Charles Emmanuel Joseph de France

## Charles Emmanuel de France

Portrait of Monseigneur le Dauphin, Charles Emmanuel de France, by Jean-Marc Nattier, circa 1756

## Nobility of France

### Predecessor

Philippe Louis Antoine, Monseigneur le Dauphin †

## Biography

### Born

28th May 1732
Château de Villetaneuse, Villetaneuse, Île-de-France, Royaume de France

### Spouse

Marie-Antoinette Ferdinande d’Espagne (m. 1750)

### Romantic Interests

Marie Thérèse Raphaëlle, Enfant d’Espagne (betrothed 1739; died 1743)

### Issue

Louis Ferdinand de France, Monseigneur le Petite Dauphin †
Marie Thérèse de France, Petite Fille de France
Louis Joseph de France, Monseigneur le Petite Dauphin
Louis Philippe de France, Duc de Berry
François Auguste de France, Duc d'Angoulême
Louise Victoire de France, Petite Fille de France
Élisabeth Antoinette de France, Petite Fille de France

### Siblings

Louise Élisabeth de France, Madame Royale
Sophie-Marie de France, Madame Seconde
Philippe Louis de France, Monseigneur le Dauphin †
Victoire-Adélaïde de France, Madame Troisième
Marie-Thérèse de France, Madame Quatrième
Louis François de France, Duc de Bourgogne
Marie-Catherine de France, Madame Cinquième
Louis Henri de France, Duc de Bretagne †
Marie-Henriette de France, Madame Sixième

### Religion

Roman Catholicism

**Charles Emmanuel, Dauphin de France** (Charles Emmanuel Joseph Xavier de France; 28th May 1732 – Present) is a French royal prince of the House of Anjou and the heir apparent to the Kingdom of France. He is the second-eldest son of Louis XII, Roi de France et Navarre, and his second wife, Reine-Consort of France and *suo jure* Duchesse de Lorraine et Bar, Élisabeth-Thérèse de Lorraine. Born into the House of Anjou as the consecutive twin to his elder brother, Philippe Louis de France, he was given the courtesy title *Duc de Bourgogne* respectively. However, after the tragic death of his brother five years following the birth of both siblings in the winter of 1738, the young prince thus received the title as *Dauphin de France*, or strictly referred to as *Dauphin de Viennois,* and—from his mother’s inheritance to the throne of Lorraine—Prince Héréditaire de Lorraine*.* Formally, he is styled with the traditional form of address as *Monseigneur le Dauphin.*

Upon his rather sudden upheaval as heir apparent to a prominent realm of Western Europe, he saw himself immediately—and without hesitancy—brought under the attentive care of his father at the Château de Versailles; a court he would promptly observed to be filled with ostentatious pleasure, political strife, and scandalous intrigues. Contrary to Charles' early upbringing, the young prince was furnished and carefully groomed for his future role as sovereign. He received a rigorous program and was educated by scholars selected personally by his father; along the period of intense preparation, he had developed a great interest was in the arts of military warfare, sprouting even at a young age. Politically, during his adolescence, the Dauphin soon found himself aligned with many liberal members of the court, to the dismay of his conservative-minded father, and was saw by the common people as the new bearer of hope upon his own ascension to the kingdom.

## Early Life

### Birth and Baptism

Charles Emmanuel de France was born on 28th May 1732 at the Château de Villetaneuse. He was the second male child to the young King of France, Louis XII Philippe de France, and the Lorrainian princess, Élisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine, Reine-Consort de France. Previous to the birth, his mother had departed from court by the request of the court physicians and the king to Villetaneuse, a faraway royal hunting lodge, two weeks in advance. During the birth, the queen was bestowed with the miracle of conceiving a set of twins, and Charles was born aside with an older brother in the early morning hours of the fierce summer season. He succeeded him with ease after a prolonged period of excruciating accouchement the Reine-Consort experienced for his brother. Both infants, although feeble during the first minutes following the birth, were soon breathing and deemed physically healthy by the queen's wet nurses. The Duchesse de Rohan, who had accompanied his mother during her accommodation at the château, was entrusted as the caretaker of both children until their departure back to court. Upon receiving the infants, she remarked on how Charles’ elder brother was the only one who wept while he was already fast asleep, saying:

> “*It is to be seen that God had drafted over two disparate sons of France; one whose effervescent temperament had shined through its soft petals, possessing the soul with a great spirit—awhile the other held a deep passivity that pleasurably series the tiring minds of all."*
>
>

A set of healthy male twins has been seemed as a wondrous gift that was much rejoiced by Charles’ mother, in whom her position at court was stifled from two poor receptions of previous births of two daughters. Therefore so, both his mother and father’s position were secured with an heir and a spare to the French throne. On the paternal side, the newly born was the grandson of the late king, Philippe XII de France, and the great-great-grandson of the renowned Charles XII Dieudonné. Through his great-grandfather, Charles XIII Auguste, he can trace ancestry to the House of Stuart through Mary Henrietta Stuart, Princess of England and youngest daughter of King Charles I of England and his consort Henriette-Marie de France. On the maternal side, his grandparents were the late Léopold I, Duc de Lorraine, and Élisabeth-Marguerite d’Anjou de Valois, the first cousin once removed to his father and member of the cadet branch of the House of Anjou. Born as the legitimate son of the sovereign, he was styled as the honorific status of *Fils de France.*

After the trial and tribulations of the whole ordeal, the Reine-Consort disembarked back to Versailles—after a week of rest and stay—on the fourth of June, where she would directly present both children to the court and the King himself. Upon their arrival, the King, who was filled with relief for two healthy male children, immediately sought to personally hold his sons. Charles was conferred in appanage to the ducal lands of the Burgundy and was given the name *Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne* by his father, while his elder brother was honored with a more senior title of *Dauphin de France*.

## Issue

With his wife, Marie-Antoinette d’Espagne, he would have seven children following the year 1751, with six of whom surviving to adolescence. They are namely as:

* **Louis Ferdinand Léopold de France**, Monseigneur le Petite Dauphin, Duc de Bretagne, Fil de France (29th March 1751 – 10th November 1760)
* **Marie Thérèse Philippine de France**, Fille de France (12th February 1752 – Present)
* **Louis Joseph** **Raphaël de France**, Monseigneur le Petite Dauphin, Duc de Normandie, Fil de France (23rd May 1754 – Present)
* **Louis Philippe Antoine de France**, Duc de Berry, Fil de France (1st December 1756 – Present)
* **François Auguste Emmanuel de France**, Duc d'Angoulême, Fil de France (11th November 1757 – Present)
* **Louise Victoire Charlotte de France**, Fille de France (9th October 1760 – Present)
* **Élisabeth Antoinette Eugénie de France**, Fille de France (9th October 1760 – Present)

## Titles, Styles, and Honors

### **Titles and Styles**

* **28th May 1732 – 12th December 1738**: *Son Altesse Royale, Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne*
* **12th December 1738 – Present**: *Son Altesse Royale, Monseigneur le Dauphin de France*
	+ **12th December 1738 – Present**: *Son Altesse Royale, Prince Héréditaire de Lorraine and Bar*

### **Honors**

* Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Toison d’Or (Spain)
* Chevalier de l’Ordre de Saint-Michael
* Chevalier de l’Ordre du Saint-Esprit
* Chevalier de l'Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis