- Maria Teresa Felicitas d'Este
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Maria Teresa Felicitas d'Este (October 6, 1726 – April 30, 1754) was born a Princess of Modena and was by marriage the Duchess of Penthièvre. She was the mother-in-law of Philippe Égalité and thus the grandmother to the future Louis-Philippe of France.
Contents
Life
Born in Emilia-Romagna[1], a region of her native Modena, she was the daughter of Francesco III, Duke of Modena and Reggio and his wife, the French princess Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans. Her mother was a granddaughter of Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan.
One of nine children, she was the first daughter of the family. Her parents' marriage was not happy, and her mother eventually returned to France to live. The duchess took up residence in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris with the permission of Louis XV. It was while her mother was in France that a marriage was arranged between Maria Teresa and her cousin, Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre. Her mother also helped arrange the marriage of Maria Teresa's younger sister, Maria Fortunata d'Este, to Louis François II de Bourbon, prince de Conti.
Marriage
The duc de Penthièvre was Maria Teresa's mother's first cousin. Charlotte Aglaé's mother was the sister of the duke's father, Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse. The young duke had inherited a vast fortune when his father died in 1737.
A proxy wedding ceremony took place in Modena. It was followed on December 29 1744 by another ceremony at the Palace of Versailles. In France, her name was rendered as Marie Thérèse Félicité. According to contemporaries, the marriage between the duke and his wife, now known officially as S.A.S., the duchesse de Penthièvre[2], was a very happy one. It produced many children:
- Louis Marie de Bourbon (1746-1749);
- Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, prince de Lamballe (1747-1768); married the princesse de Lamballe
- Jean Marie de Bourbon (1748-1755), duc de Châteauvillain ;
- Vincent Marie Louis de Bourbon (1750-1752), comte de Guingamp ;
- Marie Louise de Bourbon (1751-1753) ;
- Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Penthièvre (1753-1821):
- married Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans - the parents of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French;
- Louis Marie Félicité de Bourbon (1754), died at birth.
Death
Due to the high mortality rate of the era, only two of the Penthièvre children survived into adulthood. Marie Thérèse died at the Château de Rambouillet after giving birth to Louis Marie Félicité de Bourbon, who died soon afterwards. Originally buried in the chapel at Rambouillet, after the Bourbon Restauration in the early 19th centry, she was later moved to the Chapelle royale de Dreux by her daughter.
- Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, her second but only surviving son, went on to marry Princess Maria Teresa Louise of Savoy-Carignan, who after his death became the favourite of the future Queen Marie Antoinette.
- Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, her youngest and only surviving daughter, went on to marry the Duke of Chartres, born Louis Philippe Joseph of Orléans. It is through Louise Marie Adelaide that Marie Thérèse is an ancestor of many of the royal houses of Europe.
Her husband was very affected by her death. Another of her sons, Jean Marie, died the next year.
Gallery
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Maria Teresa's family; The Duke of Penthièvre; Prince of Lamballe; Princess of Lamballe;Mademoiselle de Penthièvre next to the Countess of Toulouse
Ancestry
References
Categories:- House of Bourbon-Penthièvre
- 1726 births
- 1754 deaths
- 18th century Italian people
- People from Modena
- Deaths in childbirth
- House of Este
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