| Anne Marie d'Orléans | |
|---|---|
 Anne Marie d’Orleans byLouis Ferdinand Elle the Younger, 1683 | |
| Queen consort of Sardinia | |
| Tenure | 24 August 1720 – 26 August 1728 |
| Queen consort of Sicily | |
| Tenure | 11 April 1713 – 17 February 1720 |
| Coronation | 24 December 1713 |
| Duchess consort of Savoy | |
| Tenure | 10 April 1684 – 26 August 1728 |
| Born | (1669-08-27)27 August 1669 Château de Saint-Cloud,France |
| Died | 26 August 1728(1728-08-26) (aged 58) Villa della Regina,Piedmont |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
| Issue Detail | |
| House | Orléans |
| Father | Philippe I, Duke of Orléans |
| Mother | Henrietta of England |
| Signature | .jpg) |
Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669 – 26 August 1728) wasQueen of Sardinia by marriage to KingVictor Amadeus II. She served as regent ofSavoy during the absence of her spouse in 1686 and during theWar of the Spanish Succession.[1]
She was for a period heiress presumptive to theJacobite claim to the thrones ofEngland,Scotland, andIreland, a claim which eventually went to theProtestantHouse of Hanover.
Her father wasPhilippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother ofLouis XIV, and her mother wasHenrietta of England, the youngest daughter ofCharles I of England. Her mother died at theChâteau de Saint-Cloud ten months after Anne Marie's birth. A year later, her father married 19-year-oldElizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, who became very close to Anne, her step-daughter. Her half-brotherPhilippe II, Duke of Orléans, the future Regent of France, was born of her father's second marriage.
Her stepmother later described her as "one of the most amiable and virtuous of women".[2]
To maintain French influence in the Italian states, her uncleLouis XIV arranged her marriage, at the age of fourteen toVictor Amadeus II, then Duke of Savoy, laterKing of Sicily and then ofSardinia. Both of them were great-grandchildren of KingHenry IV of France andMarie de' Medici through three oftheir children. Additionally, Victor Amadeus was the great-great-grandson of Henry IV via Henry's illegitimate sonCésar de Bourbon. Louis XIV was an ally of her future mother-in-law,Marie Jeanne, and supported Marie Jeanne when she extended her regency even after her actual mandate as regent had come to an end in 1680: Marie Jeanne did, in fact, not surrender her position as regent until shortly before her son's wedding.[3]
Theproxy marriage of Anne Marie and Víctor Amadeus took place atVersailles on 10 April 1684, the day after the signing of the marriage contract. Her husband-to-be was represented by her cousin,Louis-Auguste, Duke of Maine. Louis XIV gave her a dowry of 900,000livres.[4]
The Duke of Orléans accompanied his daughter as far asJuvisy-sur-Orge (18 kilometers south of Paris), and thecomtesse de Lillebonne accompanied her all the way to Savoy. She met her husband Victor atChambéry on 6 May, the nuptials being performed at the castle by theArchbishop ofGrenoble. Two days later, the newlyweds made their "Joyous Entry" into Turin.
Anne Marie bore eight children, beginning withMarie-Adélaïde just a few months after Anne Marie's 16th birthday. The birth nearly cost Anne Marie her life, prompting the administration of theviaticum.[5] Marie-Adélaïde marriedLouis, Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XIV in 1697, and was the mother ofLouis XV.
This marriage was arranged with the assistance of themaréchal de Tessé and ofJeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, Comtesse de Verrué, who was Victor's mistress from 1689 till 1700.
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After her arrival in Savoy, Anne Marie came under the influence of her pro-French mother-in-law, who maintained a powerful position as a French ally at the court of Savoy. She was described as a dutiful and humble daughter-in-law, who loyally adhered to Marie Jeanne's wishes.[3] Her close relationship with her mother-in-law was not viewed favorably by her spouse, who regarded it as a political threat, as he had long been opposed to his mother's influence in politics.[6]
The personal relationship between Anne Marie and Victor Amadeus was reportedly somewhat cool during the first years of their marriage, partly due to the adultery on his part and his disappointment that she did not give birth to a son for several years.[1] Anne Marie served as regent for the first time during the trip of Victor Amadeus in 1686, and was said to have handled the task well despite her young age.[1]
When Victor Amadeus severed his ties with France in 1690, Anne Marie and her children accompanied her mother-in-law when they left the capital in protest.[6]
Despite his marriage ties to France, Victor Amadeus joined the anti-French side in theWar of the Spanish Succession. Anne Marie was appointed by him to serve as regent of Savoy during his absence in the war, a task she handled with maturity and judgment.[1] In 1706,Turin was besieged by French forces under the command of Anne Marie's half-brother Philippe d'Orléans, and Spanish forces of her cousin and son-in-law Philip V. She and her sonsVictor Amadeus and Carlo Emanuele were forced to flee toGenoa.[7]
When the war was ended in 1713 by theTreaty of Utrecht, Victor Amadeus received theKingdom of Sicily, formerly a Spanish possession. Anne Marie's stepmother wrote:I shall neither gain nor lose by the peace, but one thing I shall enjoy is to see our Duchess of Savoy become a queen, because I love her as though she were my own child ...[8] When Victor Amadeus left for his coronation in Sicily, he had originally planned to leave Anne Marie behind to function as regent in his absence, but as he feared that she would let herself be directed by his mother because of her loyalty to her, he changed his mind and took her along with him instead.[9] Anne Marie was crowned with him in Sicily.
At the death of her eldest son in 1715, both she and Victor Amadeus fell into severe depression and left the capital to mourn, leaving Marie Jeanne to handle their official duties.[10]In 1720, Victor Amadeus retained his title of King but was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important duchy of Sardinia.As the Savoyard consort, Anne-Marie had the use of the Royal Palace of Turin, the vastPalazzina di caccia di Stupinigi outside the capital, and the Vigna di Madama Reale.[11]
Queen Anne Marie died of heart failure at her villa on 26 August 1728, the day before her 59th birthday. She is buried at theBasilica of Superga in Turin, where all her children, except Marie-Adélaïde and Maria Luisa, are also buried.
From 1714 to 1720, Anne Marie d'Orléans was theheiress presumptive to theJacobite claim to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. These claims were held at the time by her first cousinJames Francis Edward Stuart ("the Old Pretender", son of James II). Anne Marie became heiress presumptive with the death of James II's daughterQueen Anne in 1714 which left her and her cousin James as the only surviving legitimate grandchildren of Charles I. She was displaced as heir by the birth of the Old Pretender's son,Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"), on 31 December 1720.
Charles Edward and his brotherHenry, Cardinal Stuart, both died without legitimate issue, so the descendants of Anne Marie d'Orléans inherited the Jacobite claim, i.e. they would have inherited the British crown had it not been for the Act of Settlement, which excluded the claims of the Catholic Stuarts and d'Orléans and settled the throne on the nearest Protestant relatives,the Hanoverians.
Anne Marie gave birth to eight children, of whom only three survived to adulthood, and only one outlived her:
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Anne Marie d'Orléans Cadet branch of theHouse of Bourbon Born: 27 August 1669 Died: 26 August 1728 | ||
| Italian royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Marie Jeanne ofSavoy-Nemours | Duchess consort of Savoy 1684–1728 | Vacant Title next held by Polyxena Christinaof Hesse-Rotenburg |
| Preceded by | Queen consort of Sardinia 1720–1728 | |
| Preceded by | Queen consort of Sicily 1713–1720 | Succeeded by |
