Louise d'Orléans, consort of Leopold I.
ShareThe first Queen of the Belgians, Louise d'Orléans, consort of Leopold I, is a figure I have long found fascinating and sympathetic. Since she was generally shy and retiring, died young, and was soon relegated to a vague, pious memory, she has been called la reine oubliée, the "Forgotten Queen." She certainly deserves to be remembered, though! Here are some facts about this lady; I hope they will show why she is intriguing and appealing...
- Her full baptismal name was Louise Marie Thérèse Charlotte Isabelle. The Louise was after her godfather, Louis XVIII of France; the Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte after her godmother, the Duchesse d'Angoulême, only surviving child of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, and Louise's first cousin once removed. Her family called her simply "Louise," but the Belgians, for some reason, called her "Louise-Marie."
- She adored her father, the controversial Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans (later "King of the French") but was even closer to her mother, the universally revered Marie-Amélie of Naples. She inherited much of her mother's piety and charity, along with a certain amount of her father's political liberalism.
5 comments:
Interesting, I had never heard of her. The picture is just lovely!
I remember some of the principles from your book, "Madame Royale".
Thank you for the link!
I find it interesting that she came from a family with such a problematic background and bad reputation, yet was such a good and virtuous, and, ultimately, I think, saintly person. It goes to show that grace abounds everywhere.
Sorry to comment twice on this, but I am sure that the sacrifices of people like Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and Madame Royale must have won great graces for their relatives on this side of the family, too, although some seem to see them as ineluctably opposed. Not only Louise, but her sister Marie and her younger brother, the Duc de Nemours, seem to have become very holy. And even their father, the radical Louis-Philippe, in the end, accepted the last rites on the urging of his pious wife and died at peace with the Church (much to the consolation of Louise).
I've never seen this portrait. Thanks for posting it.
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