Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans

Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans (Marie Louise Adélaïde; 13 August 1698 – 10 February 1743) was the second daughter of Philippe d'Orléans and Françoise Marie de Bourbon, a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. She was an Abbess of Chelles. Marie Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans was born at the Palace of Versailles on 13 August 1698. After the marriage of her aunt Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Louise Adélaïde was known at court as Mademoiselle de Chartres. She assumed the style of Mademoiselle d'Orléans in 1710 after her elder sister Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans married Charles, Duke of Berry. Very close to her sisters Marie Louise Élisabeth and Charlotte Aglaé, Louise Adélaïde was considered the most beautiful of the Orléans daughters. Her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, described her in the following manner: [She is] well made, and is the handsomest of my granddaughters. She has a fine skin, a superb complexion, very white teeth, good eyes, and a faultless shape. Her hands are extremely delicate, the red and white are beautifully and naturally mingled in her skin. I never saw finer teeth; they are like a row of pearls. Also according to her grandmother, Louise Adélaïde was very passionate about music and showed an interest in both theology and the sciences. In particular, she was intrigued with the science of surgery which was then going through an era of change and improvement. On her entrance into a convent, Louis Racine composed a verse about her: Plaisir, beauté, jeunesse, honneurs, gloire, puissance, Ambitieux espoir que permet la naissance, Tout au pied de l'Agneau fut par elle immolé. Louise Adélaïde and her sister Charlotte Aglaé were both placed in the Abbey of Chelles from a young age. Their education was briefly interrupted in 1710 for the wedding of their eldest sister Marie Louise Élisabeth. Louise Adélaïde and Charlotte Aglaé held her train. Initially, young Louise Adélaïde was considered as a possible bride for her cousin, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Prince of Dombes.