Maria Fortunata d'Este
Posthumous portrait byHortense Haudebourt-Lescot, 1836.
Princess of Conti
Tenure	2 August 1776 – 21 September 1803
Born	(1731-11-24)24 November 1731 Ducal Palace,Modena
Died	21 September 1803(1803-09-21) (aged 71) Venice, Italy
Burial	Convent of the Visitation,Venice
Spouse	Louis François Joseph de Bourbon
Names Maria Fortunata d'Este
Father	Francesco III d'Este, Duke of Modena
Mother	Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans
Signature

Maria Fortunata d'Este (24 November 1731 – 21 September 1803) was aModenese princess by birth and aprincess du sang by marriage. By her marriage toLouis François Joseph de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, her first cousin, she became the Countess of La Marche and later the Princess of Conti; and was a member of the French court of KingsLouis XV andLouis XVI. She was the last Princess of Conti, and died without issue.

She was born at theDucal Palace of Modena, the fourth daughter and eighth child ofFrancesco III d'Este, Duke of Modena, the Sovereign Duke ofModena and his young wifeCharlotte Aglaé d'Orléans,Mademoiselle de Valois — granddaughter ofLouis XIV andMadame de Montespan. She had a twin sister Beatrice who died in infancy. Her older sister Maria Teresa was her eldest surviving sibling followed by her brother the futureErcole III d'Este, Duke of Modena. The rest of her siblings would die unmarried.

Maria Fortunata was known to have been very pious and at the same time rather timid but charming. Her mother separated from her father in the 1740s after an affair with theDuke of Richelieu was discovered at the Modenese court. Exiled to France, Charlotte Aglaé still managed to help arrange the marriages of two of her daughters. The eldestMaria Teresa Felicitas married her second cousin, theDuke of Penthièvre, the wealthiest man in France and the future in laws ofPhilippe Égalité. Maria Fortunata also married a cousin,Louis François Joseph de Bourbon, the heir to thePrince of Conti.

As the heir of his father, her husband was known by the courtesy title ofcomte de La Marche at court. The marriage contract was signed inMilan on 3 January 1759 by the French ambassador to the court ofTurin. A wedding by proxy took place in Milan on 7 February of the same year. It was celebrated in person on 27 February at Nangis-en-Brie inFrance. Maria Fortunata's father settled upon her a dowry of one millionlivres. In addition, upon her arrival in France, her husband was given a gift of 150,000 livres from KingLouis XV. The youngcomtesse de La Marche was presented to the King, theQueen and the rest of the royal family on 5 March 1759 by theDowager Princess of Conti, her husbands widowed grandmother as well as her mothers own first cousin. The couple did not get along and never had any children. Many at court said this state of affairs was due to the influence of her husband's mistress,Marie Anne Véronèse, known asMademoiselle Coraline. Véronèse had been a dancer at an Italian theatre. Louis François and his mistress had two illegitimate children together, born in 1761 and 1767. In 1768, Maria Fortunata was asked to present her nieceLouise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon,Mademoiselle de Penthièvre, to the King and the court. Her niece would eventually marryLouisPhilippe Joseph d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres, the futurePhilipe-Égalité, in April 1769.

In 1770, the marriage of the Dauphin of France (futureLouis XVI) and the ArchduchessMaria Antonia of Austria took place.Marie Fortunée, as she was known in France, and her husband were one of twelve couples invited to dine with the newlyweds in theOpéra of the Palace of Versailles, which had been constructed for the royal wedding.

In 1776, Marie Fortunée's father-in-law died making her husband the head of the House of Conti. Pious, discreet and very cultured, Marie Fortunée was not destined to be part of the new Queen's inner circle at Versailles. She maintained very good relations with her brother-in-law, theDuke of Penthièvre, who had lost his wife in 1754. She also got on well with her two nieces, thePrincess of Lamballe and the futureDuchess of Orléans.

While at the French court, in 1784 she metGustav III of Sweden, styled incognito as the Count of Haga who was a guest at theHôtel de Toulouse and later on she metPrince Henry of Prussia, brother ofFrederick the Great. She also met her nieceMaria Beatrice d'Este and her husbandArchduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1786. The latter pair were styled as the Count and Countess of Nettembourg. Ferdinand was a son of EmpressMaria Theresa.^[1]

The Conti couple officially separated in 1777 even though they had lived apart since 1775. In 1780, Marie Fortunée acquired theChâteau de Triel, a place which would become her favourite haunt. During the crisis of 1789, when theEstates General was called atVersailles, Marie Fortunée supported the royal family and even took part in a march to the Church of Saint Louis. She later escaped revolutionary France under the name of thecomtesse de Triel. After first taking refuge inBrussels, Marie Fortunée eventually settled inChambéry, then a part of theKingdom of Sardinia. In 1791, she moved, this time toFribourg which was a small village inSwitzerland known for its large settlement ofémigrés. The town also had strong religious ties, another attraction for the pious princess.

In 1794, she let her great-nieceAdélaïde d'Orléans stay with her after her escape from France. Adélaïde's mother, the duchesse d'Orléans, had been imprisoned in theLuxembourg Palace in Paris. The elderly Marie Fortunée and Adélaïde d'Orléans set up a new home inBavaria. During the spring of 1800, the pair and their household were forced to flee again toHungary in order to avoid the hostilities of ConsulNapoleon Bonaparte. It was while in Hungary that she received another visit from her niece,Maria Beatrice. The princess was the heiress of Marie Fortunée's elder brother, who had lost the duchies of Modena and Reggio in 1796 as a result of the Napoleonic creation of theCispadane Republic.

1801 saw the reunion of Adélaïde d'Orléans and her mother, the now dowagerDuchess of Orléans, in Barcelona after her release from prison and exile from France. Later, Marie Fortunée decided to retire to theConvent of theVisitation inVenice. She moved to the convent on 19 October with three of her maids and her faithful friend, thecomtesse des Roches, who had accompanied the princess all throughout her exile in Europe. A victim ofpleurisy, the princess died on 21 September 1803 at the age of seventy-one. She was buried in the chapel of the convent. Her brother,Ercole III d'Este of Modena, and her sister,Princess Matilde d'Este, are also buried there.

Thecomtesse des Roches died some time after Marie Fortunée and was also buried there. Marie Fortunée's husband died in 1814.

Media related toMaria Fortunata d'Este at Wikimedia Commons

• House of Bourbon
• 1731 births
• 1754 deaths
• 18th-century Italian people
• 19th-century Italian people
• 18th-century Italian women
• House of Este
• Modenese princesses
• Princesses of Conti
• Princesses of the Blood
• Daughters of dukes

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• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
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