The Disastrous Marriage of the Prince and Princesse de Conti

On 9 July 1713 a prestigious marriage took place at Versailles; the bridegroom was a prince of the blood, Louis Armand II, Prince de Conti, while the young bride was Mademoiselle de Bourbon. The young lady's full name was Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon who happened to be the granddaughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan.

Initially, the marriage went on much as usual for the time. The couple did not spent much time together and quickly struck up extramarital affairs. For one, the new Princesse de Conti was known to have taken the Marquis de La Fare as her lover - known that is, to all except her husband. It was not until the Prince de Conti fell seriously ill with smallpox in 1716 that he caught wind of the affair. Despite the notoriously contagious disease, the prince was nursed by his wife herself. As a result, she would also contract the disease but luckily survived.

It is unknown exactly when - or how - the Prince de Conti caught wind of his wife's adultery but when he did he was furious. Taking full advantage of the rights given to him as a husband by the law, he beat her to such an extend that she had to seek medical help - not once, but twice. 

Despite his anger at her betrayal, it turned out that the Prince was little better than the Princesse, as he had several mistresses of his own. Louis had even attempted to complain to the Regent but had been informed that such matters were between husband and wife.

Louise Élisabeth

Naturally, after such violent outbursts, the Princesse was not eager to remain with her husband and moved to the Palais-Bourbon which was owned by her mother. At some point around this period, Louise Élisabeth found out that she was pregnant which only reignited tensions between the couple. When she was seven months pregnant her husband paid a surprise visit to her and discovered that she had the company of Comte de Saxe. Even though it was an ordinary social call, the Comte de Saxe's reputation with women made Louis furious once again. 

Louis denied that he was the father of the child while his wife insisted that he most certainly was. Yet, it would seem that the words were exchanged in a fit of anger as he was soon before said to have thrown himself at his wife's feet to ask for forgiveness. Despite his contrition, she refused to return to the Hôtel de Conti - even after he sent an official summons to her, asking her to give birth in his hotel. Perhaps her refusal was due to his previous abuse - or perhaps she wished to avoid his new mistress, Mademoiselle de La Porte.

After a while though, the Princesse returned to her husband's roof. It was there that Louise Élisabeth gave birth to a healthy son on 13 August 1717; having thereby produced an heir, she sought to escape her deeply stormy marriage.

Louis Armand

In April 1722, the Princesse de Conti formally submitted her request for separation to the Prèmiere Chambre des Requêtes with a further request of 60.000 livres in allowance while the trial lasted. In return, the Prince de Conti insisted that she removed herself to a convent of her choosing and offered 6.000 livres in silver. It would appear that the Princesse had argued for a separation on the basis of threats, physical injuries, treating her "like a lackey" etc. On his end, the prince merely argued that he had increased her allowance and bought her diamonds worth 100.000 livres. 

The court reduced her allowance to 20.000 livres and she consequently went to the convent of the Port-Royal in the faubourg of Saint-Jacques.

On 17 June 1722 the court decided in favour of the Prince de Conti and thus refused the Princesse her request for a separation. The judges decided that she could remain at the Port-Royal for six months but afterwards she was obliged to return to her husband. Amongst the arguments of the court one in particular perfectly captures the conditions imposed on the nobility during the ancien régime: as a princess of the blood the Princesse de Conti could not easily be removed from her husband because she might still deliver heirs to the crown. After all, the couple had only a single surviving son (their first having died in 1717 and their third shortly after her request for divorce) and child mortality was rampant. So, Louise Élisabeth's position as a childbearing princess of the blood outweighed the domestic abuse she experienced at the hands of her husband. 

As could well be expected, the Prince de Conti was very well pleased with the decision. To reward his attorney, the prince gifted him a carriage and two horses worth 4.500 livres. 

