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| Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria | |||||
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| Dauphine of France | |||||
 Portrait byFrançois de Troy,c. 1685 | |||||
| Born | (1660-11-28)28 November 1660 Munich, Bavaria | ||||
| Died | 20 April 1690(1690-04-20) (aged 29) Palace of Versailles, France | ||||
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| House | Wittelsbach | ||||
| Father | Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria | ||||
| Mother | Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy | ||||
Maria Anna Christine Victoria of Bavaria (French:Marie Anne Victoire; 28 November 1660 – 20 April 1690) wasDauphine of France by marriage toLouis, Grand Dauphin, son and heir ofLouis XIV. She was known asla Grande Dauphine. The Dauphine was regarded a "pathetic" figure at the court of France, isolated and unappreciated due to the perception that she was dull, unattractive and sickly. She is the ancestor of all Spanish monarchs following her sonPhilip V.
Maria Anna was the eldest daughter ofFerdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria and his wifePrincess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents wereVictor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy andChristine Marie of France, the second daughter ofHenry IV of France andMarie de' Medici, thus her husband the dauphin was her second cousin.
Born in Munich, capital of theElectorate of Bavaria, Maria Anna was betrothed to the dauphin of France in 1668, at the age of eight, and was carefully educated to fulfill that role. Besides her native language of German, she was taught to speak French, Italian and Latin. She was said to have looked forward to the fate of becoming dauphine of France. Maria Anna was very close to her mother, who died in 1676. Her siblings includedViolante of Bavaria, future wife ofFerdinando de' Medici as well as the future Elector of Bavaria,Maximilian II Emanuel.
Prior to her marriage to the dauphin, there was a proxy ceremony in Munich on 28 January 1680; the couple would meet for the first time on 7 March 1680 inChâlons-sur-Marne. She was the first dauphine of France sinceMary, Queen of Scots, marriedFrancis II of France in 1558.
Upon her marriage, Maria Anna took on the rank of her husband as aFille de France (Daughter of France); this meant that she was entitled to the style "Royal Highness" and the form of addressMadame la Dauphine.
When she first arrived in France, Maria Anna made a favorable impression with her good French. When she enteredStrasbourg, she was addressed in German, but interrupted the greeting by saying, "Gentlemen, I speak French!" The impression of her appearance, however, was not as good, and she was called "terribly ugly". Others said that although she may not have been beautiful, she did have personal charm.
As soon as she married the dauphin, Maria Anna was the second most important woman at court after her mother-in-law, QueenMaria Theresa, consort ofKing Louis XIV. When the queen died in July 1683, Maria Anna ranked as the most prominent female at court and was given the apartments of the late queen. The king expected her to perform the functions of the first lady at court, but her ill health made it very difficult for her to carry out her duties. The king was completely unsympathetic to her situation and accused her falsely ofhypochondria.
Her husband took mistresses, and she lived an isolated life in her apartments, where she spoke with her friend and confidantBarbara Bessola in German, a language her husband could not understand. She was close to a fellow German – and the secondWittelsbach – at court,Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, the wife of the king's younger brotherPhilippe. She was said to be depressed having to live at a court where beauty was so much prized, not being beautiful herself.
Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine said in her letters that Madame de Maintenon did not wish for the Dauphine to gain influence at court, and that she bribed Barbara Bessola to keep her isolated from society, while in parallel her lady-in-waitingMarguerite de Montchevreuil arranged for the Dauphine's maids-of-honours (Marie-Armande de Rambures andLouise-Victoire de La Force) to keep the Dauphin entertained and become his lovers.[1]
She died in 1690. An autopsy revealed a multitude of internal disorders that completely vindicated her complaints of chronic and severe illness.
Maria Anna was buried at theRoyal Basilica of Saint Denis.
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*also a princess of France in her own right | ||
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