page_title: Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Engraving of Gaston de France, Duke of Orléans after a painting by "van Dyke".
context_page_description: Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, known as La Grande Mademoiselle, was the only daughter of Gaston d'Orléans with his first wife Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier. One of the greatest heiresses in history, she died unmarried and childless, leaving her vast fortune to her cousin, Philippe of France. After a string of proposals from various members of European ruling families, including Charles II of England, Afonso VI of Portugal, and Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy, she eventually fell in love with the courtier Antoine Nompar de Caumont and scandalised the court of France when she asked Louis XIV for permission to marry him, as such a union was viewed as a mésalliance. She is best remembered for her role in the Fronde, her role in bringing the famous composer Lully to the king's court, and her Mémoires.
context_section_description: Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans was born at the Palais du Louvre in Paris on 29 May 1627. Her father was Gaston, Duke of Orléans; as the eldest surviving brother of King Louis XIII he was known at court by the traditional honorific Monsieur. Her mother, 21-year-old Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier, was the only surviving member of the Montpensier branch of the House of Bourbon.  When she died five days after giving birth, she left the newborn Anne Marie, the new Duchess of Montpensier, heiress to an immense fortune which included five duchies, the Dauphinate of Auvergne, and the sovereign Principality of Dombes, found in the historical province of Burgundy.
  As the eldest daughter of Monsieur, Anne Marie Louise was officially known as Mademoiselle from the time of her birth, and, because she was the granddaughter of a King of France, Henry IV, her uncle Louis XIII created for her the new title of petite-fille de France ("Granddaughter of France").
  Mademoiselle was moved from the Louvre to the Palais des Tuileries and placed under the care of Madame de Saint Georges, the governess of royal children, who taught her how to read and write. Mademoiselle always had a great sense of her own self-importance and when asked about her maternal grandmother Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse she replied that she was not her grandmother, because she was "not a queen". She grew up in the company of Mademoiselle de Longueville, as well as the sisters of the Maréchal de Gramont.
   Mademoiselle was very close to her father Gaston, Duke of Orléans.  Gaston was involved in multiple conspiracies against Louis XIII and his chief advisor Cardinal Richelieu, and generally on bad terms with the court.  When Gaston fell in love with Marguerite of Lorraine, Louis XIII refused to give his brother permission to marry— France and Lorraine were enemies, and a prince of the blood and heir to the throne was not legally allowed to marry without the king's permission.  Nonetheless, Gaston secretly married Marguerite in January 1632. When Louis found out, he had the marriage annulled and the couple exiled from court. 
  As a child Mademoiselle lived with her governess at the Palais des Tuileries.  Gaston resided at Blois, where Mademoiselle visited him frequently.  After her father's secret marriage, Mademoiselle did not see her father for two years.  When she finally did see him again in October 1634, the seven-year-old Mademoiselle "flung herself into his arms". After learning that Cardinal Richelieu, her godfather, was behind her father's exile, Mademoiselle would sing street songs and lampoons in the presence of the cardinal himself, earning her a scolding from the cardinal.
  At the birth of the future Louis XIV in 1638, the determined Mademoiselle decided that she would marry him, calling him "her little husband" to the amusement of Louis XIII. Richelieu subsequently reprimanded her for her remarks. Her father on the other hand wanted her to marry Louis, Count of Soissons, a descendant of Charles, Duke of Vendôme, one of his old co-conspirators.  The marriage never materialised.
  When Mademoiselle's governess, Madame de Saint Georges, died in 1643, Mademoiselle's father chose Madame de Fiesque as her replacement. Mademoiselle was devastated at the death of her former governess and, not keen on having a new governess, was an awkward student; she later recalled that she once locked Madame de Fiesque in her room and Madame de Fiesque's grandson in another. 
  On his deathbed in May 1643, Louis XIII finally accepted Gastons's plea for forgiveness and authorized his marriage to Marguerite; the couple were married in July 1643 before the Archbishop of Paris and, as the Duke and Duchess of Orléans, were finally received at court.
  Louis XIII's death left Louis XIV (then about 6 years old) as King of France, and Louis XIII's widow  Queen Anne as regent during her son's minority.  When the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III died in May 1646, Mademoiselle considered marriage to Ferdinand, but the regent,  Queen Anne, under the influence of Mazarin, ignored Mademoi
caption: Mademoiselle's father, Gaston d'Orléans after a painting by Anthony van Dyck. Mademoiselle had a tender relationship with her father.
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