Cloister of the Port-Royal where Louise
Élisabeth sought refuge

While her husband was celebrating his victory, Louise Élisabeth was reluctant to leave the convent of the Port-Royal. It was not until the Cardinal Noailles requested an audience with her that she received any guests. Once she had met him in the convent's parlour, he motioned to the door and in came the Prince de Conti, her mother and her two children. They attempted to convince her to return to her husband but she refused - or as Barbier put it "she was being very stubborn about it". One could readily imagine that her reluctance was only heightened when her husband made it clear that he would like more heirs to be certain of his legacy.

Thus, she remained in the convent for the time being. After a year, the prince realised that he was not able to retrieve her with words so he consented to letting her remain at the convent for 4-6 years. However, that meant remain within the convent - he had made remarks that if he saw her outside the convent he would take her back to the Hôtel de Conti whether she wanted to go or not. His threats became ever more increasing as she was noted to be leaving the convent frequently to go visit her brothers. Once again, the Prince de Conti turned to the Regent to complain of this behaviour but was met with indifference. At the time being she was being protected by a cachet du Roi which the prince swore to respect.

Yet, he seemed to have been frustrated by her continued refusal to return of her own accord. When he was heard threatening to kidnap her from the convent - and set it on fire - the king posted a guard by her side. According to some sources that guard counted no less than two sergeants and 50 guardsmen who remained on their watch at all times. Being thus prevented from forcibly "regaining" his wife, Louis withdrew -  but not before having complained to the king himself.

As it happened, the king turned out to be providing the Princesse de Conti with more than guards. Having had her request for her allowance drastically reduced, she had applied to the king for a supplement to her income. He granted her 6.000 livres per month in addition to what she already received.

The Hôtel de Conti in Paris

For quite some time the situation remained the same until the Princesse de Conti unexpectedly sent for her husband on 13-14 April 1725. Whatever happened between them can only be known to them - yet the result surprised everyone. After their discussion, Louise Élisabeth left the convent and returned to the Hôtel de Conti with her husband. From there, she would later be sent to the Château d'Isle-Adam. It was not until she conceived their fifth child that she was permitted to return to Paris for her confinement.

It seems quite clear that their relationship would have continued to be entirely dysfunctional if it had not been for the unexpected death of the Prince de Conti. The year after the birth of their fifth child - a daughter - Louis became seriously ill and died at the age of just 31.

The death of her husband left Louise Élisabeth in a remarkably comfortable situation. Of the five children she had borne two remained alive: Louis François (the new Prince de Conti) and Louise Henriette. She could exercise considerable influence over both her children's lives without the threat of physical or emotional violence from her husband. Meanwhile, she enjoyed a very high rank at court as well as a considerable fortune which left her free to do as she pleased. Unsurprisingly, she never remarried and died on 27 May 1775 - 48 years after her husband.

The Princes Étrangers

One of the most ambiguous ranks at court was that of prince étranger or foreign prince. Hierarchically, they followed immediately behind the legitimate royal family. The rule of thumb was that a prince étranger only had precedence over a member of the royal family if that member was an illegitimate child of the king - however, if the member had been officially recognised the prince étranger ranked below them.

The problems arose when it came to the French peerage. Generally, the Parlament de Paris was reluctant to make a firm stance and it consequently became unclear exactly who had precedence. Naturally, this led to countless squabbles and infighting between the families. Unlike the dukes, the prince étranger had no right to have his legal cases heard by his peers in the Parlament de Paris, unless they also held a French peerage. It became a sore spot for years to come and one that Louis XIV himself had to weigh in on on numerous occasions - for once, the dukes were not willing to submit to the king's order.

In certain specific cases, it would seem that the prince étranger outranked the duke. For instance, while a duchess was infamously entitled to her tabouret, the same could not be said for the duke's sisters or daughters. In contrast, a prince étranger could proudly watch his wife, sisters and daughters take a seat in the chair. 

Yet, the prince étranger was entirely dependent on the king as much as the duke was. While certain privileges were immediately granted as a matter of right, other more contested rights were entirely depending on whether the king gave his permission or not.

