Princess Anne Charlotte of Lorraine
Encyclopedia
Anne Charlotte of Lorraine (17 May 1714 – 7 November 1773) was the Abbess of Remiremont, Mons
and Essen
. She was the youngest daughter and the youngest of thirteen children of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
, and his spouse Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans. Her mother was the niece of Louis XIV of France
and sister of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
and Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV
.
. At the time of her birth, she had three brothers and a sister alive: Léopold Clément, heir to the throne since the death of Louis in 1711; Francis Stephen
born in 1708; Élisabeth Thérèse born in 1711; and then Charles-Alexandre
born in 1712. In 1718 her mother lost a daughter who died soon after birth.
In 1719 the Château de Lunéville where Anne Charlotte was born was damaged greatly by a fire.
Anne Charlotte was seven and a half when she went to the 'French court of her maternal family, the Royal House of Bourbon
. She met her grand mother, the Dowager Duchess of Orléans, the princesse Palatine
for the first and last time; the occasion was for the coronation of Louis XV
at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Rheims. Her grandmother said that Anne Charlotte was a "little beauty" and that she and her siblings had been bought up well; her mother would always be praised for her maternal instinct. Uncommon for the time, Anne Charlotte's mother insisted that she raise her children.
under the supervision of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
. Léopold had been secretly hoping to have his son marry the Emperor's heiress, Archduchess Maria Theresia
.
The young prince of 16 years died the same year and as a result his brother Francis Stephen
became the heir to Lorraine and left Lunéville for Vienna.
Two years later, the Ducal couple hoped and tried fiercely to get Anne Charlotte to marry the King of France Louis XV who at the time was just 15 years old. The intrigues of the Prime Minister, the Duke of Bourbon, prince of the blood
, head of the Condé family and great rival of the House of Orléans
also fought fiercely to stop the marriage as it would have decreased their influence over the young king. This did not stop the Duke of Bourbon and his mistress the marquise de Prie
, from suggesting the king marry the sister of the Duke, Henriette Louise de Bourbon
.
Despite the plans of the Prime Minister, Marie Leszczyńska was chosen as the bride of the monarch. Anne Charlotte's parents were greatly insulted that the daughter of an exiled Pole was to become Queen and not someone who was French.
had died in Paris in childbirth. The Duchess of Lorraine once again tried to get her daughter a husband; it failed; The Duke of Orléans refused all offers of marriage, the last one being made in 1729 when Anne Charlotte was just 15.
In the same year Anne Charlotte lost her father Léopold. Her brother, Francis Stephen, still in Vienna returned to Lorraine. While awaiting the return of the latter, Élisabeth Charlotte seizes Regency due to her son being 17. In 1737, however, the Duchy of Lorraine is annexed by France in exhange for the Duchy of Tuscany in a threaty between France and Franics Stephen.
The Dowager Duchess princess now went with Anne Charlotte to Vienna. The marriage of Francis and Maria Theresa then allowed them to negotiate the marriage of Princess Élisabeth Thérèse to Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia
, his first cousin and already two times widower. The Queen of Sardinia died four years later in childbirth in Turin
.
Abbey
on 10 May 1738. Remiremont had previously been the "property" of her older sister Élisabeth Charlotte
(who died before Anne Charlotte was born) who was the titular abbess of the prestigious abbey which had many connections with the House of Lorraine.
Her new title caused irritation between certain sovereign princes since this abbey, only composed from ladies of high nobility and of which the temporal domain includes a big number of towns, raises only authority of the pope!
Later on, Anne Charlotte decided to build a sumptuous abbey palace.
seeing the coronation of François as Emperor on 4 October 1745, day of the Saint Francis. The Abbess was given apartments at the vast Schönbrunn Palace
.
In Brussels, she enjoyed great influence over her brother and served as "first lady". Although Charles Alexander had been a widower for ten years, his wife was the youngest sister of the Empress, she reproached him about his liaison with Madam de Meuse. In 1763, she was designated as coadjutor and successor of Remiremont the Princess Kunigunde of Saxony
, sister of Queen of Naples and Sicily
and Dauphine of France. In 1765, she attended the marriage of her nephew the future Léopold II
to Infante Maria Luisa of Spain
in Innsbrück
; the same year her brother the Emperor died. From April to September 1770, Anne Charlotte made a last trip to Vienna.
On the way Anne Charlotte crossed the path taken by her niece, the 14 year old Archduchess Maria Antonia
towards that of her French marriage.
