Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon
Princess of Conti
Louise Élisabeth by Pierre Gobert
Born	(1693-11-22)22 November 1693 Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France.
Died	27 May 1775(1775-05-27) (aged 81) Hôtel de Conti (rue Saint-Dominique), Paris, France
Burial	Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris, France.
Spouse	Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti (m. 1713; died 1727)
Issue Detail	Louis François I, Prince of Conti Louise Henriette, Duchess of Orléans
House	Bourbon-Condé
Father	Louis III, Prince of Condé
Mother	Louise-Françoise de Bourbon
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature
Coat of arms of Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon

Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon (born November 22, 1693 – died May 27, 1775) was a French princess. She was the daughter of Louis III de Bourbon, Prince of Condé. Her mother was Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, who was a daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his famous mistress, Madame de Montespan.

Louise Élisabeth married her cousin, Louis Armand II de Bourbon, Prince of Conti. She was also known as the Duchess of Étampes in her own right. This title came to her after her aunt, Marie Anne de Bourbon, passed away. Later, in 1740, she also inherited the county of Sancerre from her brother, Louis Henri I, Prince of Condé. Louise Élisabeth was important at the court of King Louis XV of France. She was the one who introduced Madame de Pompadour to the court.

Biography
- Marriage and Family Life
- Life as a Widow
Issue
Ancestry
Images for kids
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Biography

Louise Élisabeth was born on November 22, 1693, at the grand Palace of Versailles. As a member of the House of Bourbon-Condé, she was a princesse du sang. This meant she was a princess of the royal blood. When she was young, people at court called her Mademoiselle de Charolais. She was the second daughter and third child of her parents. She had eight other brothers and sisters. She was baptized in the chapel of Versailles in 1698.

Marriage and Family Life

When Louise Élisabeth was seventeen, her mother wanted her to marry the young Charles, Duke of Berry. He was one of the king's grandsons. However, this marriage did not happen. Her aunt, the Duchess of Orléans, wanted the Duke of Berry to marry her own daughter instead.

On July 9, 1713, Louise Élisabeth married her first cousin, Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti. The wedding took place at Versailles. Her husband was three years younger than her. He had become the Prince of Conti in 1709 after his father died. His mother was Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, a very religious woman.

Her marriage was part of a double wedding. Louise Élisabeth's older brother, Louis Henri de Bourbon, married her husband's sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon-Conti. Both ceremonies happened in the beautiful Royal Chapel of Versailles. Many important people attended the wedding. These included her mother, her paternal grandmother, and several dukes and duchesses.

In August 1716, Louise Élisabeth caught smallpox from her husband. She had been taking care of him during his illness. A year later, she gave birth to her first child. She and her husband had five children in total.

Their marriage was quite difficult. Her husband had a very strong temper. Louise Élisabeth sometimes had to leave him and seek safety with her mother or even in a convent. She also had legal battles against him in court. In 1725, she agreed to return to him. However, he kept her confined at the Château de l'Isle-Adam for a while. She later convinced him to let her return to Paris to give birth to their daughter, Louise Henriette. Her husband died a year later.

Her husband had become very wealthy. This was because he supported John Law, a Scottish economist. John Law had introduced paper money to France during the time when King Louis XV of France was young. This period was called the Régence.

A painting of Louise Élisabeth

Life as a Widow

Louise Élisabeth's husband died in 1727 in Paris. After his death, she was known at court by special titles. These titles helped to tell her apart from two other widowed princesses of Conti who were still alive.

In 1733, Louise Élisabeth bought a large house in Paris with a big garden. It was on the rue Saint-Dominique. She hired an architect to redecorate the inside. This house became known as the Hôtel de Conti. It can be seen on old maps of Paris from the 1730s.

In 1743, Louise Élisabeth and her aunt, the Dowager Duchess of Orléans, worked together. They arranged for Louise Élisabeth's son to marry her first cousin, Louise Diane d'Orléans. They also arranged for her daughter to marry Louise Diane's nephew. This helped to calm a long-standing disagreement between the House of Condé and the House of Orléans. This feud had been going on for a century.

After her mother died in June 1743, Louise Élisabeth received the château de Louveciennes. This castle later went back to the Crown. King Louis XV then gave it to Madame du Barry. Louise Élisabeth also bought another castle called the château de Voisins.

Later, in 1746, King Louis XV asked Louise Élisabeth to introduce his new mistress, the future Madame de Pompadour, to the court. Louise Élisabeth attended a special ball at Versailles for a royal wedding. She helped the king because she hoped he would help her with her debts. This plan worked, and he did help her.

Just before she died, Louise Élisabeth gave her Paris townhouse to her grandson. She passed away there on May 27, 1775, at the age of eighty-one. She was buried at the Église Saint-Sulpice in Paris.

Issue

Name	Lifespan	Notes
Louis de Bourbon, Count of La Marche	28 March 1715 - 1 August 1717	Born in Paris, he died when he was a baby.
Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti	13 August 1717 - 2 August 1776	Born in Paris, he inherited the Conti titles and lands. He married Louise Diane d'Orléans and had children.
Louis Armand de Bourbon, Duke of Mercœur	19 August 1720- 13 May 1722	Born in Paris, he died when he was a baby.
Charles de Bourbon, Count of Alais	5 February 1722- 7 August 1730	Born in Paris, he died when he was a child.
Louise Henriette de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans	20 June 1726 – 9 February 1759	Born in Paris, she was Louise Élisabeth's only daughter. She married Louis Philippe d'Orléans in 1743 and had children. She was the mother of Philippe Égalité.