Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti
Encyclopedia
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Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (10 November 1695 – 4 May 1727) was Prince of Conti, from 1709 to his death, succeeding his father François Louis, Prince of Conti
. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon
, he was a Prince du Sang
. His mother was the pious Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, a grand daughter of Louis de Bourbon, le Grand Condé
. He was nominated as the Prince of Orange
by Louis XIV in 1712.
His male line descendants died out in 1814; through his daughter however, he is an ancestor of the present-day pretender
s to the throne of France
and Italy
and the kings of Spain
and Belgium
.
as the guest of honour; Mary was the widow of the exiled James II of England
.
Louis was often described as being "hideous"; he was humpbacked and very unattractive.
At the age of 13 his father died in Paris (9 February 1709) and Louis Armand succeeded to the Conti title as well as his fathers assets. On 1 January 1711, Louis Armand was made a knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit
. A week later on 8 January he was recognised as a Peer
of France with the recognition of the Parlement de Paris
.
On 9 July 1713, Louis Armand married his maternal first cousin, the vivacious Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, known as Mademoiselle de Bourbon prior to the marriage. Another proposed bride was Louise Anne de Bourbon, sister of Mademoiselle de Bourbon.
The event, also took place at Versailles and was part of a double marriage; on the same day his oldest sister Marie Anne de Bourbon married Louis Henri de Bourbon, known as the Duke of Bourbon.
In the end, Louise Élisabeths brother Charles even proposed to Charlotte Aglaé who is said to have considered the proposal but refused on behalf of her parents. Charlotte Aglaé herself married the Duke of Modena in 1720 in the presece of Louis Armand and Louis Élisabeth.
The marriage was Louis Armand and Louise Élisabeth would later become stormy.
Louise Élisabeth was known to have been unfaithful to her husband, a liaison with the handsome Philippe Charles de La Fare was well known at court. In August 1716, Louis Armand caught Smallpox; it was Louise Élisabeth who would nurse him till his recovery. Louise Élisabeth later caught the illness herself but survived the disease.
It was at this time that Louis Armand found out about Louise Élisabeth's affair with Monsieur de La Fare. He is reported to have hurt his wife to the point that she had to see a doctor on two separate occasions. Louise Élisabeth stayed at the Palais Bourbon
which was her mothers
private home in Paris. She also stayed at a convent in the capital. At the birth of their second son in 1717, Louis Armand said to her that he did not care for the child as he could not have been his; in turn, the proud Louise Élisabeth replied that she did not care for the child either because he was his.
Louise Élisabeth and Louis Armand had to go to many court hearings in Paris. In 1725, she consented to return to the Prince of Conti, who had her confined to the Château de l'Isle-Adam. She was able later, however, to convince him to allow her to return to Paris in order to give birth to her daughter. It was while in Paris she gave birth to their only daughter Louise Henriette.
He was treated with great liberality by Louis XIV of France
, and also by the Regent
the Duke Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
. Louis Armand was a prominent supporter of the financial schemes of John Law
, by which he made large sums of money.
It was during the Regency
of 1715 - 1723, Louis Armand was appointed a member of the Regency council itself as well as a member of the Council of War. In April 1717 he received the government of the Poitou
region of France. This appointment came with a wage of 45,000 Livres.
He served under Marshal Villars in the War of the Spanish Succession
, but he lacked the soldierly qualities of his father.
Louis Armand died at the Hôtel de Conti
in Paris due to a "chest swelling"; he died not having apologised to his wife for his actions.
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Louis Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (10 November 1695 – 4 May 1727) was Prince of Conti, from 1709 to his death, succeeding his father François Louis, Prince of Conti
François Louis, Prince of Conti
François Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was Prince de Conti, succeeding his brother Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti in 1685. Until this date he used the title of Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon. He was son of Armand de Bourbon and Anne Marie Martinozzi, niece of Cardinal Jules Mazarin...
. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
, he was a Prince du Sang
Prince du Sang
A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...
. His mother was the pious Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, a grand daughter of Louis de Bourbon, le Grand Condé
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé
Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé was a French general and the most famous representative of the Condé branch of the House of Bourbon. Prior to his father's death in 1646, he was styled the Duc d'Enghien...
. He was nominated as the Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
by Louis XIV in 1712.
