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The children of the Dauphin, being the King's heir apparent, were accorded the same style and status as if they were the king's children instead of his grandchildren.[1]
Styles
The king, queen, Queen dowager, enfants de France and petits-enfants de France constituted the famille du roi (Royal Family).[2] More remote legitimate, male-line descendants of France's kings held the designation and rank of princes du sang (Princes of the Blood) or, if legally recognized despite a bar sinister on the escutcheon, they were customarily deemed princes légitimés (Legitimated Princes).[3]
The Dauphin, the heir to the French throne, was the most senior of the fils de France and was addressed as Monseigneur. The king's next younger brother, also a fils de France, was known simply as Monsieur, and his wife as Madame.[4]
Daughters were referred to by their given name prefaced by the honorific, Madame, while sons were referred to by their main peerage title (usually ducal), except for the Dauphin. The king's eldest daughter was known as Madame Royale until she married, whereupon the next eldest fille de France succeeded to the style.
Although the children of monarchs are often referred to in English as prince or princess, those terms were used as general descriptions for royalty in France, but not as titular prefixes or direct forms of address prior to the July Monarchy (1830-1848). Collectively, the legitimate children of the kings and dauphins were known as enfants de France (Children of France) and used "de France" as their surname.
The styles of the royal family varied as follows:
Monsieur le Dauphin
This was a form of address for the Dauphin of France. The dauphin de France, strictly-speaking the dauphin de Viennois, was the title used for the heir apparent to the throne of France from 1350 to 1791 and then from 1824 to 1830.
- Louis de France (1661-1711), the only surviving son of Louis XIV (1638-1715), was usually not referred to by this style as he was usually referred to at court as either Monseigneur (see more below) or, informally, as le Grand Dauphin.
- His eldest son, Louis, duc de Bourgogne, (1682-1712), who became the dauphin in 1711, was informally known as le Petit Dauphin.
Louis de France, called le Grand Dauphin, officially known at court as Monseigneur.
Louis of France - Dauphin of Louis XV
Madame la Dauphine
This was the style of the dynastic wife of the Dauphin. Some of holders of the honorific were:
- Maria Anna of Bavaria (1660-1690), also called Dauphine Victoire. She was the first wife of Monseigneur, le Grand Dauphin, and the grandmother of Louis XV (1710-1774)
- Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy (1685-1712), she was the wife of the Dauphin Louis (1682-1712) and the mother of Louis XV. She was also a granddaughter of Madame, Henrietta Anne Stuart (1644-1670), the first wife of Monsieur, Philippe, duc d'Orléans (1640-1701).
- Maria Teresa Rafaela Antonia of Spain (1726-1746), she was the first wife of Louis (1729-1765), the only son of Louis XV, and held the style till her death in 1748 at age twenty-one.
- Maria Josepha of Saxony (1731-1767), she was the second wife of Louis, son of Louis XV, and the mother of Louis XVI (1754-1793), Louis XVIII (1755-1824) and Charles X (1757-1836).
- Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna of Habsburg-Lorraine, Marie Antoinette was the Dauphine until her husband succeeded to the throne in 1774 as Louis XVI
- Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France (1778-1851) ; daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, known as Madame Royale, she became the last Dauphine of France when her father-in-law, Charles X, succeeded to the throne in 1824.
Madame la Dauphine, wife of le Petit Dauphin
Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain first wife of Louis de France - daughter-in-law of Louis XV
Duchess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony - Mother of 3 kings including Louis XVI
Madame Royale
This was the style of the eldest surviving daughter of the King. Those who held this honorific were:
- Élisabeth of France (1602-1644), the eldest daughter of King Henry IV of France (1553-1610) and his second wife, Queen Marie de' Medici (1575-1642). In 1615, Élisabeth was married to the future king, Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665). On her death in 1644, the style reverted to her younger sister, Christine Marie of France.
- Christine Marie of France (1606-1663), the second daughter of King Henry IV and Marie de' Medici. In 1619, Christine was married to Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (1587-1637). She assumed the style of Madame Royale upon the death of her older sister, the Queen of Spain.
- Marie-Thérèse of France (1667-1672), the longest surviving daughter of Louis XIV and his Queen Maria Theresa of Spain (1638-1683) and the only one to survive infancy.
- Marie Louise Élisabeth of France (1727-1759), the eldest daughter of King Louis XV and his wife, Queen Maria Leszczyńska (1703-1768). As a twin, Louise-Élisabeth rarely if ever used this title. She preferred being called Madame Première, to distinguish herself from her younger twin sister, Henriette-Anne of France (1727-1752), who was referred to as Madame Seconde.[citation needed] See more on this below.
- Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France, the eldest daughter of King Louis XVI and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. Marie-Thérèse had the tragic privilege of being the sole member of her immediate family to survive the French Revolution. She also exerted a great deal of political influence during the Bourbon Restoration (1815-1830).[5]
Between the death, in 1672, of Marie-Thérèse of France, the longest living daughter of Louis XIV, and the birth, in 1727, of Louise-Élisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of Louis XV, there were no legitimate daughters of the King. Because of this, during the time between 1672 and 1727, the style was occasionally used by the most senior unmarried princess at the French Court.
It was briefly used by the eldest niece of Louis XIV, Marie Louise of Orléans (1662-1689), later known as just Mademoiselle. After her marriage to King Charles II of Spain (1661-1700), in 1679, the style was assumed briefly by her younger sister, Anne Marie of Orléans (1669-1728), before she married Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (1666-1732).
Christine Marie of France and sister of Élisabeth. Madame Royal after her sisters marriage
Marie Louise Élisabeth of France, known as Madame Première because she was the eldest daughter of King Louis XV
Marie-Thérèse known as Madame Royale, eldest daughter of Louis XVI
Monsieur
This honorific was the style of the oldest living brother of the King. Among those who held this style were:
- Charles, duc d'Orléans (1550-1574), younger brother of Francis II (1544-1560), was known as Monsieur at the beginning of the reign of Francis II. He was King of France as Charles IX from 1560 to 1574;
- Henri, duc d'Anjou (1551-1589), younger brother of Francis II and Charles IX, was known as Monsieur during the reign of Charles IX. He became King of France as Henry III from 1574-1589;
- Francis, duc d'Anjou (1574-1584), youngest brother of Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III, was known as Monsieur during the reign of Henry III;
- Gaston, duc d'Orléans (1608-1660), younger brother of Louis XIII (1601-1643), was known as Monsieur during the reign of Louis XIII;
- When Louis XIII died in 1643, Gaston's nephew Philippe, duc d'Anjou (1640-1701) became known as le Petit Monsieur and Gaston as le Grand Monsieur.
- Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (1640-1701) was the younger brother of Louis XIV, and known as Monsieur in 1660 after the death of his uncle, Gaston. He was the founder of the House of Orléans;
- Louis Stanislas Xavier, Count of Provence (1755-1824), younger brother of Louis XVI, known as Monsieur during the reign of Louis XVI, and was later King of France as Louis XVIII from 1814 to 1824;
- Charles Philippe, Count of Artois (1757-1836) was the youngest brother of Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, and known as Monsieur at the beginning of the reign of Louis XVIII, and later King of France as Charles X from 1824 to 1830.
Gaston, le Grand Monsieur, son of Henry IV, brother of Louis XIII and uncle of Louis XIV
Philippe, le Petit Monsieur, younger brother of Louis XIV