Marguerite Louise d'OrlÃ©ans

Marguerite Louise d' Orléans ( born July 28, 1645 Blois, † September 17, 1721 in Paris), actually Marguerite Louise de Bourbon- Orléans was, by marriage to Cosimo III. de ' Medici, Grand Duchess of Tuscany.

Life

Marguerite Louise was a daughter of the Duke Gaston of Orléans and his second wife Margaret of Lorraine. About her father she was the cousin of Louis XIV She spent her childhood in the years of the Fronde at Blois Castle, where Cardinal Jules Mazarin her father finally banished because of his constant intrigues in 1652.

The marriage plans for her future husband, Cosimo III. de ' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, first foresaw a Saxon princess, but Cardinal Mazarin brought the cousin of Louis XIV into play. Negotiations for the marriage dragged on because of the enormous dowry demand over three years. The amazonian and fun-loving Margaret was reluctant to go to Florence for Cosimo was considered a bigot and boring, the local court as dreary. On June 20, 1661 wedding took place. The marriage could be to bad. Soon Marguerite Louise refused their marital duties and 1664 from the farm.

A year later she returned to Florence and became reconciled with her husband. The politically and humanly weak Cosimo increasingly came under the influence of his mother. 1672 Margaret demanded the separation. Three years later, she was allowed to move into the monastery Montmartre in Paris, where she maintained a lavish lifestyle, had several extramarital affairs and at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles indulged in gambling. Later she lived in Saint- Mandé monastery.

Marguerite Louise de Bourbon- Orléans died lonely and almost forgotten, however, as heir to her sister Elizabeth very rich, in their house on the Place des Vosges in Paris. She was buried on the Picpus Cemetery.

Progeny

Marguerite Louise d' Orléans had with her husband, Cosimo III. de ' Medici the following children:

Ferdinando (* August 9, 1663, † October 31, 1713 ), ∞ January 19, 1689 Violante Beatrice of Bavaria, daughter of the Bavarian Elector Ferdinand Maria
Anna Maria Luisa (* August 11, 1667, † February 18, 1743 ), ∞ June 5, 1691 Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine
Gian Gastone (* April 24, 1671; † July 9, 1737 ), from 1723 Grand Duke of Tuscany, ∞ July 2, 1697 Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe- Lauenburg, daughter of Duke Julius Franz