His male line descendants died out in 1814; through his daughter however, he is an ancestor of the present-day pretender
Pretender
A pretender is one who claims entitlement to an unavailable position of honour or rank. Most often it refers to a former monarch, or descendant thereof, whose throne is occupied or claimed by a rival, or has been abolished....
s to the throne of France
Orléanist
The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...
and Italy
Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples
Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, formerly Crown Prince of Italy is the only son of the Umberto II, the last King of Italy. He is commonly known in Italy as Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia...
and the kings of Spain
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
and Belgium
Albert II of Belgium
Albert II is the current reigning King of the Belgians, a constitutional monarch. He is a member of the royal house "of Belgium"; formerly this house was named Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
.
Biography
Born at the Palace of Versailles, he was one of seven children born to his parents and their only son to live over the age of 5. At the age of 8 on 30 June 1704 he was baptised. Held at Versailles, the ceremony, Louis XIV had Mary of ModenaMary of Modena
Mary of Modena was Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of King James II and VII. A devout Catholic, Mary became, in 1673, the second wife of James, Duke of York, who later succeeded his older brother Charles II as King James II...
as the guest of honour; Mary was the widow of the exiled James II of England
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
.
Louis was often described as being "hideous"; he was humpbacked and very unattractive.
At the age of 13 his father died in Paris (9 February 1709) and Louis Armand succeeded to the Conti title as well as his fathers assets. On 1 January 1711, Louis Armand was made a knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit
Order of the Holy Spirit
The Order of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Order of the Knights of the Holy Spirit, was an Order of Chivalry under the French Monarchy. It should not be confused with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost or with the Order of the Holy Ghost...
. A week later on 8 January he was recognised as a Peer
Peerage (disambiguation)
Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom.Peerage may also refer to:* Peerage Act 1963* Jacobite Peerage* Hereditary peer* Life Peer- British Isles :* Peerage of England** Welsh peers* Peerage of Ireland...
of France with the recognition of the Parlement de Paris
Parlement
Parlements were regional legislative bodies in Ancien Régime France.The political institutions of the Parlement in Ancien Régime France developed out of the previous council of the king, the Conseil du roi or curia regis, and consequently had ancient and customary rights of consultation and...
.
On 9 July 1713, Louis Armand married his maternal first cousin, the vivacious Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, known as Mademoiselle de Bourbon prior to the marriage. Another proposed bride was Louise Anne de Bourbon, sister of Mademoiselle de Bourbon.
The event, also took place at Versailles and was part of a double marriage; on the same day his oldest sister Marie Anne de Bourbon married Louis Henri de Bourbon, known as the Duke of Bourbon.
In the end, Louise Élisabeths brother Charles even proposed to Charlotte Aglaé who is said to have considered the proposal but refused on behalf of her parents. Charlotte Aglaé herself married the Duke of Modena in 1720 in the presece of Louis Armand and Louis Élisabeth.
The marriage was Louis Armand and Louise Élisabeth would later become stormy.
It was at this time that Louis Armand found out about Louise Élisabeth's affair with Monsieur de La Fare. He is reported to have hurt his wife to the point that she had to see a doctor on two separate occasions. Louise Élisabeth stayed at the Palais Bourbon
Palais Bourbon
The Palais Bourbon, , a palace located on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde, Paris , is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government.-History:...
which was her mothers
Louise-Françoise de Bourbon
Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Légitimée de France was the eldest surviving legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan. She was said to have been named after her godmother, Louise de La Vallière, the woman that her mother had replaced as the king's...
private home in Paris. She also stayed at a convent in the capital. At the birth of their second son in 1717, Louis Armand said to her that he did not care for the child as he could not have been his; in turn, the proud Louise Élisabeth replied that she did not care for the child either because he was his.
Louise Élisabeth and Louis Armand had to go to many court hearings in Paris. In 1725, she consented to return to the Prince of Conti, who had her confined to the Château de l'Isle-Adam. She was able later, however, to convince him to allow her to return to Paris in order to give birth to her daughter. It was while in Paris she gave birth to their only daughter Louise Henriette.
He was treated with great liberality by Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
, and also by the Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
the Duke Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Philippe d'Orléans was a member of the royal family of France and served as Regent of the Kingdom from 1715 to 1723. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth under the title of Duke of Chartres...
. Louis Armand was a prominent supporter of the financial schemes of John Law
John Law (economist)
John Law was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself and that national wealth depended on trade...
