Bathilde d'Orléans

## Duchesse de Bourbon

Madame la Duchesse de Bourbon by Louis-Michel van Loo c. 1770

### Siblings

Marie Adèle Louise-Honorine d'Orléans, MademoiselleLouis-Philippe d'Orléans, Duc d'Orléans

### Religion

Roman Catholicism

**Bathilde d'Orléans, Duchesse de Bourbon** (9th of July, 1750 - present) was a French princesse du sang, the second daughter of the late Duc d'Orléans and later the wife of Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon.

## Early Life

#### Childhood and Family

On the 9th of July, 1750 to Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, then Duc de Chartres and Louise-Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, Bathilde was born into the house of Orléans, originally founded by Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, second son of Louis XIII and thus a junior branch of the ruling house of France, she was preceded by the birth of her elder sister, Marie Adèle Louise-Honorine, Mademoiselle and thus Bathilde was styled as M*ademoiselle d'Orléans*. There was some concern regarding her paternity, as both parents led a life with great freedom of morals, though nevertheless Louis-Philippe claimed paternity over both children. His father however grew to doubt it, though this was attributed to his declining mental state. Louis d'Orléans passed two years later and he could not bear to pass without having bid farewell to his grandchildren, having them brought to him. Upon seeing Bathilde, he embraced her and said: *"Poor child, may you be as happy as you will be good and caring."* As for his grandson, he would say his goodbyes with what was considered an ominous sign by the audience, as the Duc d'Orléans exclaimed to the Duc de Montpensier: *"For you, I have nothing to wish!"*

   Great difficulty was found in finding a bride for her father with failure to align himself both with the king and the Elector of Bavaria due to the Cardinal de Fleury and Louis XV, and eventually Louis-Philippe was wed to the Mademoiselle de Conti in 1743, one which in no way increased the prestige of the Orléans and instead brought in more of the blood of the bastards of Louis XIV. Originally arranged by Françoise-Marie, Duchesse Douairière d'Orléans and Louise-Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé, the marriage aimed to end the family rift that had lasted half a century. The match was agreed on by Louis d'Orléans nicknamed *'le Pieux'* in the hopes that Louise-Henriette would have been the model of Christian virtues due to her upbringing in the convent, something which he would be sorely mistaken in. She would lead a rather scandalous life filled with numerous lovers and she was often quoted as saying: *"I have everything from Condé and nothing from Orléans"*. Relations between the couple were strained, to say the least and Bathilde saw very little of her mother until her death of tuberculosis on the 9th of February, 1759, *'worn out, it is said, by her disjointed life.'* As she had laid dying, she first addressed her son, advising him not to forget his duties as a prince and to guard against his exaggerated opinion of himself. Louise-Henriette then turned to her daughter and simply embraced her, believing that that would be enough of a farewell.

Following her passing a collection of satires and songs were discovered that according to the Marquise de Créquy: *"They cannot be transcribed by the pen of another woman, and especially of a Christian woman. I could only quote the beginning of a couplet she addressed to her husband: Monseigneur d'Orléans,/Your alleged children/Are the object of contempt/From all of Paris!"*

The family's troubles did not end with the Duchesse d'Orléans however, as Louis-Philippe, nicknamed *'le Gros'* found himself enamoured with a woman he met while attending an opera, namely Étienette Marie Périne Le Marquis, Mademoiselle Le Marquis, a former dancer who would give birth to his illegitimate son only twelve days after the passing of the duchess and the pair would go on to have two more children, all to be raised in a life of luxury and comfort. She too soon convinced her lover to have his only child educated in the convent of Bernardine Panthémont, separating Bathilde from her remaining family at the age of nine.

