Élisabeth of France
Élisabeth of France, also known as Madame Élisabeth, was a French princess. She was the youngest child of Louis, Dauphin of France, and Duchess Maria Josepha of Saxony, and she was a sister of King Louis XVI. Élisabeth's father, the Dauphin, was the son and heir of King Louis XV and his popular wife, Queen Marie Leszczyńska. Élisabeth remained beside her brother and his family during the French Revolution, and she was executed during the Reign of Terror at the Place de la Révolution. The cause for her beatification and canonization has been introduced by the Catholic Church, and she has been declared a Servant of God by Pope Pius XII.
Early life
Élisabeth Philippe Marie Hélène was born on 3 May 1764 in the Palace of Versailles. She was the youngest child of Louis, Dauphin of France, and Marie-Josèphe of Saxony. Her paternal grandparents were King Louis XV and Queen Marie Leszczyńska. As the daughter of the Dauphin, she was a fille de France.At the sudden death of her father in 1765, Élisabeth's oldest surviving brother, Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. Their mother Marie Josèphe died in March 1767 from tuberculosis. This left Élisabeth an orphan at just two years old, along with her older siblings: Louis-Auguste, Louis Stanislas, Count of Provence, Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, and Marie Clotilde of France.
Image:Madame Elisabeth de gauche.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Élisabeth Philippe Marie Helene de France
Élisabeth and her elder sister, Clotilde of France, were raised by Madame de Marsan, Governess to the Children of France. The sisters were considered very dissimilar in personality. While Èlisabeth was described as "proud, inflexible, and passionate", Clotilde was in contrast estimated to be "endowed with the most happy disposition, which only needed guiding and developing". They were given the usual education of contemporary royal princesses, focusing upon accomplishments, religion and virtue, an education to which Clotilde reportedly willingly subjected herself. They were tutored in botany by M. Lemonnier, in history and geography by M. Leblond, and in religion by Abbé de Montigat, Canon of Chartres, and they followed the court among the royal palaces, with their days divided between studies, walks in the Park, and drives in the forest. Madame de Marsan would often take her to visit the students at St. Cyr, where select young ladies were presented to be introduced to the princess.
While Clotilde was described as a docile pupil "who made herself loved by all who approached her", Élisabeth long refused to study, saying that "there were always people at hand whose duty it was to think for princes", and treated her staff with impatience. Madame de Marsan, who was unable to handle Élisabeth, preferred Clotilde, which made Élisabeth jealous and created a rift between the two sisters. Their relationship improved when Élisabeth fell ill and Clotilde insisted upon nursing her, during which time she also taught Élisabeth the alphabet and gave her an interest in religion, which prompted a great change in the girl's personality; Clotilde soon came to be her sister's friend, tutor, and councillor. After this, Élisabeth was given Marie Angélique de Mackau as her tutor, who reportedly had "the firmness which bends resistance, and the affectionate kindness which inspires attachment", and under whose tuition Èlisabeth made progress in her education, as well as developing a softer personality, with her strong will directed toward religious principles.
In 1770, her eldest brother, the Dauphin, married Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, better known as Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette found Élisabeth delightful, and reportedly demonstrated too openly that she preferred her to her sister Clotilde, which caused some offence at court.
Louis XVI
On 10 May 1774, her grandfather, King Louis XV, died, and her elder brother Louis-Auguste ascended the throne as Louis XVI.In August 1775, her sister Clotilde left France for her marriage to the Crown Prince of Sardinia. The farewell between the sisters was described as intense, with Élisabeth hardly able to tear herself from Clotilde’s arms. Queen Marie Antoinette commented:
Adult life
On 17 May 1778, after the visit of the court to Marly, Madame Élisabeth formally left the children's chamber and became an adult when she, upon the wish of the King her brother, was turned over to the King by her governess and given her own household, with Diane de Polignac as maid of honour and Bonne Marie Félicité de Sérent as lady-in-waiting. The ceremony was described: "Mme Élisabeth accompanied by the Princesse de Guéménée, the under governesses, and the ladies in attendance, went to the King's apartments, and there Mme de Guéménée formally handed over her charge to His Majesty, who sent for Mme la Comtesse Diane de Polignac, maid of honour to the Princess and Mme la Marquise de Sereat, her lady-in-waiting, into whose care he gave Mme Élisabeth."Several attempts were made to arrange a marriage for her. The first suggested partner was Jose, Prince of Brazil. She made no objections to the match but was reportedly relieved when the negotiations were discontinued.
