Louise of Orléans

Louise of Orléans (Louise Marie Thérèse Charlotte Isabelle; 3 April 1812 – 11 October 1850) was a Princess of Orléans and was Queen consort of the Belgians as the last wife of King Leopold I. She is an ancestor of the present King of Belgium, Italian Royal Pretender (Prince of Naples), the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the present Prince Napoléon - head of the Imperial House of France.

Life
Born in Palermo, Sicily, on 3 April 1812, she was the eldest daughter of the future King Louis-Philippe I, King of the French and of his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies. As a child, she had a religious and bourgeoise education thanks to the part played by her mother and her aunt, Princess Adélaïde of Orléans to whom she was very close. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon she was entitled to the rank of a Princess of the Blood Royal.

On her father's side, she was a granddaughter of Philippe Égalité, and the great-great-great-granddaughter of Philippe d'Orléans, Regent for Louis XV, Madame de Montespan, she was descended from not only Louis XIV but was also a great-great-great-great granddaughter of his brother Philippe I, Duke of Orléans; both the sons of Louis XIII. On her mother's side, she was a descendant of Maria Theresa of Austria and Catherine de' Medici. At the accession of her father to the throne, under the name Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, when she was eighteen, Louise became a princesse d'Orléans.

Marriage
On 9 August 1832, Louise married King Leopold I of the Belgians at the Château de Compiègne, in France. Since Leopold was a Protestant, they had both a Catholic and a Calvinist ceremony.

Children
Louise and Leopold had four children, including Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico.


 * Prince Louis Philippe, Crown Prince of Belgium (24 July 1833 - 16 May 1834)
 * King Leopold II of Belgium (9 April 1835 - 17 December 1909)
 * Prince Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders (24 March 1837 - 17 November 1905)
 * His son succeeded Leopold II as Albert I of Belgium;
 * Princess Charlotte of Belgium, (7 June 1840 - 19 January 1927), consort of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.

Louise was the 298th Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa on 10 February 1835. A devoted wife and loving mother, she was of a very shy nature and was often only seen in public when her husband forced her. She soon proved to be very popular at the Belgian court with her famous generosity and beauty. Queen Louise-Marie died of tuberculosis in Ostend on 11 October 1850. She is buried beside her husband in Royal Crypt of the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.

Titles and Styles

 *  3 April 1812 – 9 August 1830 Her Serene Highness Mademoiselle d'Orléans [Princess of the blood]
 *  9 August 1830 – 9 August 1832 Her Royal Highness Princess Louise of Orléans
 *  9 August 1832 – 11 October 1850 Her Majesty The Queen of the Belgians

Honours

 * 🇧🇪 Belgium : Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
 * 🇪🇸 Spain : 298th Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa - Order of Queen Maria Luisa (Spain) - ribbon bar.png.