Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon
Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon | |||||
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Mademoiselle de Sens | |||||
Portrait of Élisabeth Alexandrine by Jean-Marc Nattier | |||||
Born | (1705-09-05)5 September 1705 Hôtel de Condé, Paris, France | ||||
Died | 15 April 1765(1765-04-15) (aged 59) Paris, France | ||||
Burial | Carmel du faubourg Saint-Jacques, Paris, France | ||||
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House | Bourbon-Condé | ||||
Father | Louis III, Prince of Condé | ||||
Mother | Louise-Françoise de Bourbon | ||||
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Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon (Élisabeth Thérèse Alexandrine; 5 September 1705 – 15 April 1765) was a French princess of the blood and a daughter of Louis III, Prince of Condé. Her father was the grandson of the Grand Condé and her mother, Madame la Duchesse, the eldest surviving daughter of Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan.
Biography
Early life
Élisabeth Alexandrine was born in Paris on 5 September 1705, as was one of nine children and her parents' youngest daughter. Named in honour of her older sister Louise Élisabeth and her uncle Louis Alexandre de Bourbon (Count of Toulouse), she was known by her second name of Alexandrine.
From birth, she was known at court as Mademoiselle de Gex but would later take on the courtesy title of Mademoiselle de Sens. She was known as Mlle de Sens most of her life. As a princesse du sang, Alexandrine was addressed with the style of Her Serene Highness.
Like most of her sisters, she would never marry. She was considered as a possible bride for her older cousin, Louis d'Orléans, but her aunt, the proud Duchess of Orléans, wanted a more prestigious bride for her son. In 1725, she as well as her sister Henriette-Louise was among the women suggested by her brother, the then Prime minister, as queen of France by marriage to Louis XV. She was one of the final four seriously considered candidates when the original list of 99 princesses was first reduced to seventeen and then to four, leaving her and her sister alongside Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange and Princess Amelia of Great Britain as the final alternatives—and when the two British princesses were removed from the list because of religious issues, she and her sister were the only two remaining candidates. Her brother the Prime minister finally recommended her sister Henriette before her, because he considered Henriette to be more attractive than Alexandrine.[1] In the end, her sister was also refused and Maria Leszczyńska, one the candidates removed when the list was reduced to 17, was chosen instead.
Adult life
Élisabeth Alexandrine was never to play a very prominent political role. She was, however, a great friend of the king's mistress, the famous Madame de Pompadour, who had been introduced at court by Alexandrine's older sister and namesake, Louise Élisabeth.
Like her older sister, Louise Anne, she owned much land and many private residences outside of the capital. In 1734, she bought the Hôtel de Noirmoutier on the rue de Grenelles in Paris. She also bought much land surrounding the hôtel and considerably enlarged the property. In 1744, she bought the estates and lordships of Villegénis and Igny. She remodelled the Château de Villegénis in 1755. The cost of the remodelling was 430,000 livres. To raise that sum, she sold the estate and seigneurie of Vallery, the traditional burial place of the Condé family, to M. and Mme. de Launay, for 280,000 livres. François Desportes, painter of the king's hunts, supplied large canvases for the appartements.
By the time of her death, she had accumulated a large fortune from the old pensions originally assigned to her cousin, Mademoiselle du Maine (1707–1743), the daughter of Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine and his wife, the famous salon hostess Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon. Élisabeth Alexandrine died in Paris on 15 April 1765, at the age of 59. Her nephew, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, was her heir. She was buried at the Carmelite Convent of the Faubourg Saint-Jacques in Paris.
Ancestry
References
- ^ Edmond et Jules de Goncourt: La duchesse de Châteauroux et ses soeurs, Paris, 1906
- ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 44.
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- Granddaughters of France : Anne Marie Louise, Duchess of Montpensier
- Marguerite Louise, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
- Élisabeth Marguerite, Duchess of Guise
- Françoise Madeleine, Duchess of Savoy
- Marie Anne, Mademoiselle de Chartres
- Princess of the Blood : Anne Geneviève de Bourbon-Condé, Duchess of Longueville
- Daughters of France : Marie Therèse, Madame Royale
- Granddaughters of France : Marie Louise d'Orléans, Queen of Spain
- Anne Marie d'Orléans, Queen of Sardinia
- Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Duchess of Lorraine
- Princesses of the Blood : Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchess of Berry
- Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans
- Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans, Duchess of Modena
- Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Queen of Spain
- Philippine Élisabeth d'Orléans
- Louise Diane d'Orléans
- Marie Thérèse de Bourbon-Condé, Princess of Conti
- Anne Marie Victoire de Bourbon, mademoiselle de Condé
- Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé, Duchess of Maine
- Marie Anne de Bourbon-Condé, Duchess of Vendôme
- Marie Anne de Bourbon-Conti, Duchess of Bourbon
- Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon-Conti, mademoiselle de la Roche-sur-Yon
- Princesses of the Blood : Louise Marie d'Orléans
- Marie Anne Éléonore de Bourbon, mademoiselle de Condé
- Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé, Princess of Conti
- Louise Anne de Bourbon-Condé, mademoiselle de Charolais
- Marie Anne de Bourbon-Condé, mademoiselle de Clermont
- Henriette Louise de Bourbon-Condé, mademoiselle de Vermandois
- Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon-Condé, mademoiselle de Sens
- Louise Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, Duchess of Orléans
- Daughters of France : Louise Élisabeth, Duchess of Parma
- Madame Henriette
- Louise, Madame Troisième
- Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Louvois
- Madame Victoire
- Sophie, Duchess of Louvois
- Madame Thérèse
- Madame Louise
- Princess of the Blood : Bathilde d'Orléans, Duchess of Bourbon
- Daughters of France : Marie Zéphyrine, Madame Royale
- Marie Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia
- Madame Élisabeth
- Princesses of the Blood : Adélaïde of Orléans
- Louise Adélaïde de Bourbon, mademoiselle de Condé
- Daughters of France : Marie-Thérèse, Duchess of Angoulême
- Granddaughter of France : Sophie, Mademoiselle d'Artois
- Louise d'Artois