Louis XIV (1638–1715), the Bourbon monarch of the Kingdom of France, was the son of Louis XIII and Queen Anne.
The descendants of Louis XIV are numerous. Although only one of his children by his wife Maria Theresa of Spain survived past infancy, Louis had many illegitimate children by his mistresses. This article deals with the children of Louis XIV and in turn their senior descendants.
Legitimate issue by Maria Theresa of Spain
She was born as Infanta María Teresa of Spain (also known as María Teresa of Austria, because she was by birth a member of Casa d'Austria, House of Austria), at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial. Maria was the daughter of Philip IV of Spain and Elisabeth of France. María Teresa thus combined the blood of Philip III of Spain and Margarita of Austria, on her father's side, and that of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici, on her mother's side.
In his turn, Philip III was the son of Philip II of Spain and Anna of Austria who was, herself, a daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain. Philip II and Maria of Spain were siblings, being both children of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Isabella of Portugal. María Teresa, therefore, like many Habsburgs, was a product of years and generations of royal intermarriage between cousins.
In 1659, as the war with France began to wind down, a union between the two royal families, of Spain and of France, was proposed as a means to secure peace. María Teresa and Louis XIV were double first-cousins, and it was proposed that they wed. His father was Louis XIII, who was the brother of her mother, while her father was brother to Anne of Austria, his mother.
Such a prospect was intensely enticing to Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV and aunt of María Teresa, who desired an end to hostilities between her native country, Spain, and her adopted one, France, and who hoped this to come by her niece becoming her daughter-in-law.Antonia Fraser. Love and Louis XIV. However, Spanish hesitation and procrastination led to a scheme in which Cardinal Mazarin, the First Minister of France, pretended to seek a marriage for his master with Margaret of Savoy. When Philip IV of Spain heard of the meeting at Lyon between the Houses of France and Savoy, he reputedly exclaimed of the Franco-Savoyard union that "it cannot be, and will not be". Philip then sent a special envoy to the French Court to open negotiations for peace and a royal marriage. After a marriage by proxy to the French king in Fuenterrabia, María Teresa became known as Marie-Thérèse. Her father, Philip IV, and the entire Spanish court accompanied the bride to the Isle of Pheasants, in the Bidassoa, where Louis and his court met her. On 7 June 1660, she departed from her native country of Spain. Two days later, on 9 June, the religious marriage took place in Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint Jean-Baptiste church, which had recently been rebuilt on the site of the former 13th century church burned several times in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Besides the Grand Dauphin (see below), Louis XIV and Maria Theresa had three other children, none of whom lived more than half a year. Their names were Anne-Élisabeth (18 November 1662 – 30 December 1662), Marie-Anne (16 November 1664 – 26 December 1664) and Louis-François (14 June 1672 – 4 November 1672).
Louis, Dauphin of France French Line Name of Descendant Portrait Birth Marriages and Issue Death Louis, Grand Dauphin("The Great Dauphin") 1 November 1661Palace of Versaillesson of Maria Theresa of Spain and Louis XIV of France Duchess Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria7 March 1680Châlons-sur-Marne3 children 14 April 1711aged 49 Louis, Duke of Burgundy 16 August 1682Palace of Versaillesson of Louis, Dauphin of France and Maria Anna of Bavaria Marie Adélaïde of Savoy7 December 16973 children 18 February 1712aged 29 Louis, Duke of Brittany 8 January 1707son of Louis, Duke of Burgundy and Marie Adélaïde of Savoy never married 8 March 1712aged 5 Louis XV of France1715–1774 15 February 1710Palace of Versaillesson of Louis, Duke of Burgundy and Marie Adélaïde of Savoy Maria Leszczyńska4 September 172510 children 10 May 1774Palace of Versaillesaged 64 Louis, Dauphin of France 4 September 1729Palace of Versaillesson of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain17441 childMaria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France17478 children 20 December 1765Palace of Fontainebleauaged 36 Louis, Duke of Burgundy (born 1751) 13 September 1751Palace of Versaillesson of Louis, Dauphin of France and Marie-Josèphe of Saxony never married 22 March 1761Palace of Versaillesaged 9 Louis XVI of France1774–1793 23 August 1754Palace of Versaillesson of Louis, Dauphin of France and Marie-Josèphe of Saxony Marie Antoinette16 May 17704 children 21 January 1793Place de la Concordeaged 38 Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France 22 October 1781Palace of Versaillesson of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette never married 4 June 1789Château de