Anne Marie d'Orléans

Anne Marie d'Orléans
Queen consort of Sardinia Duchess consort of Savoy Queen consort of Sicily
Anne Marie d'Orléans, possibly by Louis Ferdinand Elle
Born	27 August 1669 Château de Saint-Cloud, France
Died	26 August 1728 (aged 58) Villa della Regina, Piedmont
Spouse	Victor Amadeus II of Savoy
Issue Detail	Maria Adélaïde, Dauphine of France Maria Luisa, Queen of Spain Victor Amadeus, Prince of Piedmont Charles Emmanuel, King of Sardinia
Full name French: Anne Marie d'Orléans Italian: Anna Maria de Orleans
House	Orléans
Father	Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Mother	Henrietta of England
Signature

Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669 – 26 August 1728) was the first Queen consort of Sardinia and the maternal grandmother of Louis XV of France and niece of Louis XIV of France. She is also an important figure in British history (see Jacobite Succession below).

Youth

She was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV, and Henrietta of England, the youngest daughter of Charles I of England. Her mother died at the Château de Saint-Cloud ten months after Anne Marie's birth. A year later, her father married 21-year-old Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, who became very close to her stepdaughters. Her half-brother Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the future regent of France, was born of her father's second marriage.

Her stepmother later described her as one of the most amiable and virtuous of women.^[1]

Marriage

To maintain French influence in the Italian states, her uncle King Louis XIV arranged her marriage, at the age of fourteen, to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, then Duke of Savoy, later King of Sicily and then of Sardinia. Louis XIV was an ally of her future mother-in-law, Marie Jeanne, and supported Marie Jeanne when she extended her regency even after her actual mandate as regent had come to an end in 1680: Marie Jeanne did, in fact, not surrender her position as regent until shortly before her son's wedding.^[2]

The proxy marriage of Anne Marie and Víctor Amadeus took place at Versailles on 10 April 1684, the day after the signature of the marriage contract. Her husband-to-be was represented by her cousin, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine. Louis XIV gave her a dowry of 900,000 livres.^[3]

The Duke of Orléans accompanied his daughter as far as Juvisy-sur-Orge (18 kilometers south of Paris), and the comtesse de Lillebonne accompanied her all the way to Savoy. She met her husband Victor at Chambéry on 6 May, the nuptials being performed at the castle by the Archbishop of Grenoble. Two days later, the newlyweds made their "Joyous Entry" into Turin.

Anne Marie bore nine children, beginning with Marie-Adélaïde just a few months after Anne Marie's 16th birthday. The birth nearly cost Anne Marie her life, prompting administration of the viaticum.^[4] Marie-Adélaïde married Louis, Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV in 1697, and was the mother of Louis XV. But both she and her husband died before he could succeed to the throne.

This marriage was arranged with the assistance of the maréchal de Tessé and of Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, comtesse de Verrué, who was Victor's mistress from 1689 till 1700.

Her husband had two children with Jeanne. Nonetheless, when he fell ill with smallpox, Anne Marie nursed him until his recovery.

Duchess and Queen

After her arrival to Savoy, Anne Marie came under the influence under her pro-French mother-in-law, who maintained a powerful position as a French ally at the court of Savoy, and she was described as a dutiful and humble daughter-in-law, who loyally adhered to Marie Jeanne's wishes.^[5] Her close relationship with her mother-in-law was not viewed favorably by her spouse, who regarded it as a political threat, as he had long been opposed to his mother's influence in politics. When Victor Amadeus severed his ties with France in 1690, Anne Marie and her children accompanied her mother-in-law when they demonstratively left the capital in protest.^[6]

Despite his marriage ties to France, Victor Amadeus joined the anti-French side in the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1706, Turin was besieged by French forces under the command of Anne Marie's half-brother Philippe d'Orléans, and Spanish forces of her cousin and son-in-law Philip V. She and her sons Victor Amadeus and Carlo Emanuele were forced to flee to Genoa.^[7]

When the war was ended in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht, Victor Amadeus received the Kingdom of Sicily, formerly a Spanish possession. Anne Marie's stepmother wrote: I shall neither gain nor lose by the peace, but one thing I shall enjoy is to see our Duchess of Savoy become a queen, because I love her as though she were my own child ...^[8] He was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important domain of Sardinia in 1720, but retained the title of King. When Victor Amadeus left for his coronation in Sicily, he had originally planned to leave Anne Marie behind to function as regent in his absence, but as he feared that she would let herself be directed by his mother because of her loyalty to her, he changed his mind and took her along with him instead.^[9] At the death of her eldest son in 1715, both she and Victor Amadeus fell into severe depression and left the capital to mourn, leaving Marie Jeanne to handle their official representational tasks.^[10]

As the Savoyard consort, Anne-Marie had the use of the Royal Palace of Turin, the vast Palazzina di caccia di Stupinigi outside the capital, and the Vigna di Madama Reale.^[11]

Queen Anne Marie died of heart failure at her villa on 26 August 1728, the day before her 59th birthday. She is buried at the Basilica of Superga in Turin, where all her children, except Marie-Adélaïde and Maria Luisa, are also buried.

