louis Philippe became King of the French after the July Revolution of 1830. He held the rank of prince of the blood.
Louis Philippe was the son of Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres, and Louise Henriette de Bourbon and was born at the Château de Saint Cloud.
In November 1785, upon his father's death, Philippe, the new Duke of Orléans, became the head of the House of Orléans. This was one of the wealthiest families of France, and Premier Prince du Sang, addressed as "Monsieur le Prince", the most important person of the kingdom after the king's immediate family. He was next in line to the throne should the main Bourbon line die out.
On 6 June 1769, Louis Philippe married Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon at the Chapel of the Palace of Versailles. Louise Marie Adélaïde brought to the already wealthy House of Orléans a considerable dowry of six million livres, an annual income of 240,000 livres (later increased to 400,000 livres), as well as lands, titles, residences and furniture. They had five children:
During the first few months of their marriage, the couple appeared devoted to each other, but the duke went back to the life of "libertinage" he had led before his marriage. During the summer of 1772, a few months after his wife had given birth to a stillborn daughter, Philippe began a secret relationship with one of her ladies-in-waiting, Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, Countess of Genlis. Stephanie was the niece of Madame de Montesson his fathers second wife.
In 1778, Philippe served in the squadron of the Count of Orvilliers. He was present in the Battle of Ushant, a naval battle against the British during the American War of Independence on 27 July 1778. He was removed from the navy due in part to the queen's hatred of him and also to his own incompetence and alleged cowardice. As compensation, he was given the honorary post of colonel-general of hussars.