Those categorised as princes étrangère usually fell under one of three categories: 

1. They descended from a younger branch of a foreign, ruling house - this meant that their relatives were the rulers of a foreign state but because they were born from a younger member of that family they had no hope of gaining that throne
2. They ruled their own, small principality - in this case it was traditionally added that the family must have made the French court a "second home"; they had to have stayed there for extended periods
3. They were descendants from either a foreign throne but through the female line or from a dynasty that was formerly sovereigns 

With that many conditions, it is hardly surprising that only six families qualified as being princes étranger at Versailles during Louis XIV:

House of Rohan

As the descendants of the former dukes of Brittany, the Rohan-family could rightly claim to be the descendants of a former sovereign family - or could they? Historically, there has been quite a lot of debate as to whether the Rohan-family truly did descend from the sovereigns of Brittany, as little evidence can be found for it.

Yet, the family was determined to achieve the rank of prince étranger and focused the bulk of their increasing power at court on just that. Besides numerous marriages to other families of this rank, they would raise their lands into distinct principalities - for instance Soubise or Guéméné - and used their close links to both Louis XV and Louis XVI to achieve their goal. For instance, they managed to fill the post of governess to the Children of France which meant that it was a Rohan who raised both Louis XVI and his children - until the Prince de Guéméné had to withdraw from court due to bankruptcy. 

House of Guise

As a younger branch of the House of Lorraine, the Guise-family had played a significant role in French politics in the 16th century. They continued marrying across various borders which left a family tree that spanned wide and made inheritances a nightmare - on a more practical level, it also made Louis XIV suspicious of them as they had relations at the court of Vienna.

The last Guise - Marie de Lorraine - died in 1688 after which their substantial titles, lands and benefits were divided amongst her many heirs, including the Princesse de Condé.

House of La Tour d'Auvergne

Officially recognised as princes étrangers in 1652, it was not until 1678 that the Duc de La Tour d'Auvergne could finally claim physical possession of his own dukedom, that of Bouillon. They therefore fell under the second category above.

They had originally thrown their lot with Mazarin during the Fronde which earned them numerous substantial rewards in both lands and titles. Their status was largely derived from the ownership of the Dukedom of Bouillon as well as the principality of Sedan. 

House of Grimaldi

As the ruling family of Monaco, the family of Grimaldi also qualified as princes étrangère by the second category. Acknowledged as princes étrangers by Louis XIV in 1688, the relationship between France and the small principality had been forged during Louis XIII. Placing his duchy under French protection, the then-reigning Duc de Monaco served the French king on the battlefield, thus cementing a firm and mutually beneficial relationship.

House of La Trémoïlle 

The descendants of the then-deposed kings of Naples (the Trastámara-family), the family could trace their ancestry to Charlotte of Aragon, the daughter of the King Frederick of Naples. The family laid claim to the principality of Taranto which was held by the Duc de Thouars - and he had been confirmed as a prince étranger in 1651. 

While the family did not succeed in taking the title from the Ducs de Thouars, they did manage to get officially recognised as foreign princes in 1621 by Louis XIII. They would continue to contest their rights well into the 18th century.

House of Savoy-Carignano

The younger line of the Savoyard royal family, the House of Savoy-Carignano had a somewhat troubled history with the French crown during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. When the young Eugene-Maurice came of age and offered his services in the army to Louis XIV, he was refused due to his mother's fall from grace which led him to serve the Holy Roman Emperor - he would become one of the greatest generals of his age.

This goes to show the level of distrust often shown to these quasi-French families whose loyalties could easily be spread over both national borders and across family lines.

With such a complicated place on the hierarchical ladder it is hardly surprising that the etiquette and privileges accorded to these foreign princes were highly contested. Through the age of Versailles, the foreign princes would be in constant battle with the dukes and peers when it came to which class could claim which privileges. While the foreign princes made several attempts at gaining the upper hand they never succeeded at establishing themselves above the dukes. 

At court, a prince étranger was entitled to specific status symbols such as keeping their hats on during the king's audiences and being addressed as "Royal Highness" - in a more obscure twist, they also held the coveted honour of being betrothed in the king's own cabinet.