Princess Marie-Therese, Duchesse d'Angouleme

[elena_maria_vidal]

There are many lithographs and drawings of Therese but few paintings of her as an adult, possibly because of the expense, and she was trying to be frugal.

[Sissi]

OhHHHH I would have love to have more prtriats of her!!!

[elena_maria_vidal]

Yes, me too. Apparently she lost a great deal of her looks after her disappointing marriage to Angouleme.

[Prince_Lieven]

Yes indeed. In 'Madame Royale' Elena_Maria depicts many people remembering the pretty young Therese of happier times then comparing her to the more careworn Duchesse d'Angouleme.

[Sissi]

She aged badly, she was a child one of the most charming princess of Europe, people may have felt disappointed, however if you look at the portrait she still looks nice after she was sent to Vienna.

 So I guess you must be right her mariage did not help her looks

[elena_maria_vidal]

It may be one of the reasons people said she had been exchanged with another girl.

[Sissi]

You are right Elena Maria,people that knew her before, adn new how charming she was and what a beauty she might have become it must have been a great disappointement, I am quiet disappointed when I look at the portrait, I kbnow that children change but she did change in a very drastic way....

  Besides the heir of Sweden and of Naples did they were talks of any other posible match for her?

[elena_maria_vidal]

Yes, young Louis-Phillippe d'Orleans but Marie-Antoinette could not stand his father ( and for good reason, IMHO.) However, Angouleme always seemed to be in the first place.

[Sissi]

I know MA wanted to be near her children, but for a fille de france being Duchesse d Angouleme was not a great match, and politically a mariage abroad could have been useful for France, besides in the case of the prince of naples, she would have been close to her aunt the queen MAria Carolina.

[elena_maria_vidal]

Yes, but the Duc d'Angouleme was an heir to the throne of France, fourth or fifth in line, which was pretty close considering the way people died in those days.

[Sissi]

Do you think that MA had that idea in mind after the death of Louis Joseph, do you think that somehow she might have thought of the idea of losing Louis Charles, and marrying MT to Angouleme would at least secure the throne for one of her children.

[elena_maria_vidal]

That is exactly true, Sissi. In case both of her sons died, she wanted to make certain that her daughter had a chance of becoming queen consort of France.

[coquelicot]

Didn't Marie-Antoinette say that she didn't want her daughter to suffer the same fate as hers, by being sent abroad for a political marriage ? I always thought this was the main reason why she wanted to marry Mousseline to Angoulème : to be sure her daughter won't have to leave France and her family, as she once had to leave Austria.

[Sissi]

Yes madame Campan mentioned that in her memoirs, MA was very attached to her children, she also thought that being a daughter of France was much more importatn than being queen consort in an other realm...

[elena_maria_vidal]

Coquelicot and Sissi, you are both absolutely right.