A New Wife for Louis XV?

While his predecessor, Louis XIV, is believed to have secretly remarried after the death of his wife, Marie Thérèse, the same can not be said for Louis XV.  After the death of Marie Leszczynska on 24 June 1768, the 58-year old king was initially not expected to remarry. He already had plenty of daughters - whose very presence at court strained both the treasury and the number of available apartments - and three male heirs in the form of his three grandsons. Thus, there was no immediate need for the king to take another wife.

However, that notion soon had to be rethought - at least by some courtiers. While his wife was still lingering, the king had been introduced to his last maitresse-en-titre, Madame du Barry. While Madame de Pompadour had been a bourgeoise, du Barry was even lower on the social scale. The daughter of a seamstress, the beautiful young woman had dappled in prostitution - to put it politely. Pompadour had been pushing the envelope but du Barry was simply going too far in the eyes of both his court and his people.

Those who were staunchly against the new favourite sought a way for the king to redeem his reputation. Eventually, they realised that the only way for this to come about was for the king to remarry. Naturally, they had a candidate handy: Archduchess Marie Elisabeth of Austria. She was a daughter of Maria Theresia and Francis I - and sister to Marie Antoinette. There were powerful supporters for this match. Both the Duc de Choiseul (still the most influential minister at court) and the ambassador Mercy-d'Argenteau were busily advocating for the match. Likewise, Mesdames de France urged the king to give France another Queen; and conveniently supported the chosen candidate. According to Hugh Noel, they used Madame de Durfort to deliver their message of support to the king quite bluntly.

Louis XV in 1773

While the two politicians worried about their own positions at court and the international consequences a new mistress - of such base origins, too - could have, the king's daughters were fearful for their father's soul. As he was approaching his sixtieth birthday they thought it better that he focused on his domestic life than cavorting with a du Barry. His daughters were persistent creatures - and they had all the time in the world. Again according to Noel, they managed to extract a promise from their father to sent a proposal to Vienna on the condition that he did not object to her appearance. He did indeed sent Ducrest to Vienna to paint a portrait of the potential bride; in the mean time, the court waited.

Yet, not everyone was pleased with the new scheme. One of the greatest supporters turned into a wavering uncertainty when the Duc de Choiseul was influenced by his formidable sister, the Duchesse de Gramont. Mercy-d'Argenteau certainly laid the lion's share of the blame on that lady's door. He argued in his journal, that the presence of a "judicious and amiable queen" would make the king realise how many abuses were committed in his ministries. Since many of the noble families - including the Choiseuls - took great advantage of these, it had to be prevented. The marriage might still have taken place - there were rumours that a contract of a double alliance had already been drawn up. This would have seen Marie Elisabeth married to Louis XV and Marie Antoinette married to the dauphin.

Marie Elisabeth of Austria

But then tragedy struck. Marie Elisabeth had long been considered to be the most beautiful of the imperial archduchesses. It was therefore all the more devastating to her that she contracted the dreaded disease smallpox. While she survived, her looks did not. She was hit especially hard and left permanently scarred to such a degree that she was removed completely from the royal European marriage market. Considering that many a king or queen had had to make due with spouses with marks of disease, the archduchess must have been terribly afflicted by the disease.

This presented Louis XV with the very excuse he could use with his daughters. He had only promised to marry her if she was not unobjectionable to look at - now that was out of the question. Instead, the pro-Austrian party had to be content with the union between Louis Auguste and Marie Antoinette. 

As always, it was almost impossible to tell how the king felt about the abandoned project. He never gave any inkling of his private feelings (even Madame de Pompadour had described him as "impenetrable") and it is quite likely that he was willing to enter into another marriage. As for the bride-not-to-be, her feelings were far more easily deduced. Not only had she lost the chance of becoming queen of France, she had lost any opportunity for marrying at all. Reports from contemporary writers suggest that she spent most evenings weeping. It cannot have been easy for her either when her youngest sister departed for France alone a few years later.