Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon

Background

Louise Bénédicte was born on November 8, 1676, at the Hôtel de Condé in Paris. She was the eighth child born to the then Duke and Duchess of Enghien.

Education

Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon received the typical education given to girls of the nobility in France and was taught reading, writing, dancing, singing and other matters which were considered necessary for a young aristocrat.

Career

She held a little court at Sceaux, where she gave brilliant entertainments and immersed herself in political intrigues. Displeased with the action of the regent Orleans in degrading the illegitimate children of Louis XIV from their precedence above the peers of France, she induced her husband to join in the Cellamare conspiracy for the transference of the regency to the king of Spain. The plot, however, was discovered, and she was imprisoned in 1719. The following year she returned to Sceaux, where she resumed her salon and gathered round her a brilliant company of wits and poets.

Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon died on January 23, 1753, in Paris and was buried at the Saint Jean-Baptiste church in Sceaux.

Achievements

• Duchess of Maine, Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon revelled in politics and the arts, and held a popular salon at the Hôtel du Maine as well as at the Château de Sceaux.

Personality

Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon was very outspoken and witty, and had a terrible temper. Although born with a lame arm, she was generally thought to be the most attractive of the Condé daughters.

She was not very stout, used a great quantity of paint, had fine eyes, a white skin, and fair hair.

Connections

On May 19, 1692, Louise Bénédicte married Louis Auguste de Bourbon in the chapel of the Palace of Versailles. The couple had seven children, but only three children grew to adulthood.

Father:

Henri Jules de Bourbon

Henri Jules de Bourbon was prince de Condé, from 1686 to his death.

Mother:

Anne of Bavaria

Anne of Bavaria was a Princess of the Palatinate and Countess Palatine of Simmern by birth and was the wife of Henri Jules de Bourbon.

Sister:

Anne Marie de Bourbon

Anne Marie de Bourbon was the daughter of the Prince of Condé and of a Bavarian princess.

Sister:

Anne de Bourbon

Sister:

Marie Thérèse de Bourbon

Marie Thérèse de Bourbon was the titular Queen consort of Poland in 1697.

Sister:

Marie Anne de Bourbon

Marie Anne de Bourbon was the daughter of the Prince of Condé and a Bavarian princess by birth.

Daughter:

Mademoiselle d'Aumale

Daughter:

Louise Françoise de Bourbon

Louise Françoise de Bourbon was a member of the legitimised House of Bourbon-Maine.

Daughter:

Mademoiselle de Dombes

Son:

Louis Charles de Bourbon

Louis Charles de Bourbon was the last member of the legitimised house of Maine branch of the House of Bourbon, a legitimised, cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty.

Son:

Louis Auguste de Bourbon

Louis Auguste de Bourbon was a member of the legitimised House of Bourbon-Maine.

Son:

Charles de Bourbon

Son:

Louis Constantin de Bourbon

Brother:

Louis de Bourbon

Louis de Bourbon was a prince du sang as a member of the reigning House of Bourbon at the French court of Louis XIV.

Brother:

Henri de Bourbon

Brother:

Louis Henri de Bourbon

husband:

Louis-Auguste de Bourbon

Louis-Auguste de Bourbon was a legitimised son of the French king Louis XIV and his official mistress, Madame de Montespan.