Meudonaged 7 "Louis XVII of France"1793–1795 27 March 1785Palace of Versaillesson of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette never married 8 June 1795Paris Templeaged 10 Louis XVIII of France1795–1824 17 November 1755Palace of Versaillesson of Louis, Dauphin of France and Marie-Josèphe of Saxony Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy14 May 1771No children 16 September 1824Louvre Palaceaged 68 Charles X of France1824–1830 9 October 1757Palace of Versaillesson of Louis, Dauphin of France and Marie-Josèphe of Saxony Marie Thérèse of Savoy16 November 17734 children 6 November 1836Goriziaaged 79 Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême1830 (unproclaimed) 6 August 1775Palace of Versaillesson of Charles X of France and Marie Thérèse of Savoy Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of FranceJune 1799No children 3 June 1844Goriziaaged 68 Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry 24 January 1778Palace of Versaillesson of Charles X of France and Marie Thérèse of Savoy Caroline Ferdinande Louise of Two Sicilies17 June 18164 children 14 February 1820Parisaged 42 Henri, Count of Chambord1830 (unproclaimed) 29 September 1820Tuileries Palaceson of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry and Caroline Ferdinande Louise of Two Sicilies Marie Thérèse of Austria-EsteNovember 1846No children 24 August 1883Goriziaaged 62
End of a Dynasty "Louis XVII" or Louis-Charles, the Duke of Normandy, was the last male heir of the direct line of descent from Louis XIV. After his death in the temple in 1795, the succession rights passed to his uncle (the title of "Heir-Male" of Louis XIV would also have passed to him), who eventually became Louis XVIII, a younger brother of the Duke's Father, Louis XVI, and was as such a member of the senior line of descent from Louis XIV and the Bourbon-Vendôme line of the House of Bourbon.
After Louis XVIII's death, the throne went to yet another brother of Louis XVI, Charles, Count of Artois, who ascended the throne as Charles X of France. His son, Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, married Madame Royale, daughter of his uncle, Louis XVI of France, in a move to unite both lines of Royal Family. However, the duke and Madame Royale never had any children. Louis-Antoine was King of France for just about 20 minutes, after his father's abdication, but was himself forced to sign his abdication, granting all rights to the Duke of Orléans, who became Louis-Philippe, King of the French.
However, the remaining descendants of Charles X refused to give up their claims. From this struggle emerged the Legitimist and the Orleanist parties, the former of which supported the cause of Henri, Comte de Chambord, grandson of Charles X, and the latter supported the deposed House of Orléans, to which Louis-Philippe belonged and were his subsequent descendants. Therefore, according to primogeniture rules, Henri, Count de Chambord was the Heir-Male of Louis XIV and also the Legitimist claimant of the throne of France.
The Spanish Line Henry, Count of Chambord died childless on 24 August 1883. He was the last descendant in the legitimate male line from Louis de France, Duke of Burgundy (duc de Bourgogne), eldest grandson of Louis XIV. Burgundy's youngest brother, Charles, Duke of Berry, died without any surviving issue. There remained only the descendants of Philip V of Spain, formerly Philippe de France, Duke of Anjou, who was Louis XIV's second grandson. Some French royalists recognized Louis-Philippe's grandson, Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, as the rightful heir; others transferred their loyalty to members of the Spanish Royal Family who were descended from Philip V.
In the aftermath of the War of Spanish Succession, Philip inherited the throne of Spain, but had to renounce his claim to the French throne as part of Treaty of Utrecht, in a move by the Grand Alliance powers to prevent the union of the two Crowns. This makes the pretendership pass from Chambord to the heir of Louis XIV's brother the duke of Orléans. Legitimists regard this as invalid, because under the fundamental law of French monarchy neither a king nor his heirs can renounce the claim to a throne they hold but do not possess.
Moreover, Philip quickly revived Spanish ambition; taking advantage of the power vacuum caused by Louis XIV's death in 1715, Philip announced he would claim the French crown if his infant nephew Louis XV died, and attempted to reclaim Spanish territory in Italy, precipitating the War of the Quadruple Alliance in 1717.
After the death of Henry, Count of Chambord, Louis XIV's senior descendant was Henry's distant cousin and brother-in-law, Juan, Count of Montizon, who was also the Carlist pretender to the throne of Spain, as he was the son of Carlos, Count of Molina. He was proclaimed Jean III, King of France and Navarre. He issued a declaration saying, "Having become Head of the House of Bourbon by the death of my brother-in-law and cousin, the Count of Chambord, I declare that I do not in any way renounce the rights to the throne of France which I have held since my birth".