, by which he made large sums of money.
It was during the Regency
Régence
The Régence is the period in French history between 1715 and 1723, when King Louis XV was a minor and the land was governed by a Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, the nephew of Louis XIV of France....
of 1715 - 1723, Louis Armand was appointed a member of the Regency council itself as well as a member of the Council of War. In April 1717 he received the government of the Poitou
Poitou
Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
region of France. This appointment came with a wage of 45,000 Livres.
He served under Marshal Villars in the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
, but he lacked the soldierly qualities of his father.
Louis Armand died at the Hôtel de Conti
Hôtel de Conti
The Hôtel de Conti, sometimes the Palais Conti refers to two Parisian townhouse's that were the property of the Princes of Conti, the relatives of the ruling Kings of France and Princes of the blood.-History:...
in Paris due to a "chest swelling"; he died not having apologised to his wife for his actions.
- Louis Armand was also the Count of Alais, Beaumont-sur-Oise and of Pézenas; he was also the Duke of Mercœur. He also owned the Lordship of L'Isle-AdamL'Isle-Adam, Val-d'OiseL'Isle-Adam is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France.-References:** -External links:* * *...
.
Issue
| Name | | Portrait | Lifespan | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louis de Bourbon Count of La Marche |
 |
28 March 1715 - 1 August 1717 |
Born in Paris, he died in infancy; | |
| Louis François de Bourbon Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was a French nobleman, who was the Prince of Conti from 1727 to his death, following his father Louis Armand II. His mother was Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, a natural granddaughter of Louis XIV... Prince of Conti |
 |
13 August 1717 - 2 August 1776 |
Born in Paris, he was the heir to the Conti titles and lands. Husband of Louise Diane d'Orléans Louise Diane d'Orléans Louise d'Orléans was the sixth daughter and last child of Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans and his wife, Françoise Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan... ; had issue; |
|
| Louis Armand de Bourbon Duke of Mercœur |
|
- 13 May 1722 |
Born in Paris, he died in infancy; | |
| Charles de Bourbon Count of Alais |
|
7 August 1730 |
Born in Paris, he died in infancy; | |
| Louise Henriette de Bourbon Duchess of Orléans Duchess of Étampes |
 |
20 June 1726 – 9 February 1759 |
Born in Paris, she was Louise Élisabeth's oly daughter; known as Mademoiselle de Conti in her youth, she married Louis Philippe d'Orléans Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans Louis Philippe d'Orléans known as le Gros , was a French nobleman, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the dynasty then ruling France. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior male at the French court after the immediate royal family. He was the father of... , Duke of Chartres at Versailles in 1743; she had issue and was the mother of Philippe Égalité Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans Louis Philippe d'Orléans known as le Gros , was a French nobleman, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the dynasty then ruling France. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior male at the French court after the immediate royal family. He was the father of... and Bathilde d'Orléans Bathilde d'Orléans Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans, Princess of Condé , was a French princess. She was sister of Philippe Égalité, the mother of the executed duc d'Enghien and aunt of Louis-Philippe King of the French... , the last princesse de Condé. |
Ancestry
Titles and styles
- 10 November 1695 – 9 February 1709 His Serene HighnessSerene HighnessHis/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
the Count of La Marche (Monsieur le comte de La Marche) - 9 February 1709 – 4 May 1727 His Serene HighnessSerene HighnessHis/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein and Monaco. It also preceded the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties as well as some non-ruling but princely German noble families until 1918...
the Prince of Conti (Monsieur le prince de Conti)
Military ranks
27 January 1719 Created Lieutenant GeneralLieutenant GeneralLieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
during the War of the Quadruple AllianceWar of the Quadruple AllianceThe War of the Quadruple Alliance was a result of the ambitions of King Philip V of Spain, his wife, Elisabeth Farnese, and his chief minister Giulio Alberoni to retake territories in Italy and to claim the French throne. It saw the defeat of Spain by an alliance of Britain, France, Austria , and...
Honours
- 1 January 1711 Created a Knight of the Order of the Holy SpiritOrder of the Holy SpiritThe Order of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Order of the Knights of the Holy Spirit, was an Order of Chivalry under the French Monarchy. It should not be confused with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost or with the Order of the Holy Ghost...
Titles
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