The Turbulent Marriage of the Duc and Duchesse d'Orléans

It is well-known that the mésalliance between the king's illegitimate daughter, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, and the son of the Duc d'Orléans, Philippe II d'Orléans, caused quite a scandal. Nevertheless, the marriage went ahead. While it was dynastically sensible for the king to marry his natural daughter to such a high-ranking prince of the blood, the match was far from a happy one.

The attitude of both bride and groom to their prospective marriage was one quite typical of the time. Neither were in love with the other but both acknowledged and submitted to the king's wishes. Françoise Marie herself said it best when she declared "I care not that he loves but that he marries me". And that he did on 18 February 1692.

Shortly after the marriage it became clear that the couple were far from made for each other. In an age where arranged marriages were the norm, it was an implicit agreement between husband and wife that while they did not necessarily love - or even care - for each other, they would maintain a respectful but distanced relationship. This does not appear to have been the case for the young couple.

The Duc de Chartres was heard referring to his wife as Madame Lucifer. His mother were equally unimpressed by the young Françoise. She claimed that her new daughter-in-law was incredibly drunk several times a week - however, it should be remembered that Madame d'Orléans had been opposed to the match from the beginning, going so far as to publicly slap her son when she learnt of it.

Françoise Marie

It was said that Françoise was vain to the extreme. Despite being born out of wedlock (a marker of shame at the time), she considered herself to be above her husband since she was the daughter of the king while her husband was merely his (legitimate) nephew. Françoise apparently made it quite clear to her husband that she considered him to be fortunate that he had got to marry her.

While Françoise might have been remarkably vain she was not a source of scandal. In contrast, Philippe was a notorious womaniser who fathered several illegitimate children of his own. Naturally, this did little to bring the couple closer together. When informed of her husbands infidelities, Françoise reacted with bursts of explosive anger - but not for the obvious reason. Rather than feeling betrayed, she was outraged that he would publicly humiliate her by having affairs with such low-ranking women as opera dancers. The root of the issues was once again pride rather than any hurt affection between the two. It was also noted that she did nothing to "win him back".

That same pride was to be found in her father, Louis XIV. While Philippe was initially obliged to keep his dalliances a secret, his affair with Mademoiselle de Séry - a maid-of-honour to his mother - eventually became public knowledge when she gave birth to a son. Louis summoned his brother, Philippe d'Orléans, and asked him to chastise the young Duc de Chartres. Apparently, the Duc d'Orléans refused arguing that Louis had never paid to promised dowry.

Philippe

The marriage did not improve upon the death of Philippe d'Orléans in 1701. This raised the Duc and Duchesse de Chartres to the rank of Duc and Duchesse d'Orléans. It also meant that the surviving Philippe was obliged to spent considerably more time at court - where his wife was. It added a further strain on their marriage that Louis XIV had never been fond of his nephew. The only way for Philippe to gain any admiration from his uncle/father-in-law was by improving his behaviour towards his wife... much to his chagrin.

When Louis XIV in turn died in 1715, the couple did not spend a lot of time together. As regent, Philippe had moved the centre of government back to Paris; not to the Louvre, but to his own residence, the Palais-Royal. Meanwhile, Françoise preferred to remain at her favourite residence of Bagnolet. Here, she could enjoy the increase in annual revenue that her husband had allowed her. Such an increase could be seen as paradoxical since the two had no love for one another. However, they were both mindful of the grandeur to which they had a claim. As such, the augmentation was not unlike the standards of the time - while estranged, the couple still made up one unit to which due deference was to be shown.

Despite their unhappy union, the couple still managed to produce eight children: Marie Louise, Adélaide, Charlotte Aglaé, Louis, Louise Élisabeth, Philippine and Louise.