Jacobite succession

From 1714 to 1720, Anne Marie d'Orléans was the heiress presumptive to the Jacobite claim to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. These claims were held at the time by James Francis Edward Stuart ("the Old Pretender", son of James II). Anne Marie became heiress presumptive with the death of James' sister Queen Anne in 1714. She was displaced as heir by the birth of the Old Pretender's son, Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"), on 31 December 1720. Charles Edward and his brother Henry, Cardinal Stuart, both died without legitimate issue, so the descendants of Anne Marie d'Orléans inherited the Jacobite claim, i.e. they would have inherited the British crown had it not been for the Act of Settlement, which excluded the claims of the Catholic Stuarts and d'Orléans' and settled the throne on the nearest Protestant relatives, the Hanoverians.

Issue

During her marriage, Anne Marie gave birth nine children, of whom only three survived to adulthood and one outlived her:^[12][13]

• Princess Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (b. Turin, 6 December 1685 - d. Versailles, 12 February 1712), married Louis, Duke of Burgundy and was the mother of Louis XV of France.
• Princess Maria Anna of Savoy (b. Turin, 14 August 1687 - d. Turin, 5 August 1690).
• Princess Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy (b. Turin, 17 September 1688 - d. Madrid, 14 February 1714), married King Philip V of Spain.
• Stillborn daughter (Turin, 6 June 1690).
• Stillborn daughter (Turin, 19 July 1691).
• Stillborn son (Turin, 9 November 1697).
• Victor Amadeus Filippo Giuseppe, Prince of Piedmont (b. Turin, 6 May 1699 - d. of smallpox, Turin, 22 March 1715).
• Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy (b. Turin, 27 April 1701 - d. Turin, 20 February 1773), King of Sardinia.
• Prince Emanuele Philibert of Savoy (b. Turin, 1 December 1705 - d. Turin, 19 December 1705), Duke of Chablais.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Anne Marie d'Orléans

16. Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (=28)               8. Henry IV of France (=14)                       17. Jeanne III of Navarre (=29)               4. Louis XIII of France                             18. Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany               9. Marie de' Medici (=15)                       19. Johanna of Austria               2. Philippe I, Duke of Orléans                                   20. Philip II of Spain               10. Philip III of Spain                       21. Anna of Austria               5. Anne of Austria                             22. Charles II of Austria               11. Margaret of Austria                       23. Maria Anna of Bavaria               1. Anne Marie d'Orléans                                         24. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley               12. James I of England                       25. Mary, Queen of Scots               6. Charles I of England                             26. Frederick II of Denmark               13. Anne of Denmark                       27. Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin               3. Princess Henrietta of England                                   28. Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (=16)               14. Henry IV of France (=8)                       29. Jeanne III of Navarre (=17)               7. Henrietta Maria of France                             30. Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (=18)               15. Marie de' Medici (=9)                       31. Johanna of Austria (=19)

References

1. Williams, H. Noel. "A Rose of Savoy, Marie Adelaide of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, Mother of Louis XV". InternetArchive.org. Retrieved 2009-12-15.
2. Clarissa Campbell Orr: Queenship in Europe 1660-1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge University Press (2004)
3. Williams. H. Noel, A Rose of Savoy, Marie Adelaide of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, Mother of Louis XV, New York, 1909, pg.17
4. Williams, H. Noel. A Rose of Savoy: Marie Adelaide of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, Mother of Louis XV, New York, 1909, pg.34
5. Clarissa Campbell Orr: Queenship in Europe 1660-1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge University Press (2004)
6. Clarissa Campbell Orr: Queenship in Europe 1660-1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge University Press (2004)
7. Storrs 1999, p. 3-4.
8. Pevitt, Christine. Philippe, Duc d'Orléans: Regent of France Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1997, p.133
9. Clarissa Campbell Orr: Queenship in Europe 1660-1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge University Press (2004)
10. Clarissa Campbell Orr: Queenship in Europe 1660-1815: The Role of the Consort. Cambridge University Press (2004)
11. Fraser, Antonia. Love and Louis XIV Anchor Books, 2006. pgs. 70-71.
12. Genealogical Database by Herbert Stoyan [retrieved 19 June 2014].
13. Complete Genealogy of the House of Savoy [retrieved 19 June 2014] -mentioned only eight children-.

Sources

• Storrs, Christopher (1999). War, Diplomacy and the Rise of Savoy 1690-1720. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521551463.