Maria Leszczyńska

:"This is the correct spelling in modern Polish; various other spellings are also used in English and French."

Infobox French Royalty|majesty|consort
name =Maria Leszczyńska
full name =Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska
title =Queen consort of France and Navarre


caption =
reign =September 4, 1725 - June 24, 1768
spouse =Louis XV
issue =Louise-Elisabeth, Duchess of Parma
Princess Henriette-Anne of France
Louis, Dauphin of France
Princess Marie Adélaïde of France
Princess Victoire of France
Princess Sophie-Philippine of France
Princess Louise-Marie of France
royal house =House of Leszczyński
father =Stanislaus I of Poland
mother =Katarzyna Opalinska
date of birth =birth date|1703|6|23|mf=y
place of birth =Trzebnica, Poland
date of death =death date and age|1768|6|24|1703|6|23|mf=y
place of death =Versailles, France|

Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska (June 23, 1703 – June 24, 1768) was a queen consort of France and a Polish princess. She was a daughter of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland (later Duke of Lorraine) and Katarzyna Opalińska. She married King Louis XV of France and was the grandmother of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. In France, she was referred to as Marie Leczinska.

Early life

According to Polski Słownik Biograficzny, her birth name was Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska h. Wieniawa, which agrees with the entry for Louis XV in Burke's "Royal Families of the World", where she appears as Marie-Caroline-Sophie-Félicité.

Maria's early life was troubled by her father's political misfortune. Ironically, King Stanisław's hopeless political career was eventually the reason that his daughter Maria became queen of France.

Marriage to Louis XV

Cardinal Fleury, Louis XV's Prime Minister, wanted to find his king a royal bride who would not drag France into any complicated political alliances. Since Stanisław's royal power no longer existed, Maria was chosen to marry the young French king. Upon her marriage, her name was modified into French as Marie Leczinska.

The young couple's marriage was initially happy and they had many children, most of whom were incredibly loyal to their mother. Louis XV was a notorious womanizer, and several of his mistresses—particularly the glamorous Madame de Pompadour—eventually eclipsed the Queen's social status at Versailles. Most of his affairs were with her knowledge, and she either simply accepted them, or was powerless to stop them.

Marie was a devout Roman Catholic. Her major contribution to life at Versailles was the weekly event of Polish Choral Concerts. She also met the young Mozart, whom she found very charming.

Children

Her son, Louis, was married to Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of her father's rival, King August III of Poland. Initially, this connection caused some friction between the Queen and her new daughter-in-law. However, the friction was soon overcome, reportedly because the young German princess was an admirer of the Queen's romantically unlucky father. In honor of him, several of the Queen's grandsons received the name Stanislas at their christenings.

Children:

*On September 4, 1725 she married Louis XV of France. They had ten children:

Death

Marie died in 1768, six years before her husband. His new mistress was a former prostitute, Madame du Barry. Marie's children and grandchildren sincerely grieved at Marie's death. Two years later, her grandson, the future Louis XVI was married to a young Austrian archduchess, Marie Antoinette.

Trivia

*Two of Marie's grandchildren met their deaths on the guillotine during the French Revolution: Louis XVI and Madame Élisabeth.

*Another two grandchildren, Louis XVIII and Charles X, became kings of France after the Bourbon Restoration in 1814.

*Marie is a major character in the novel "The Royal Merry-Go-Round", the story of Louis XV's adventurous love life. In the anime "Le Chevalier D'Eon", she is one of the characters manipulating many of the events in the story.

*Though presumed to be not too clever, Marie Leczinska was an author of at least a few quips. It is said that following the death of the Protestant marshall Maurice de Saxe she remarked: "How sad, that we cannot sing "De Profundis", for a man thanks to whom we sung so often "Te Deum""

Gallery

Queen of France