author
Duchess of Burgundy of Savoy Marie Adelaide
1685–1712
Married into the court of Louis XIV at just 12, she quickly became one of Versailles's most vivid young figures. Her short life linked the House of Savoy to Bourbon France and, through her son Louis XV, shaped the future of the French monarchy.
1 Audiobook
The Correspondence of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother of the Regent; of Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne; and of Madame de Maintenon, in Relation to Saint-Cyr
by Madame de Maintenon, Duchess of Burgundy of Savoy Marie Adelaide, duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orléans
About the author
Born in Turin on December 6, 1685, Marie Adélaïde of Savoy was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and Anne Marie d'Orléans. Her 1697 marriage to Louis, Duke of Burgundy, helped seal a political reconciliation between France and Savoy at the end of the Nine Years' War.
At Versailles she became Duchess of Burgundy and later Dauphine of France. Contemporary accounts and later histories alike remember her as lively, charming, and unusually able to win the affection of the aging Louis XIV, giving her a noticeable presence at court despite her youth.
She died at Versailles on February 12, 1712, during a deadly outbreak of measles; her husband died soon after. Although she never became queen, her line endured through her surviving son, the future Louis XV, which gave her a lasting place in French royal history.