Anne Charlotte died in Mons in present day Belgium at the age of 59. She was buried at the Ducal Crypt in Lorraine, the Église Saint-François-des-Cordelier. She was joined by her brother Charles Alexander in 1780.
Mons
Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
and Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
. She was the youngest daughter and the youngest of thirteen children of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
Leopold , surnamed the Good, was Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1690 to his death.-Early life:Leopold Joseph Charles Dominique Agapet Hyacinthe was the son of Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, and his wife Eleonora Maria Josefa of Austria, a half-sister of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.At the time of...
, and his spouse Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans. Her mother was the niece of 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 sister of 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...
and Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
.
Family
Anne Charlotte was born at the Château de Lunéville because the Capital of Lorraine, Nancy, was occupied by French troops of Louis XIV due to the War of the Spanish SuccessionWar 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...
. At the time of her birth, she had three brothers and a sister alive: Léopold Clément, heir to the throne since the death of Louis in 1711; Francis Stephen
Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis I was Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real power of those positions. With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty...
born in 1708; Élisabeth Thérèse born in 1711; and then Charles-Alexandre
Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine
Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine was a Lorraine-born Austrian soldier.-Background:Charles was the son of Leopold Joseph, Duke of Lorraine and Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans...
born in 1712. In 1718 her mother lost a daughter who died soon after birth.
In 1719 the Château de Lunéville where Anne Charlotte was born was damaged greatly by a fire.
Anne Charlotte was seven and a half when she went to the 'French court of her maternal family, the Royal 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...
. She met her grand mother, the Dowager Duchess of Orléans, the princesse Palatine
Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate
Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine was a German princess and the wife of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV of France. Her vast correspondence provides a detailed account of the personalities and activities at the court of her brother-in-law, Louis XIV...
for the first and last time; the occasion was for the coronation of Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Rheims. Her grandmother said that Anne Charlotte was a "little beauty" and that she and her siblings had been bought up well; her mother would always be praised for her maternal instinct. Uncommon for the time, Anne Charlotte's mother insisted that she raise her children.
Marriage negotiations with the King of France
In 1723 Anne Charlotte's father, Léopold, disappointed with his relations with France, decided to send his heir to finish his education in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
under the supervision of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
. Léopold had been secretly hoping to have his son marry the Emperor's heiress, Archduchess Maria Theresia
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
.
The young prince of 16 years died the same year and as a result his brother Francis Stephen
Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis I was Holy Roman Emperor and Grand Duke of Tuscany, though his wife effectively executed the real power of those positions. With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty...
became the heir to Lorraine and left Lunéville for Vienna.
Two years later, the Ducal couple hoped and tried fiercely to get Anne Charlotte to marry the King of France Louis XV who at the time was just 15 years old. The intrigues of the Prime Minister, the Duke of Bourbon, prince of the blood
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...
, head of the Condé family and great rival of the House of Orléans
House of Orleans
Orléans is the name used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. It became a tradition during France's ancien régime for the duchy of Orléans to be granted as an appanage to a younger son of the king...
also fought fiercely to stop the marriage as it would have decreased their influence over the young king. This did not stop the Duke of Bourbon and his mistress the marquise de Prie
Jeanne Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf, marquise de Prie
Jeanne Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf, marquise de Prie , was a French noblewoman notable for her intriguing during the reign of Louis XV.She was the daughter of the rich but unscrupulous financier Étienne Berthelot de Pléneuf...
, from suggesting the king marry the sister of the Duke, Henriette Louise de Bourbon
Henriette Louise de Bourbon
Henriette Louise de Bourbon was a French Princess by birth and a member of the House of Bourbon...
.
Despite the plans of the Prime Minister, Marie Leszczyńska was chosen as the bride of the monarch. Anne Charlotte's parents were greatly insulted that the daughter of an exiled Pole was to become Queen and not someone who was French.
Marriage negotiations with the Duke of Orléans
In 1726, the son of the now dead Regent, nephew of the Duchess of Lorraine, became a widower aged 23; his wife Margravine Auguste Marie Johanna of Baden-BadenMargravine Auguste Marie Johanna of Baden-Baden
Johanna of Baden-Baden was born a Margravine of Baden-Baden, she was the Duchess of Orléans by marriage to Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans. Her husband was a grandson of her father's former enemy Louis XIV of France. Known in France as Jeanne de Bade, she died in childbirth...
had died in Paris in childbirth. The Duchess of Lorraine once again tried to get her daughter a husband; it failed; The Duke of Orléans refused all offers of marriage, the last one being made in 1729 when Anne Charlotte was just 15.
