Marie-Florentine Valérie de Montmorency de Luxembourg

## Marie-Florentine Valérie de Montmorency-Luxembourg

Painting of Marie-Florentine Valérie (c. 1752)

Mademoiselle de Montmorency-Luxembourg

(1734 - 1751)

## Biography

### Full Name

Marie-Florentine Valérie de Aubusson de la Feuillade (née Montmorency-Luxembourg)

### Born

26th February 1734, Château de Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, Royaume of France (age 20)

### House

Montmorency de Luxembourg (1734 - 1751)Aubusson de la Feuillade

(1751 - Present)

### Spouse

Philippe Guillaume Raphaël de Aubusson de la Feuillade (m. 1751)

### Romantic Interests

Maximilien Sébastien Florent, Prince d'Orange

### Religion

Roman Catholicism

**Valérie, Duchesse de Roannis** (Marie-Florentine Valérie de Aubusson de la Feuillade, née Montmorency de Luxembourg; 1734 - Present) is a French noblewoman and was a Dame d'Honneur to Raphaëlle d'Espagne, the previous Dauphine of France, she now serves **Joséphe de Bavière** the new Dauphine as a Dame d'Honneur.

## Appearance

Marie-Florentine Valérie is every inch the figure of health and charms, she had shown no sign of birth defects that plagued many of the nobility from excessive inbreeding and stood at a decent 5'3". Her eyes are brown alongside her hair which is such a deep brown it could be confused with black, but this was covered up most of the time by powder and occasionally wigs. Despite Valérie's enthusiasm for delicious desserts, she maintains a svelte and healthy figure. She is mainly seen in more lighter dresses such as pastels, whites and baby colours but in black during mourning periods. She wears a light amount of makeup seeing no necessity in using an excessive amount and more of a tool to cover up minimal blemishes and spots. Her overall appearance gives a very youthful and energetic glow and seems to not age with time until quite a while later on in life.

## Early Years (1734 - 1747)

### **Birth**

Marie-Florentine Valérie was born on the 26th of February, 1734 on a sunny winter afternoon, it is said during her birth the first spring blooms were sighted. This was thought to be a sign of future charm and beauty by her parents sent from God through their prayers.

###

### **Toddlerhood**

As Marie-Florentine Valérie began to grow up, she showed quick and early signs of the ability to speak and walk and was expressing great health through her ability, physique, and manners. She was showing no signs of birth defects that plagued many nobles of her time, she had suffered from smallpox during her infancy but it did not mark her skin nor affect her health, it may have even improved her immune system greatly.

### **Childhood**

As Marie-Florentine Valérie entered childhood, she began to be educated by the finest tutors ordered by her doting mother and father and her academic ability greatly excelled. By age 11 she could speak Latin, English, French, Italian, and Spanish fluently and said to be as articulate as a woman of 25. She showed her most ability in the studies of History, Mathematics and Scientific Studies, this impressed many of her tutors to the point where they suggested she be sent to a university to further excel her education.

## Adolescence (1747 - Present)

### **Early Adolescence**

From the ages of 13-15, Marie-Florentine Valérie had developed rapidly into a maturing woman. Her height had finally stopped growing at around 5'3" and her body was shown to be a quite attractive physique of the time, her waist was most aided with corsets which allowed her to achieve a more shaped and smaller waist.

### **Ambition in Education (1749 - 1751)**

As Marie-Florentine Valérie's education continued, she had grown quite ambitious and requested to be educated in a university in Florence under the encouragement of her tutors, however, her parents found that unnecessary and unwanted for a noble girl and therefore denied her to pursue higher education. This ambition was put to a complete stop when her marriage was finally arranged with Philippe Guillaume Raphael de Aubusson de la Feuillade.

### **Marriage**

On the 5th of August, 1751, Marie-Florentine Valérie de Montmorency-Luxembourg had married Philippe Guillaume Raphael de Aubusson de la Feuillade at age 17 which earned her the new name of Marie-Florentine Valérie de Aubusson de la Feuillade and the title of Duchesse de Roannis which brought her birth house a higher level of respect. She wore a beautiful white dress decorated with delicate lacing and a long train, she kneeled alongside her husband happily as she signed her name on the marriage document and gave a kiss to him. She had consummated the union but had not become pregnant yet.

### **Tragedy of 1753**

In the year 1753, Marie-Florentine Valérie suffered great loss and trauma from the deaths of two people greatly close to her, the previous Dauphine, Raphaëlle d'Espagne had died during childbirth as she gave birth to two sons which greatly altered her personality for some time. The next death was the Duchesse de Guise, a woman who had gifted her a guide book on etiquette and helped Marie-Florentine Valérie to become well mannered and collected, these two deaths caused her. She underwent great mental trauma but began to recover by the end of the year having further matured from this experience.

## Religion

Marie-Florentine Valérie is a staunch Roman Catholic, she is tolerant of other Protestants in the room but does not recognize the Protestant Reformation that had occurred in the 1500s, simply saying any deviation from Vatican tradition and value is false and that Protestants must be re-converted to Catholicism through religious re-teaching.

Marie-Florentine Valérie recognizes Catherine of Aragon's descendant, Mary I of England (nicknamed Bloody Mary) the only legitimate ruler of the Tudor dynasty out of all of Henry VIII's wives, and that the Stuart dynasty would have restored Catholicism in England had James VI & I been raised properly by her mother, Mary Queen of Scots into becoming a Catholic leader had she not been beheaded by Elizabeth I.