Born: June 23, 1703, Breslau, Silesia, part of Habsburgs Empire (presently Wroclaw, Poland)
Died: June 24, 1768, Versailles, France
Early days.
She was a daughter of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland 1704-1709,1733-1736, (1738-1766 Duke of Lorraine and Duke of Bar) and Katarzyna Opalińska. After King Leszczynski was deposed in 1709, he settled with Marie at Wissembourg.
Marriage and children.
King Stanisław's hopeless political career was eventually the reason that his daughter Marie became queen of France. Cardinal Fleury, King’s of France, Louis XV 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, 22-year-old Marie was chosen to marry the 15-year-old French king.
Marie bore Louis 10 children between 1727 and 1737, most of whom were incredibly loyal to their mother, but only one of her two sons--the dauphin Louis--survived infancy. Children: Anne-Henriette (1727-1752), Elisabeth (1727-1759), Louise (1728-1733), Louis (1729-1765), Philippe (1730-1733), Marie-Adelaide (1732-1800), Victorie (1733-1799), Sophie (1734-1782), Therese Felicite (1736-1744), Louise-Marie (1737-1787).
Later life.
In 1733 France entered the War of the Polish Succession against Austria in support of Stanislaw Leszczynski’s claims to the Polish throne; Stanislaw was made duke of Lorraine by the treaty that ended the conflict (1738). There are at least two versions of what happened later to Marie’s marital live. (1). After giving birth to 10 children Maria had enough of childbearing and did not allow Philip to her bedroom. This caused Philip to look for solace elsewhere. The proponents of this version emphasize that his behavior was not uncommon- maybe moderate- it seems that in that time adultery and sexual aberrations were normal at European royal courts. An account by Duke de Castries claims that: the court of August II, King of Saxony and Poland, was a nest of depravation. The King himself fathered about 350 illegitimate children. The King of Spain could brag of only 23. The Princes of Montbeliard practiced publicly incest. Ferdinando of Naples (Italy) scandalized the whole country with his harem in San Leucio. The excesses of Matilda of Denmark irritated her husband Christian IX, King of Denmark, so much that he decapitated her lover etc, etc, etc. (2). Other version claims that Louis XV was a womanizer. The most important three of his mistresses were: Marie-Anne de La Tournelle Duchesse de Chateauroux, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson Le Normand d'Etoile Marquise de Pompadour, and Jeanne Bčcu Beauvernier Comtesse Du Barry. In any event Marie was a devout Roman Catholic. Her major contribution to life at Versailles was the weekly event of Polish Choral Concerts. In 1763 Leopold Mozart and his family (including the child-prodigy Wolfgang Mozart) went on a European tour. Leopold kept a memoirs of this. On Christmas Eve 1763 the Mozarts moved to Versailles for two weeks, long enough to give them taste of life in that most famous of all European courts. Leopold was predictably pragmatic, mostly making note of how expensive everything was. But he had time for gossip too: "Madame de Pompadour is still a handsome woman. . . . She is extremely haughty and still rules over everything."
The Marquise may have been distant and aloof, but that was not the case with Queen Maria Leszczynska and King Louis XV. The royal couple invited the Mozarts to court dinner on New Year's Day, and then insisted that the family stand behind them during the meal. "My Wolfgang was graciously privileged to stand beside the Queen the whole time, to talk constantly to her, entertain her and kiss her hands repeatedly, besides partaking of the dishes which she handed him from the table," Leopold wrote. "I stood beside him, and on the other side of the King . . . stood my wife and daughter."
Maria Leszczynska found young Mozart to be very charming.
Maria died in 1768, six years before her husband. Maria's children and grandchildren sincerely grieved at Marie's death. Two years later, her grandson Louis-Auguste (King of France, Louis XVI) was married to a young Austrian archduchess, Marie Antoinette, who was destined to become the last legitimate queen of France (both were guillotined during the French Revolution as was Marie’s other grandchild, Princess Elisabeth)..Another two grandchildren, Louis XVIII and Charles X, became kings of France (after the restoration of the monarchy in 1814). Maria is a major character in the novel The Royal Merry-Go-Round, the story of Louis XV's adventurous love life.
This article uses, among others, material from the Wikipedia article "Maria Leszczynska" licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. :
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Wikipedia
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Other sources:
Marie Leszczynska
Marquise de Pompadour
Le favorite di Luigi XV (in Italian)
Mozart's biography
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