In the same year Anne Charlotte lost her father Léopold. Her brother, Francis Stephen, still in Vienna returned to Lorraine. While awaiting the return of the latter, Élisabeth Charlotte seizes Regency due to her son being 17. In 1737, however, the Duchy of Lorraine is annexed by France in exhange for the Duchy of Tuscany in a threaty between France and Franics Stephen.
The Dowager Duchess princess now went with Anne Charlotte to Vienna. The marriage of Francis and Maria Theresa then allowed them to negotiate the marriage of Princess Élisabeth Thérèse to Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia
Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia
Charles Emmanuel III was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death.-Biography:...
, his first cousin and already two times widower. The Queen of Sardinia died four years later in childbirth in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
.
Abbess of Remiremont
By the marriage of her sister to the King of Sardinia, Anne Charlotte was aged 23. All proposals of marriage being either ignored or declined, Anne Charlotte was made the Abbess of the prestigious RemiremontRemiremont Abbey
Remiremont Abbey was a Benedictine abbey near Remiremont, Vosges, France.-History:It was founded about 620 by Romaric, a lord at the court of Chlothar II, who, having been converted by Saint Ame, a monk of Luxeuil, took the habit at Luxeuil...
Abbey
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
on 10 May 1738. Remiremont had previously been the "property" of her older sister Élisabeth Charlotte
Princess Élisabeth Charlotte of Lorraine
Élisabeth Charlotte of Lorraine was a princess of Lorraine. She died of Smallpox aged 10...
(who died before Anne Charlotte was born) who was the titular abbess of the prestigious abbey which had many connections with the House of Lorraine.
Her new title caused irritation between certain sovereign princes since this abbey, only composed from ladies of high nobility and of which the temporal domain includes a big number of towns, raises only authority of the pope!
Later on, Anne Charlotte decided to build a sumptuous abbey palace.
Vienna
In 1744 the Dowager Duchess of Lorraine, Princess of Commercy died aged 68. After her mother's death, she went to Vienna. She attended the Imperial family in FrankfurtFrankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
seeing the coronation of François as Emperor on 4 October 1745, day of the Saint Francis. The Abbess was given apartments at the vast Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial 1,441-room Rococo summer residence in Vienna, Austria. One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna...
.
Brussels
In 1754 at the age of 30, Anne Charlotte was made the Secular Abbess of the chapter of Noble Ladies of Saint Waudru of Mons; thus she went to Belgium to see her youngest brother Charles Alexander who had been the Governor of the Austrian Netherlands since 1744. As a Secuar Abbess, she could therefore manage this monastery all the while remaining in the world. Two years later, she was again named by her sister-in-law, coadjutor of the monastery of Thorn then in 1757 coadjutor of the one of Essen.In Brussels, she enjoyed great influence over her brother and served as "first lady". Although Charles Alexander had been a widower for ten years, his wife was the youngest sister of the Empress, she reproached him about his liaison with Madam de Meuse. In 1763, she was designated as coadjutor and successor of Remiremont the Princess Kunigunde of Saxony
Augustus III of Poland
Augustus III, known as the Saxon ; ; also Prince-elector Friedrich August II was the Elector of Saxony in 1733-1763, as Frederick Augustus II , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1734-1763.-Biography:Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Imperial Prince-Elector...
, sister of Queen of Naples and Sicily
Maria Amalia of Saxony
Maria Amalia of Saxony was a German princess from the House of Wettin and was the wife of Charles III of Spain; she was the Queen consort of Naples and Sicily from 1738 till 1759 and then Queen consort of Spain from 1759 until her death in 1760...
and Dauphine of France. In 1765, she attended the marriage of her nephew the future Léopold II
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
to Infante Maria Luisa of Spain
Maria Luisa of Spain
Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary as the spouse of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor.-Names:...
in Innsbrück
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
; the same year her brother the Emperor died. From April to September 1770, Anne Charlotte made a last trip to Vienna.
On the way Anne Charlotte crossed the path taken by her niece, the 14 year old Archduchess Maria Antonia
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
towards that of her French marriage.
Anne Charlotte died in Mons in present day Belgium at the age of 59. She was buried at the Ducal Crypt in Lorraine, the Église Saint-François-des-Cordelier. She was joined by her brother Charles Alexander in 1780.
Ancestry
Titles and styles
- 17 May 1714 – 7 November 1773 Her Highness Princess Anne Charlotte of Lorriane