Marie-Adélaïde de Bourbon

Marie-Adélaïde de Bourbon, Château Royal d'Amboise

Marie-Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans, was the mother of Louis-Philippe.

In 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution, a portrait of Marie-Adélaïde, dressed in white, her head resting on her hand, her arm supported by a pillow, was painted by her protégée Louise Vigée-Le Brun. It’s hard to read her expression. Perhaps looking at Le Brun with affection?

The original painting is in the Palace of Versailles. This one in the Louis-Phillipe Study, Château Royal d'Amboise, is probably a copy.

Marie-Adélaïde was the personification of 寧為太平犬，不做亂世, Better to be a dog in times of tranquillity, than a human in times of chaos. This has come down to us as The Chinese Curse: May You Live in Interesting Times.

Her mother died when she was a baby, so Marie-Adélaïde was brought up in a convent. Although her father, the kindly, benevolent, Duke of Penthièvre, was the grand-son of Louis XIV, the family was persona non grata because his father, her grandfather, was illegitimate. It was known as the bastard branch. It is still known as such today by the family of Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, legitimist pretender to the French throne.

As a result, it was difficult to find a suitable husband for the fifteen year old convent educated Marie-Adélaïde. Her father wanted Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres, son of the Duke of Orléans, First Prince of the Blood Royal, but the Orléans family distanced itself from bastard branch.

However, minds suddenly changed when Marie-Adélaïde’s brother, the Prince de Lamballe, died young leaving her the sole heiress to a vast Penthièvre family fortune.

Louis XV advised against the wedding. The Duke of Chartres had a terrible reputation, but the Duke of Penthièvre hoped illegitimacy would be forgotten if his daughter married a legitimate Bourbon Orléans.

Although the couple had six children, all born in the Palais Royal, the marriage was a disaster. Her father could not have chosen a worse husband. He had no saving graces. In old parlance he was a rotter on the road to bankruptcy. To preserve her wealth for her children, Marie-Adélaïde left him.

The Revolution was, of course, catastrophic for royalty and anyone with connections to it. It was especially traumatic for Marie-Adélaïde. Her family was torn apart. Her elder sons left France seeking asylum, her daughter left for Switzerland and her two younger sons were put in prison.

Besides the shocking execution of the king and the queen, her estranged husband was executed, her nephew was shot and her sister-in-law, Princess Lamballe, a close friend of Marie-Antoinette, was butchered by the mob. Her father-in-law the Duke of Penthièvre loved her dearly and offered half of his immense fortune in exchange for her life. To no avail. The mob wanted royal blood.

Marie-Adélaïde lived under house arrest with her traumatised father. He never recovered. The last surviving grandson of Louis XIV was shattered to think her husband, the first cousin of Louis XVI, First Prince of the Blood, in direct line to the throne, voted in favour of executing the king.

When he died, Marie-Adélaïde was put in prison to await Madame La Guillotine. She narrowly escaped death when Robespierre was deposed. She met fellow prisoner Jacques-Marie Rouzet, a politician from a poor background. During the trial of Louis XVI he voted against the death sentence. He advocated appealing to the people. When he signed an official protest, he was arrested. To the horror and embarrassment of her children Marie-Adélaïde fell in love with him. She told them he was the love of her life.

Released from prison, back in favour, Rouzet secured her release and that of her two youngest sons. They all lived together until a law was passed to ban all remaining members of the House of Bourbon from France. When Marie-Adélaïde moved to Spain, Rouzet joined her.

After a separation of sixteen years, Louis-Philippe visited his mother to ask permission to marry. Marie Adélaïde attended his wedding to Marie-Amélie* in Palermo.

She and Rouzet returned to France in 1814. After legal battles which lasted until her death in 1821, the bulk of her inheritance including Château Amboise was recovered. When Rouzet died in 1820, much to her family’s disgust, he was buried in the new family chapel Marie-Adélaïde had built in Dreux. The original was destroyed by Revolutionaries.

Marie Adélaïde did not live to see her son become King of the French in 1830. She died in her château at Ivry-sur-Seine a year after the love of her life and was buried near him in the new chapel.

After the accession of Louis Philippe, it was enlarged and renamed Chapelle Royale de Dreux, a necropolis for the royal family. Rouzet’s tomb was destroyed. His coffin was placed under an unmarked slab.

Post by Pamela, photography by Mark.