Next, she was offered a proposal by the Duke of Aosta, brother of the Crown Prince of Savoy and brother-in-law of her sister Clotilde. The court of France, however, did not consider it proper for a French princess to be married to a prince of lower status than that of a monarch or an heir to a throne, and the marriage was refused on her behalf.
Finally, a marriage was suggested between her and her sister-in-law's brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, who had a good impression of her from his visit to France the previous year, and commented that he was attracted by the "vivacity of her intellect and her amiable character." However, the anti-Austrian party at court viewed an alliance between France and Austria as contrary to the interests of France, and by 1783 the plans were finally discontinued and no further suggestions of marriage were made. Élisabeth herself was content not to marry, as it would have been to a foreign prince, which would force her to leave France: "I can only marry a king's son, and a king's son must reign over his father's kingdom. I should no longer be a Frenchwoman. I do not wish to cease to be one. It is far better to stay here at the foot of my brother's throne than to ascend another."
Madame Élisabeth did not play any royal role prior to the Revolution; she viewed the royal court as decadent and a threat to her moral welfare, and acted to distance herself from it, and she attended court only when her presence was absolutely necessary or when she was explicitly asked by the King or Queen. When she left the royal children's chamber and formed her own household as an adult, she reportedly resolved to protect herself from the potential moral threats from court life by continuing to follow the principles set by her governesses and tutors during her childhood: to devote her days to a schedule of religious devotion, study, riding and walks, and to socialize only with "the ladies who have educated me and who are attached to me my good aunts, the Ladies of St. Cyr, the Carmelites of St. Denis".
She often visited her aunt, Louise of France, at the Carmelite convent of St. Denis. The king, who was somewhat worried that she would become a nun, once said "I ask nothing better than that you should go to see your aunt, on condition that you do not follow her example: Élisabeth, I need you." A staunch believer in absolute monarchy, Élisabeth had great respect for the position of her eldest brother the King, and regarded it her duty to stand by him. On a personal level, she was deeply devoted to her second brother, the Count of Provence: "My brother the Comte de Provence, is at the same time the best adviser and the most charming conteur. He is seldom mistaken in his judgment of men and things, and his prodigious memory furnishes him in all circumstances with a never-ending flow of interesting anecdote." Her youngest brother, the Count of Artois, was dissimilar to her and was sometimes given an "affectionate lecture" by her for his scandals, though he came to admire her.
Her relationship with Queen Marie Antoinette was complicated, as they were quite dissimilar. Marie Antoinette reportedly found Élisabeth delightful when she first entered court as an adult: "The Queen is enchanted with her. She tells everyone that there is no one more amiable, that she did not know her well before, but that now she has made her her friend and that it will be for life." Élisabeth, however, was close to her aunts, the Mesdames de France, who were members of the anti-Austrian party at court, noted for their animosity toward the Queen and deeply opposed to her informal reforms in court life, and the latter view was shared by Élisabeth who, as a monarchist, regarded the queen's disregard of etiquette as a threat to the monarchy, and once remarked in connection to it: "if sovereigns descended often to the people, the people would approach near enough to see that the Queen was only a pretty woman, and that they would soon conclude that the King was merely the first among officials." She also attempted to criticize the Queen's behaviour in this regard but never did so openly, instead asking her aunt Madame Adélaïde to do it for her. Regardless of these differences, she did occasionally visit Marie Antoinette in the Petit Trianon where they fished in the artificial lake, watched the cows being milked and welcomed the King and his brothers for supper "in white cotton dresses, straw hats and gauze fichus", and she did, at least on one occasion, agree to participate in one of the Queen's amateur theatre performances. She became devoted to the children of the King and Queen, in particular the first dauphin and Marie Thérèse of France. Élisabeth became the godmother of Sophie Hélène Beatrix of France in 1786, and the same year she participated in the centenary of St. Cyr, a school in which she took a great interest.