Proxy Marriage of Marie Joséphine of Savoy & Prince Louis Stanislas of France
Marie Joséphine was born in the Royal Palace of Turin, to the Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain and Prince Victor Amadeus of Savoy.
Marie Joséphine was raised in privilege and luxury, and prepared herself for an advantageous marriage that would surely follow.
On 16th April 1771, Marie Joséphine was married by proxy, to the Count of Provence, Prince Louis Stanislas of France, brother of King Louis XVI.
The marriage ceremony that followed at Versailles on 14th May 1771, was a luxurious affair with over 5000 guests attending and celebrations that went on for days.
Although the bride and groom appeared to be well suited, Marie Joséphine found herself not quite welcome at the palace.
Before long, rumours and gossip were flying.
Marie Joséphine was tangled up in court politics from the beginning, as the friends of her new sister-in-law, Marie Antoinette, took an instant dislike to her.
Louis Stanislas found his wife repulsive, she was considered ugly, tedious, and ignorant of the customs of the court of Versailles.
Comments were made about her personal hygiene and lack of intelligence.
Courtiers claimed Marie Joséphine never brushed her teeth, plucked her eyebrows, or used any perfumes.
They whispered that Louis Stanislas refused to consummate the marriage, due to Marie Joséphine’s refusal to bathe – and the stench that accompanied her wherever she went.
Louis Stanislas himself, was obese and waddled instead of walked.
He never exercised and continued to eat enormous amounts of food.
Embarrassed by the court gossip, Louis Stanislas boasted of his manhood, and enthusiastic sex life.
He even went as far as falsely claiming that Marie Joséphine was pregnant soon after their marriage.
In actual fact, the couple would not conceive until 1774, with the pregnancy ending in miscarriage.
A second pregnancy in 1781, also ended in a miscarriage, and the couple were destined to remain childless.
Marie Joséphine and Louis Stanislas did not get on with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
The animosity was more than mutual, with both sides plotting and gossiping against each other.
Louis Stanislas then took Marie Joséphine’s lady-in-waiting, Anne Nompar de Caumont, as a mistress.
Marie Joséphine was enraged, and the couple’s already strained marriage, became even more troubled.
💐 When the clouds of revolution gathered over Versailles in 1789, Marie Joséphine and Louis Stanislas took up residence in the Luxembourg Palace.
When the time to flee France finally came in June 1791, the bickering couple made a successful escape – finding refuge in the Austrian Netherlands and later, Germany.
Following the exEcution of Louis XVI and the death of the 10 year old Louis XVII of France on 8th June 1795 – Louis Stanislas found himself proclaimed King by the exiled French court.
Louis Stanislas was now King Louis XVIII and Marie Joséphine was now queen.
However, this did nothing to improve the strained relations that existed between the new king and queen, and they spent more time apart than together.
Marie Joséphine found solace in the friendship of her lady-in-waiting, Marguerite de Gourbillon – with whom it has long been rumoured she enjoyed a romantic entanglement.
Marie Joséphine and Marguerite lived harmoniously in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, whilst Louis spent time at the Russian Court.
In 1799, Louis Stanislas ordered his wife to join him to celebrate the wedding of the late king and queen’s daughter Marie Thérèse, insisting that Marie Joséphine’s lover Marguerite, remain in Germany.
Mindful of showing the world an apparently happy family, Louis Stanislas was unprepared for the scene to follow.
Marie Joséphine refused to even entertain the prospect of travelling without her friend.
When the two women arrived in Russia, Marguerite was refused entry to the wedding.
A furious Marie Joséphine made a very public protest about this treatment, and refused to leave her quarters, drinking herself into a stupor.
Marie Joséphine and Louis Stanislas ostensibly reconciled, but the two women would continue to exchange adoring letters throughout the years to come.
However, they would never live alone together again.
The unhappy marriage between the couple continued, as they travelled Europe.
In 1808 they took up residence together at Hartwell House in England.
Marie Joséphine’s physical condition deteriorated badly throughout the years in Europe, and her life in England was a secluded one, blighted by ill health.
As her death approached, she took to her bed and received visitors from the French court, making her peace with each.
She also made efforts to reconcile with her husband, who remained with her through her final days.
Marie Joséphine died on 13th November 1810, aged 57.
The funeral of Marie Joséphine was held at Westminster Abbey.
It was an enormous event, attended by French courtiers and the English royal family, alike.
Marie Joséphine was laid to rest in the Lady Chapel, Westminster Abbey.
She would not rest here long however, and was reburied twelve months later in Cagliari Cathedral in Sardinia.
Louis XVIII never remarried, and in 1824, his health began to fail.
He was experiencing obesity, gout and gangrene, both dry and wet, in his legs and spine.
King Louis died on 16th September 1824.
