Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe

Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe

Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy

Princess of Lamballe

Portrait by Antoine-François Callet, 1776

Born

8 September 1749
Palazzo Carignano, Turin, Savoy

Died

3 September 1792 (aged 42)
Paris, France

Spouse

Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Prince de Lamballe

Full name

Italian: Maria Teresa Luisa di Savoia-Carignano
French: Marie Thérèse Louise de Savoie-Carignan

House

Savoy-Carignano

Father

Louis Victor of Savoy, Prince di Carignano

Mother

Landgravine Christine of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg

Religion

Roman Catholicism

Signature

Princess Marie-Louise Thérèse of Savoy-Carignan (8 September 1749 – 3 September 1792) was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Savoy. She was married at the age of 17 to Louis Alexandre de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Prince de Lamballe, the heir to the greatest fortune in France. After her marriage, which lasted a year, she went to court and became the confidante of Queen Marie Antoinette. She was killed in the massacres of September 1792 during the French Revolution.

Life[edit]

Marie Therese de Savoie, princesse de Lamballe by Louis-Édouard Rioult (1790–1855)

Princess of Lamballe 1788 by Anton Hickel at the Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna

Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe by Duplessis

Marie Thérèse was born in Turin. Her father was Louis Victor, Prince of Carignano, a maternal grandson of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia and his mistress Jeanne d'Albert de Luynes.

Her mother, Landgravine Christine of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, was the daughter of Ernest Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg. Her aunts included, Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, the wife of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (Victor Amadeus III was her first cousin) and Caroline, Princess of Condéand wife of Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon. Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé was another first cousin who was at the French court.^[1] Not much is known of her childhood.^[2]

Marriage[edit]

On 31 January 1767, she was married by proxy to Louis Alexandre de Bourbon-Penthièvre, prince de Lamballe, grandson of Louis XIV's legitimised son, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse, and the only surviving son of Louis de Bourbon-Toulouse, Duke of Penthièvre.

The marriage was arranged after it had been suggested by Louis XV as a suitable match, both the bride and the groom being members of a royal sideline, and it was accepted by her family because the King of Sardinia had long wished for an alliance between the House of Savoy and the Royal House of France: in the following years, further marriage alliances between France and Savoy would follow.^[2]

The wedding by proxy, followed by a bedding ceremony and a banquet, was held at the Savoyard royal court in Turin and attended by the King of Sardinia and his court. On January 24, the bride crossed the bridge of Beauvoisin between Savoy and France, where she left her Italian entourage and was welcomed by her new French retinue, who escorted her to her groom and father-in-law at the Chateau de Nangis.^[2] She was introduced to the French royal court at the Palace of Versailles by the Countess de La Marche in February, where she made a favorable impression. The marriage was initially described as very happy, as both parties were attracted to each other's beauty; after only a few months, though, Louis Alexandre was unfaithful with two actresses, which reportedly devastated Marie Thérèse. She was comforted by her father-in-law, to whom she became close.^[2]

In 1768, at the age of nineteen, Marie Thérèse became a widow when her husband died of a venereal disease at the Château de Louveciennes, nursed by his spouse and sister.^[2] She inherited her husband's considerable fortune, making her wealthy in her own right. Her father-in-law successfully persuaded her to abandon her wish to become a nun and instead stay with him as his daughter. She comforted him in his grief, and joined him in his extensive charitable projects at Rambouillet, an activity which earned him the name "King of the Poor" and her the nickname "The Angel of Penthiévre".^[2]

In 1768, after the death of the Queen, Princess Marie Adélaïde of France supported a match between her father and the dowager princess. She reportedly preferred a queen who was young and beautiful but lacked ambition; who could attract and distract her father from state affairs, leaving them to Madame Adélaïde. She supported the Dowager Princess de Lamballe as a suitable candidate for that purpose and was supported by the powerful Noailles family.^[2] However, the Princess de Lamballe was not willing to encourage the match herself and her former father-in-law, the Duke of Penthievré, was not willing to consent so the marriage plan never materialized.^[2]

She lived at the Hôtel de Toulouse in Paris and at the Château de Rambouillet. On 4 January 1769, there was an announcement of the marriage of Marie Thérèse's sister-in-law Mademoiselle de Penthièvre, heiress to the greatest fortune in France, to the young Philippe d'Orléans, duc de Chartres, an old friend of the late prince de Lamballe.

 

Duplessis's semi-topless portrait of the Princess of Lamballe dates from 18th Century France