#### Education & Youth

During her time at the abbey and the sequence of events that had brought her there Bathilde would seek comfort in her faith, becoming devoutly religious. For eleven years she would remain at Panthémont, showing one quality above all that caused her to excel, a drive for knowledge. Like most noblewomen, her education included the standard aspects though by her own urging, it was expanded to include the languages of ancient Greek, Syriac and Chaldean, the latter two of whom her grandfather was renowned in, which spurred on Bathilde's own curiosity. An interest in classical antiquity is something that had completely consumed Bathilde when she reached her teen years, becoming fascinated with the first architectural surveys that had come out of Greece in recent times as well as the excavations of Herculaneum and Pompeii, who were identified as such in 1763. She had gained the reputation of a daydreamer due to this, writing frequently to her brother about her wishes to see: *"The fabled places of my heart's longing, where the time between us and the people of a great past seem so impossibly short."* Instead she took to reading to sate her curiosity, becoming a great bibliophile when it came to the Roman and Greek classics which Bathilde had begun to collect, gaining a particular fascination in the events leading up to the fall of the Republic.

Another thing that consumed Bathilde's time in Panthémont was her interest in playing the harpsichord, which she had a particular talent in. When the siblings Mozart held two concerts in Paris, with the aid of the Duc de Chartes who soon realized that his sister would greatly enjoy meeting the musical prodigy, he took them to visit the convent Bathilde resided in. A small concert was held there and after the thirteen year old Mademoiselle d'Orléans had composed a small piece on the clavier, which she dedicated to the young Wolfgang Mozart which she gave to him when he visited once again. Bathilde would endeavour to remain in contact with Maria Anna Mozart, his sister as she was an excellent harpsichordist and fortepianist in her own right which piqued the mademoiselle's interest and correspondence was frequently exchanged between the Mademoiselle d'Orléans in Panthémont and later Meudon and Chantilly to Marianna in Salzburg.

#### Betrothal & Marriage

As the daughter of the Duc d'Orléans, Bathilde was a great candidate when it came to marriage, something which would first be brought up in 1767 by the Duc de Choiseul, then First Minister of State where she was considered as a possible third wife of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor after the passing of his second wife Josepha of Bavaria in order to strengthen the alliance with France though the project fizzled out eventually. The Duc de Choiseul once again attempts to marry her off, this time to the Duke of Parma, though Spain rejected the proposal and Ferdinand instead wed Maria-Amalia of Austria.

On a rare occasion which she was permitted to leave the convent, Bathilde d'Orléans attended the marriage of her brother, Louis-Philippe to Louise-Marie-Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre where she met Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon in the summer of 1769. Under the guise of visiting his sister Louise-Adélaïde, Mademoiselle de Condé who attended the same convent as Bathilde he frequently visited her and eventually proposed, a match that her family agreed to. Despite initial reservations about her fiancée's age, her desire to leave the abbey soon won out and the pair were married on the 20th of April, 1770. Due to the groom's age the marriage was not consummated and Bathilde was returned to Panthémont much to her dislike. It did not take long for the young duke to kidnap his bride in a moment of romance, climbing over the wall of Panthémont and carrying her away to Château de Chantilly. This brief moment of passion would be short lived, as he would go on to abandon her six months later, his attentions shifting to other women which would become a great source of bitterness for the Duchesse de Bourbon.

Periodic reconciliations between the duke and duchess allowed Bathilde to give birth to a son, Louis-Antoine-Henri, styled Duc d'Enghien, who soon became the centre of her focus due to his frail health. His entrance into the world was a dramatic one, having been born small and almost without breath, the physicians suggested that he be wrapped in swaddling clothes soaked in wine spirits, yet he remained frozen. In order to revive him, he was placed in front of a large fireplace but a spark flying over him set fire to the flammable clothes he was swaddled in though his parents managed to free him from the burning cloth. After this incident worry for her sons wellbeing was often at the forefront of her thoughts and Bourbon's frequent visits to Chantilly were the only remedy to her worries and Bathilde spent a great deal of time in the company of the young Duc d'Enghien.

## Issue

From her marriage to Louis Henri de Bourbon-Condé, Duc de Bourbon she had one son:

* Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, Duc d'Enghien (2nd of August, 1772 - present)

## Titles & Styles

* 9th of July, 1750 - 20th of April, 1770: Son Altesse Sérénissime, *Mademoiselle d'Orléans*
* 20th of April, 1770 - present: Son Altesse Sérénissime, *Madame la Duchesse de Bourbon*