Marie Thé Rèse Charlotte (1778–1851)
Marie Thé Rèse Charlotte (1778–1851)
Duchess of Angoulême. Name variations: Marie Therese Charlotte; Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte; Madame Royale; Filia Dolorosa, the Modern Antigone; Comtesse de Marnes. Born at Versailles, France, Dec 19, 1778; died of pneumonia on Oct 19, 1851, in Austria; dau. of Louis XVI (1754–1793), king of France(r. 1774–1792), and Marie Antoinette (1755–1793); educated at French court; m. Louis Antoine de Bourbon (1775–1844), duke of Angoulême, in 1799.
Eldest daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who survived her parents and lived most of her life in exile; was imprisoned with family in the Temple (1792); mother and father guillotined (1793), but only learned of mother's death 18 months after the event; released from prison (1795); kept a journal detailing her experiences; married duke of Angoulême (1799); lived in exile with uncle Louis XVIII in various European countries (1799–1814); returned with Louis when he was restored to French throne (1814); lived a quiet life in Paris (1814–29), with her own court at the Tuileries; with the revolution in Paris and abdication of Charles X and duke of Angoulême (1830), spent remaining years in exile once more.
See also Elizabeth Powers, The Journal of Madame Royale (Walker, 1976); Joseph Turquan, Madame Royale: The Last Dauphine (Unwin, 1910); Alice Curtis Desmond, Marie Antoinette's Daughter (Dodd, 1967); and Women in World History.