Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans
Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, duchesse de Berry (20 August 1695 – 21 July 1719) was a French princess. She was a member of the House of Orléans and was a Princesse du Sang.
Early life
Born at the Palace of Versailles, Marie Louise Elisabeth was the eldest daughter of Philippe II d'Orléans, Régent of France during the minority of King Louis XV, and his wife Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his most famous mistress, Madame de Montespan.
The second daughter of her parents, her elder sister known as Mademoiselle de Valois died the year before her birth. During her youth, Marie Louise Élisabeth was given the honourary title of Mademoiselle d'Orléans. After her marriage the title would later be given to her younger sister Marie Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans.
Marriage
It was decided that Marie Louise Élisabeth would marry her older cousin Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Berry. This marriage took place on 6 July 1710, at the Palace of Versailles. Berry was the third and youngest son of Le Grand Dauphin, the only legitimate son of Louis XIV, and his wife, Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria. The marriage was unhappy and after a miscarriage during her first pregnancy, Marie Louise Elisabeth never gave birth to a child that lived for more than a day.
She died alone in Paris at the Palais du Luxembourg, as later would two of her sisters, Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans and Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans.