Marie-Thérèse of Spain

**Marie-Thérèse of Spain** was the *Queen of France and Navarre* and thewife of Louis XIV.

## *Related Pages*

* **Marie-Thérèse of Spain/Gallery**
* **Marie-Thérèse's Funeral**
* **Kingdom of Spain**
* **House of Habsburg**
* **House of Bourbon**

## Personality

Marie-Thérèse is a pious queen, due to her Spanish backround and upbringing.

## Biography

### **Early Life**

Princess Marie-Thérèse was born on the tenth of September 1638 to the King of Spain. Marie-Thérèse traveled to France in 1660 to marry Louis XIV on the ninth of June. The marriage was arranged to bring peace between both France and Spain, an alliance which Louis' mother; Queen Mother Anne of Austria was desperate for, which is why she choose her niece to become the next Queen of France. This blood connection allowed Marie-Thérèse and Anne to grow close with one another, especially as the French court left Marie-Thérèse very isolated due to both the country of her birth and how religious she was.

### **Season One**

Marie-Thérèse wishes to return to Paris and have a low-key birth however Louis and her Doctor (Masson) agree that it would be best to stay at Versailles. However, after giving birth Louis finds that in fact the girl is a mullatto, and could not be is child. Louis chooses to have her confined to her chambers for a period of time and the girl is sent to a nunnery, and er blackamoor jester,Nabo is mysteriously killed. After time has passes Louis chooses to let his wife return to her duties as Queen by allowing her to entertain her old friend Prince Annaba, this cheers her up, as Prince Annaba is her former lover and father of her mullato female infant that went to the convent at birth. . Later she accompanies her husband to the front lines of war, as he signs an important treaty.

Whilst Louis is at odds with many members of the French nobility, as they are refusing to come pay homage at Versailles Marie-Thérèse is able to advise her husband intimately on how he should encourage the nobles to come with 'carrots' instead of 'the stick'. The Queen begins to help Louise de la Vallière, through the series. Although once the King chief Mistresses she craves a life of piety and forgiveness from God, for sleeping with a married man. The Queen although resentful at first sees the pain Louise has suffered as she has began harming herself hoping and praying that it will give her God's mercy, but Marie-Thérèse can't bear to see her in this pain as well because she is also pregnant (with the King's illegitimate child). However at first Louis refuses to let her leave but in the end Louis allows her to leave court and join a nunnery.

During the King's great illness the King's closest friend's and allies make up a Council who must choose who to make Regent if the worst happens and Louis dies, the Council in the end choose Marie-Thérèse to act as Queen Regent and the King's Minister of Finance: Jean-Baptiste Colbert to act as a Co-Regent along side her, to the annoyance of the King's brother: Philippe. After the King's illness passes he throughs a ball, after this Marie-Thérèse enters the King's chambers and insists on staying there with him.

During the night sadly the Princess Henriette enters the chamber severely ill, with the Queen giving her support during her illness. Marie-Thérèse ends the series praying for the diseased the Princess, unaware that her son has being kidnapped by Rohan.

## Relationships

### **M A I N**

* **Marie-Thérèse and Louis**
* **Marie-Thérèse and Leopold**
* **Marie-Thérèse and Montespan**
* **Marie-Thérèse and Liselotte**

### Louis, The Dauphin

The Queen appears to be as close as a Queen can be with her son at the time, especially as the Dauphin was sent to different Palaces through France and never truly stayed with his mother and father.

### Nabo

Her dwarven jester. Since her marriage to Louis XIV was a loveless marriage, she sought comfort in Nabo.

### Father Pascal

The Queen hired him as his personal confessor. She sought solace in him when Louis was continuing his affair with Madame de Montespan, however, there was no romantic chemistry between them.

## Historical Facts

* Her appearance was very different from the one in the series. She should have had blonde hair and blue eyes because she was a *Habsburg*.