Anne Marie d‘Orléans

**Anne Marie d’Orléans** is a French princess and the second daughter of Philippe of France and his first wife Henriette of England.

She is also the younger sister of Marie Louise.

## Biography

### **Early Life**

She was the daughter of Philippe I, younger brother of Louis XIV, and Henrietta of England, the youngest daughter of Charles I of England. Her mother died at the Castle of Saint-Cloud (in the series at the Palace of Versailles) ten months after Anne Marie's birth. A year later, her father married 19-year-old Princess Palatine, who became very close to her stepdaughters. Her half-brother Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the future regent of France, was born of her father's second marriage.

Her stepmother later described her as one of the most amiable and virtuous of women.

### **Season Two**

When Princess Palatine meets Philippe for the first time, she wants to get to know Anne Marie and her elder sister Marie Louise.

### **Marriage**

Anne Marie married Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy without hesitation. The alliance should bind the duchy more closely to the French crown and the plans of France. The fact that the only 18-year-old groom initially opposed this marriage and gave his consent only after an extremely long time of reflection, shows very clearly that it was a marriage that was closed purely for political reasons. The Gazette de France announced the proposed connection of the two on January 28, 1684.

The proxy marriage of Anne Marie and Víctor Amadeus took place at Versailles on 10 April 1684, the day after the signature of the marriage contract. Her husband-to-be was represented by her cousin, Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine. Louis XIV gave her a dowry of 900,000 livres.

The Duke of Orléans accompanied his daughter as far as Juvisy-sur-Orge (18 kilometers south of Paris), and the comtesse de Lillebonne accompanied her all the way to Savoy. She met her husband Victor at Chambéry on 6 May, the nuptials being performed at the castle by the Archbishop of Grenoble. Two days later, the newlyweds made their "Joyous Entry" into Turin.

Anne Marie bore nine children, beginning with Marie-Adélaïde just a few months after Anne Marie's 16th birthday. The birth nearly cost Anne Marie her life, prompting administration of the viaticum.

Despite his marriage ties to France, Victor Amadeus joined the anti-French side in the War of the Spanish Succession. Anne Marie was appointed by him to serve as regent of Savoy during his absence in the war, a task she handled with maturity and judgement. In 1706, Turin was besieged by French forces under the command of Anne Marie's half-brother Philippe d'Orléans, and Spanish forces of her cousin and son-in-law Philip V. She and her sons Victor Amadeus and Carlo Emanuele were forced to flee to Genoa.

When the war was ended in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht, Victor Amadeus received the Kingdom of Sicily, formerly a Spanish possession. Anne Marie's stepmother wrote: *I shall neither gain nor lose by the peace, but one thing I shall enjoy is to see our Duchess of Savoy become a queen, because I love her as though she were my own child ...* When Victor Amadeus left for his coronation in Sicily, he had originally planned to leave Anne Marie behind to function as regent in his absence, but as he feared that she would let herself be directed by his mother because of her loyalty to her, he changed his mind and took her along with him instead. Anne Marie was crowned with him in Sicily.

At the death of her eldest son in 1715, both she and Victor Amadeus fell into severe depression and left the capital to mourn, leaving Marie Jeanne to handle their official duties. Victor Amadeus was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important domain of Sardinia in 1720, but retained the title of King.

Anne Marie died at half past seven in the morning on August 26, 1728 in Turin, one day before her 59th birthday. Her grave is in the Superga near Turin.

## Historical Facts

* In her 44-year marriage, she always put her own wishes and needs behind her husband's. She even learned to accept the twelve-year, extramarital liaison of her husband Victor Amadeus II with Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, Countess of Verrua, without grumbling.
* Her first daughter Marie-Adélaïde married Louis, Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV in 1697, and was the mother of Louis XV.