The Trousseau of Marie Leszczyńska

Like all other royal brides, the 22-year old Marie Leszczynska would have been sent to France with a trousseau. A trousseau was the personal wardrobe of a bride; when the bride happened to be royal, she would typically be a foreigner and thus representing another country's court upon her arrival in France. This meant that her initial trousseau would be subject to close scrutiny. Consequently, a good deal of though went into the preparation and completion of a royal woman's trousseau as it would represent her native country's wealth and influence.

Historically, the trousseau of Marie Antoinette has garnered plenty of attention but that of her predecessor - and longest serving queen consort of France - has received far less attention. That is not without reasoning though; the two young women came to the throne of France from two very different backgrounds. While Marie Antoinette was the daughter of a very wealthy and powerful Emperor and Empress, Marie Leszczynska's situation was completely different. As the daughter of a deposed king rather than a reigning king, her trousseau was not nearly as splendid as Marie Thérèse's had been before her and Marie Antoinette's would be after her.

Marie Leszczynska in 1725

Marie Leszczynska arrived on French soil in July 1725; it was while she was staying at Strasbourg for her proxy marriage that her trousseau was first noted by the French - and they certainly found it lacking. To some of the French courtiers the trousseau was a disappointment; it was deemed to lack in both quantity and quality. For instance, it was determined that she lacked both gowns, slippers and chemises. Consequently, her measurements were taken and reported back to Paris so that the new queen would have a wardrobe befitting her rank. It fell to Madame de Prie (mistress of the prime minister Duc de Bourbon who had largely orchestrated the match) to complete her trousseau.

Originally, the plan had been to send back some of her belongings before she left Wissembourg where she resided; however, her shoes and gloves were in such poor condition that the French envoy had to make his apologies but they would not make for good models. 

The whole procedure of taking the measurements must have been a trial for the young woman. She would be stripped of her clothing, typically in front of several strangers, who would then prod her like a prize calf. Perhaps it was not for nothing that one of Madame de Prie's first additions to Marie Leszczynska's wardrobe was several chemises.

As it happens, the dire financial situation of the bride's father meant that paying for the trousseau fell to the French treasury. The French envoy who had gone to Stanislas himself reported that he ci-devant Polish king was embarrassed by not being able to give his daughter a trousseau - although he could give her the crown of France. He had apparently revealed her fate to her by the word:

"You see Marie, providence rewards honest people; you did not have a chemise in 1725 and you are queen of France"

The price of the trousseau would have been a very expensive post, indeed - in comparison, when her linen alone was renewed in 1738, it cost 30.000 livres; some forty years later, Marie Antoinette's would cost a staggering 400.000 livres. While one has to account for both inflation and the superior position of the Empress of Austria, the number still gives a good idea of how expensive a royal trousseau could be

To her detractors, this was yet another reason for why the young woman was entirely unsuitable. It should be said, though, that the French government was entirely aware of her father's situation; it had been her very place as a non-entity in the power play of Europe that made her such a desirable bride in the first place. Had she been richer, there would have been a greater risk of offending Spain whose royal family were already furious at having their candidate sent back to them.

However, in 1725, the newly arrived bride needed even the most essential parts of a woman's wardrobe, let alone a royal woman. It has been suggested that the physical examination (which she was also subjected to) was made so much of due to her lacking trousseau. By emphasizing her ability to bear children - which the king and country desperately needed - it was hoped that people would be more willing to overlook that the bride was neither rich nor represented a powerful alliance.

On the positive side, the fact that the French court was tasked with filing the new bride's trousseau also meant that they could not possibly find fault with it. That seems to have been the case - no one made negative comments on the bride's wedding dress when the wedding day finally came.