Much has been made of the seven years that elapsed before Marie Antoinette finally became pregnant by Louis XVI. However, the young monarchs were not the only ones in the royal family who suffered from infertility.
The eldest of the king's brothers - Louis Stanislas, Comte de Provence - was married to Marie Josèphine of Savoy. The marriage was celebrated on 16th April 1771; just about a year after the marriage of the dauphin to his Austrian archduchess. By then it was common knowledge at court that the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had not yet been consummated, so there was intense pressure on both couples.
Quickly after the wedding ceremony, Louis Stanislas loudly boasted of his prowess and vowed that his wife was surely pregnant. Few people believed him, though, as he was known to go to great lengths to attempt to humiliate his older brother. Marie Antoinette herself urged her mother (via letter) not to believe the gossip that the newcomer was pregnant already, although it was immensely important to Marie Antoinette that her mother was not given new ammunition for her continual reproaches.
It has been suggested that the Comte de Provence was impotent - some suggests that his considerable weight further impeded his chances of impregnating his wife. However, in 1774 the Comtesse de Provence fell pregnant - much to the chagrin of the still childless Marie Antoinette. Sadly, Marie Josèphine miscarried early on in her pregnancy and did not conceive again until 1781. This would be her last pregnancy (confirmed, at least) which tragically also ended in a miscarriage. Thus, the couple remained childless.
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| Louis Stanislas |
Considering that Marie Josèphine had fallen pregnant twice, it is clear that Louis Stanislas was not completely impotent. But what was the matter, then? Initially, wicked tongues blamed the new Comtesse de Provence whose personal hygiene was notoriously lacking. To be fair, that would not have been particularly inviting but could be overcome. Surely, the couple could hardly have been more ill-matched. Both Marie Josèphine and Louis Stanislas would later show either bisexual or homosexual tendencies which would obviously have further complicated matters.
When the Comte took a mistress, the Comtesse de Balbi, the courtiers began to cast glances at her midriff - would she fall pregnant by the king's brother? Alas, no. Despite being with Louis Stanislas as early as 1779, she did not become pregnant until around 1793, when she had fled with the Comtesse de Provence abroad. By this point, it was obvious that it could not be the child of the Comte de Provence as they had not seen each other physically for months on end. That also prompted their final rupture.
While Louis Stanislas was clearly not entirely impotent - as evidenced by the two pregnancies of Marie Josèphine - he clearly was not particularly fertile. As for his wife, she would turn to female lovers and it therefore is impossible to tell if she could have had children by another man, if she had so tried.
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| Marie Josèphine |
Another theory is that the Comte de Provence had diabetes - both type 1 and type 2 can affect a man's chances of impregnating a woman. He experienced rapid weight gain and the lack of knowledge of the disease would have meant that it was entirely unmanaged. His death in 1824 was of gangrene which was said to have begun in exactly unmanaged diabetes. Upon his death, an autopsy was performed which showed no obvious indication that Louis Stanislas had actually been impotent which could indicate that diabetes was to blame.
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