Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon, ''Légitimée de France'', Mademoiselle de Tours (Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, 18 November 1674 – Bourbon, 15 September 1681) was the illegitimate daughter of

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

and his most famous ''

Maîtresse-en-titre ''maîtresse-en-titre'' () was the chief royal mistress of the King of France. The title came into use during the reign of Henry IV and continued through the reign of Louis XV. It was a semi-official position which came with its own apartme ...

'',

Madame de Montespan Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

. She died in early childhood.

Biography

Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon was born at the

Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a former royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the ''département'' of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the ''musée d'Archéologie nationale'' (Nati ...

on 18 November 1674. She was the couple's third daughter and their fifth child. She was

legitimised Legitimation or legitimisation is the act of providing legitimacy. Legitimation in the social sciences refers to the process whereby an act, process, or ideology becomes legitimate by its attachment to norms and values within a given society. I ...

by her father Louis XIV in January 1676 at the age of almost two. Her parents affectionately dubbed her ''Toutou'' after her title. After her birth, her care was entrusted into the hands of Madame Scarron who had taken care of her older siblings in a house bought for them by their father on the Rue de Vaugirard, then in the suburbs of Paris. Known as ''Louise Marie'', she was born after the official separation of Madame de Montespan and her legal husband. After her legitimisation in 1676, she gained the style of Mademoiselle de Tours from the town of

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

in France. Growing up in Paris, she was adored by her oldest sister Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, who was known as ''Mademoiselle de Nantes''. Some three years after her birth, she was joined by another sister, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon – future wife of Philippe d'Orléans ''Régent'' of France. Then in 1678 her last full brother was born at Clagny, Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon. The latter two were made legitimate in November 1681. She was known as Mademoiselle de Tours until her premature death in 1681, at the age of six. She died at Bourbon-l'Archambault. Her father, who was at Fontainebleau, ordered that his beloved daughter be buried at the tomb of the

Dukes of Bourbon Duke of Bourbon (french: Duc de Bourbon) is a title in the peerage of France. It was created in the first half of the 14th century for the eldest son of Robert of France, Count of Clermont and Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress of the lordship of B ...

. After her death, writing to the duc du Maine, her mother said:

''I do not speak to you of my grief, you are naturally too good not to have experienced it for yourself. As for Mademoiselle de Nantes, she has felt it as deeply as if she were twenty and has received the visits of the
Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
and Madame la Dauphine.''

''Athénaïs:The Real Queen of France'' by ''Lisa Hilton'', p201 Her mother was said to have been badly affected by her death but was unable to attend the child's funeral, which occurred four days after her death, as a result of being otherwise engaged with the incarceration of the duc de Lauzun.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louise Marie Anne of Bourbon 1674 births 1681 deaths 17th-century French people People from Saint-Germain-en-Laye House of Rochechouart Burials at Souvigny Priory Illegitimate children of Louis XIV Royalty and nobility who died as children Daughters of kings