Victoire de France, Daughter of France was the seventh child and fifth daughter of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort Maria Leszczyńska.
Background
Originally known as Madame Quatrième, signifying the fourth daughter of the King (an older sister had died in February 1733, before her birth), she was later known as Madame Victoire. Marie Louise Thérèse Victoire de France was born at the Palace of Versailles. At the age of 15, she was allowed to return to her father"s court, where her father"s attention increasingly focused on his mistresses, Madame de Pompadour and later Madame du Barry.
Career
Unlike the older children of Louis XV, Madame Victoire was not raised at the Palace of Versailles. Rather, she was sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud. She remained there till 1748 when she was 15.
Versailles
Despite her illness, though, the Queen of Spain survived another five years.
In 1768, her mother Maria Leszczyńska died, her father having acquired a new maîtresse-en-titre, the comtesse du Barry, not long previously. In 1770, Madame Victoire"s nephew, Louis-Auguste, the Dauphin of France, married Archduchess Maria Antoinette of Austria at Versailles, and then permanently exiled du Barry from court.
French Revolution
After the storming of Versailles by an army of hungry Parisian women on 6 October 1789, Mesdames Victoire and Adélaïde, now alone as the only surviving children of Louis XV, took up residence at the Château de Bellevue. They arrived in Rome on 16 April 1791.
Death
As a result of the increasing influence of Revolutionary France, the sisters were forced to constantly move.
They then moved to Corfu in 1799, and finally ended up in Trieste, where Victoire died of breast cancer. Adélaïde died one year later in Rome. Madame Victoire"s nephews included (among others) Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, Louis XVI of France, Louis XVIII of France, Charles X of France.
Her nieces included Madame Élisabeth and Queen Maria Louisa of Spain.
Her goddaughter was Angélique Victoire, comtesse de Chastellux. 11 May 1733 – 7 June 1799 Madame Victoire, fille de France.