Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon
| Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon | |
|---|---|
| Mademoiselle de Sens | |
Louise-Françoise de Bourbon | |
| Signature |  |
Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon (Élisabeth Thérèse Alexandrine; 5 September 1705 – 15 April 1765) was a French
Biography
Early life
Élisabeth Alexandrine was born in Paris on 5 September 1705, as was one of nine children and her parents' youngest daughter. Named in honour of her older sister Louise Élisabeth and her uncle Louis Alexandre de Bourbon (Count of Toulouse), she was known by her second name of Alexandrine.
From birth, she was known at court as Mademoiselle de Gex but would later take on the courtesy title of Mademoiselle de Sens. She was known as Mlle de Sens most of her life. As a
Like most of her sisters, she would never marry. She was considered as a possible bride for her older cousin, Louis d'Orléans, but her aunt, the proud Duchess of Orléans, wanted a more prestigious bride for her son. In 1725, she as well as her sister Henriette-Louise was among the women suggested by her brother, the then Prime minister, as queen of France by marriage to Louis XV. She was one of the final four seriously considered candidates when the original list of 99 princesses was first reduced to seventeen and then to four, leaving her and her sister alongside Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange and Princess Amelia of Great Britain as the final alternatives—and when the two British princesses were removed from the list because of religious issues, she and her sister were the only two remaining candidates. Her brother the Prime minister finally recommended her sister Henriette before her, because he considered Henriette to be more attractive than Alexandrine.[1] In the end, her sister was also refused and Maria Leszczyńska, one the candidates removed when the list was reduced to 17, was chosen instead.
Adult life
Élisabeth Alexandrine was never to play a very prominent political role. She was, however, a great friend of the king's mistress, the famous Madame de Pompadour, who had been introduced at court by Alexandrine's older sister and namesake, Louise Élisabeth.
Like her older sister,
By the time of her death, she had accumulated a large fortune from the old pensions originally assigned to her cousin, Mademoiselle du Maine (1707–1743), the daughter of Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine and his wife, the famous salon hostess Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon. Élisabeth Alexandrine died in Paris on 15 April 1765, at the age of 59. Her nephew, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, was her heir. She was buried at the Carmelite Convent of the Faubourg Saint-Jacques in Paris.
Ancestry
| Ancestors of Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon Madame de Montespan | | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30. Jean de Grandseigne, marquis de Marsillac | ||||||||||||||||
| 15. Diane de Grandseigne | ||||||||||||||||
| 31. Catherine de La Béraudière, dame de Villenon | ||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ Edmond et Jules de Goncourt: La duchesse de Châteauroux et ses soeurs, Paris, 1906
- ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 44.