Anne Louise Marie D'Orléans - Europe's Richest Princess

Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, was the daughter of Gaston d'Orléans, the younger brother of Louis XIII of France and the Duchess Marie de Bourbon. Marie-Louise inherited a large fortune from her mother, who died only a few hours after her birth and became the country's greatest heiress. She inherited five duchies and two principalities and received the title Duchess of Montpensier, Dauphine of Auvergne and Princess of Dombe and Jouanville. As niece to the King of France Louis XIII, she received the title Mademoiselle. From 1662 onwards she was called La Grande Mademoiselle. Anne was the goddaughter of Cardinal Richelieu. Anne was educated at the Palais des Tuileries by Jeanne d'Arly, Madame de Saint-Georges, together with Anne-Geneviève de Bourbon, who was the daughter of Henri II of Orléans, Duke of Longueville. Anne was very close to her father Gaston, who was not often at court because of rebellions he instigated against his brother Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu. Anne came into conflict with Richelieu, who exiled her father in 1632 and when her father resided in the château of Blois from 1634 until 1643, she visited him often. As the richest princess in Europe, many different marriages were proposed to her. When her cousin Louis XIV was born in 1638, she decided she wanted to marry him and called him Little Husband, which amused the King but angered Richelieu. Her father Gaston arranged a marriage to the Count Louis de Soissons, but the marriage never happened. In 1646 she met her exiled cousin Charles II of England. Charles quickly became fond of her, but Anne preferred a match with the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III. France's Regent Anne of Austria refused to agree to such a marriage under the influence of Cardinal Mazarin and suggested her brother Ferdinand of Austria instead, but Anne-Marie-Louise declined the proposal. Anne-Marie-Louise of Orléans is famous for her participation in the Fronde, a two-part civil war consisting of the Fronde parlementaire from 1648 until 1649 and the Fronde des Nobles from 1650 until 1653. The Fronde parlementaire was led by Louis II de Bourbon-Condé in opposition to taxes being raised and the influence Cardinal Mazarin exerted on the government and led to the Condé's conquest of Paris. During this time Anne became friends with the Condé's wife Claire-Clemence de Maillé-Brézé and in 1650 she was involved in breaking the siege of Bordeaux. When the Condé's wife became ill, it was rumored that Anne was planning on marrying the Condé but Claire-Clemence recovered and the rumors died out. During the Second Fronde, Mazarin was forced to flee until 1653. The city of Orléans, which was the capital of Anne's father Gaston's duchy, wanted to preserve its neutrality in the civil war. The city magistrates had seen what the war had done to neighboring cities and wanted to avoid the same fate. They requested the support of Gaston to avoid being pillaged. Gaston was undecided however and Anne decided on her own initiative to go represent her father in Orléans. When she arrived at the Orléans city gates however, she was refused entry on the grounds that her criticism of Mazarin put her on the opposite side of the king. With the help of a boatman, she was rowed across the moat and then climbed through a hole in the city wall. She was greeted by the public as a heroine and stayed in Orléans for five weeks. In May 1652, Anne returned to Paris where she fired the cannons of the Bastille against the army of Turin, this to rescue the Condé who had been defeated by Turin at Saint Antoine outside Paris. She then opened the city gates for the Condé and his troops. After the Fronde, Anne was exiled to her chateau at Saint Fargo by Louis XIV in October 1652. She began to manage her own finances and then discovered that her father had embezzled money from her. This led to a rift between them which was not repaired until 1656. Anne was recalled to court in 1657 after her father Gaston was allowed to return. She was courted for a time by her cousin Philippe d'Orléans but declined to marry him. Philippe went on to marry Henriette Anne Stewart of England in 1661. Upon her father's death in 1660, Anne's already enormous fortune was further increased. She took part in the negotiations for the marriage of her sister Margaret Louise d'Orléans to Cosimo III de' Medici in 1661. In 1663 Louis XIV suggested that she marry Alfonso VI of Portugal but she declined. Consequently the king exiled her to Saint Fargo for insubordination. Anne Marie Louise started writing her memories there but had to return to court in 1664 when the king suggested that she marry Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoie. This time Anne accepted but Charles Emmanuel refused. When Henrietta of England died in 1670, the king offered her to marry his brother but again she declined. In 1670 she decided to marry Antoine non part de commons, Duke de Lozune. Initially the king gave his approval but when the court and the royal family expressed their disapproval, he withdrew his permission shortly before the wedding and had Lozune arrested and imprisoned. Anne tried for several years to have Lozune released and finally succeeded by selling some of her estates to the king's children. After his release the couple secretly married in 1681 but Lozune quickly neglected his new bride, often cheating on her with a string of mistresses. The couple separated in 1685. Despite her immense fortune, the grande mademoiselle was never popular at court. Anne was described by courtiers as being a very stingy and rather cold person who had few friends at Versailles. During the final years of her life, Anne retired to the Palais du Luxembourg where she fell ill in March 1693 with bladder disease. Anne-Marie Louise d'Orléans died there on April 5 1693. During her funeral ceremony, Anne's entrails exploded mid-ceremony which caused chaos as people fled to avoid the smell. She was buried in the Bourbon crypt at the Basilica de Saint-Denis in Paris. Her memoirs were published after her death. Thank you for watching.