Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon

**Louise Françoise de Bourbon** (1 June 1673 – 16 June 1743) was an illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his famous mistress Madame de Montespan. Her marriage to a prince of the blood in 1685, caused great scandal and she had an open rivalry with her older sister Françoise Marie, Duchess of Orléans. She was also responsible for the construction of the _Palais Bourbon_ in Paris which is today used by the French National government. She had a very close relationship with her older half-brother the _Grand Dauphin_. Several of her children were thought to be illegitimate as, for a majority of her marriage she was having an affair with the Prince of Conti. Even when her husband succeeded to the Condé title the young princess was always known as **Madame la Duchesse** or the **Duchess of Bourbon**.

## Biography

Louise Françoise was born on 1 June 1673, at Tournai. She was the daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan.

On 25 May 1685, at the age of eleven, Louise Françoise was married to Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, a distant sixteen-year old cousin of her father, King Louis XIV of France.

The king gave his daughter a large marriage dowry of one million French livres (old French currency) upon her marriage. Louise Françoise and her husband eventually had nine children. All of them survived into adulthood. Her marriage was generally not happy, and her and her husband both had love affairs.

Louise Françoise was very close to her half-brother Louis, Grand Dauphin and was apart of the _cabale de Meudon_, a group centred on her half-brother.

Louise Françoise died on 16 June 1743, at her own home, the Palais Bourbon, in Paris, France, at the age of seventy. Her husband, Louis de Bourbon, died before her in 1710.

### Titles and styles

- **1 June 1673 – 19 December 1673** unnamed child;
- **19 December 1673 – 25 May 1685** _Her Highness_ Louise Françoise de Bourbon, _Légitimée de France_, _Mademoiselle de Nantes_
- **25 May 1685 – 1 April 1709** _Her Serene Highness_ the Duchess of Bourbon (_Madame la duchesse de Bourbon_)
- **1 April 1709 – 4 March 1710** _Her Serene Highness_ the Princess of Condé (_Madame la princesse de Condé_)
- **4 March 1710 – 16 June 1743** _Her Serene Highness_ the Dowager Princess of Condé (_Madame la princesse de Condé douairière_)

- Note: Even while Princess of Condé, Louise Françoise was still known as the Duchess of Bourbon.

## Infobox (royalty)

- **name**: Louise Françoise
- **image**: Pierre Gobert - Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Blois - Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Agen.jpg
- **title**: Princess of Condé
Duchess of Bourbon
Légitimée de France
- **caption**: Louise Françoise
- **full name**: Louise Françoise de Bourbon
- **birth place**: Tournai, Kingdom of France, France
- **death place**: Palais Bourbon, Paris, France
- **spouse**: Louis, Prince of Condé (1668–1710), Louis III de Bourbon, Prince of Condé
- **father**: Louis XIV of France, King Louis XIV of France
- **mother**: Madame de Montespan
- **issue**: Marie Anne Éléonore de Bourbon, Marie Anne Éléonore, Mademoiselle de Bourbon
Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon
Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, Louise Élisabeth, Princess of Conti
Louise Anne de Bourbon, Louise Anne, Mademoiselle de Charolais
Marie Anne de Bourbon (1697–1741), Marie Anne, Mademoiselle de Clermont
Charles, Count of Charolais
Henriette Louise de Bourbon, Henriette Louise, Mademoiselle de Vermandois
Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon, Élisabeth Alexandrine, Mademoiselle de Sens
Louis, Count of Clermont
- **burial place**: Carmel du faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France
- **religion**: Roman Catholicism
- **house**: House of Bourbon, Bourbon