Philippe, Duke of Anjou

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Philippe
Duke of Anjou
"Philippe blowing bubbles": a depiction of Philippe on a snuffbox in the Walters Museum
Born(1730-08-30)30 August 1730
Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
Died7 April 1733(1733-04-07) (aged 2)
Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France
Burial
Basilica of St Denis
Names
Philippe Louis de France
HouseBourbon
FatherLouis XV of France
MotherMarie Leszczyńska

Philippe, Duke of Anjou (Philippe Louis; 30 August 1730 – 7 April 1733) was a French prince and the second son of King Louis XV of France and his popular Queen Marie Leszczyńska. He was styled Duke of Anjou from birth.

Biography[edit]

Philippe was born at the Palace of Versailles on 30 August 1730, the second son and fifth child of Louis XV of France and Marie Leszczyńska. As a son of the king, he held the rank of a fils de France ("son of France"), which also entitled him to the style of Royal Highness. In his short lifetime, he was the third most important male at court, after his father Louis XV and his elder brother Louis, Dauphin of France.

Philippe was styled Duke of Anjou from birth;[1] this title had last been bestowed on his father, from his own birth in 1710 until his accession to the throne in 1715.

Philippe grew up at Versailles with his brother, the Dauphin, and their twin sisters Louise Élisabeth (Madame Royale, later Duchess of Parma) and Henriette (Madame Seconde). In his short lifetime, Philippe saw the birth of his younger sister Madame Adélaïde, in March 1732, and the death of his older sister Marie Louise de France (Madame Troisième) from the common cold, in February 1733.

Always a sickly child, Philippe was cared for by a group of female attendants, as royal children were cared for by women until the age of five. As part of their intensely superstitious beliefs, the women mixed in earth from the grave of Saint Medard with his food; the child was given so much earth that his organs failed. As a result, Philippe died at Versailles on 7 April 1733, at the age of two which devastated his pregnant mother, Queen Marie Leczinska.[2] He was buried at the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis outside Paris.

Ancestry[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Bernier, Olivier (1984). Louis the Beloved: the Life of Louis XV. New York: Doubleday. p. 68. ISBN 978-0385184021. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  2. ^ Latour, Therese Louis (1927). Princesses Ladies and Salonnieres of the Reign of Louis XV. London: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO , LTD. p. 17. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  3. ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 12.
  4. ^ Żychliński, Teodor (1882). Złota księga szlachty polskiéj: Rocznik IVty (in Polish). Jarosław Leitgeber. p. 1. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
Philippe, Duke of Anjou
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 30 August 1730 Died: 7 April 1733
French royalty
Preceded by
Vacant
Louis
 Duke of Anjou
30 August 1730 – 7 April 1733 		Succeeded by
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