Château de la Favorite - heritage in danger

Une Favorite - "a woman who costs a lot, but gives great pleasure"

This photo and the those below are from Wikimedia, taken in 2011 

This sad little building, just a stone's throw away from the Château in Lunéville, is the "Petit  Château" or "Château de la Favorite",  once the residence of Leopold's youngest son, Charles-Alexander. Like the palace itself, it is the work of the renowned 18th-century architect Germain Boffrand.  In 1999 the property was sold off by the municipality, and, since that time, "it has not ceased to deteriorate" . 

Mesdames in Lorraine, 1761 and 1762

In 1761, and again in 1762, the Princesses Adélaïde and Victoire visited Lorraine to take the waters at Plombières and to enjoy the extravagant hospitality of their grandfather King Stanislas. These occasions were the subject of several published narratives, which offer an great deal of, otherwise unavailable, circumstantial detail.

The accounts also contain some of the best descriptions of Stanislas's lost Rococo spaces, not only the permanent architecture, but also the extravagant ephemeral structures and carefully stage displays which gave them life.  

 We also catch a rare personal glimpse of the princesses, two lively and obliging young women who were surrounded by luxury but who also endured lives of incredible constraint. 

Madame Adélaïde (right) and Madame Victoire (left). 
From a snuffbox in the collection of the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, dated to around 1761-2 [Wikimedia]. 

Here are some of the highlights, summarised from the two fullest (and most easy accessible) publications.  The first is the Relation  of Charles-Jean-Baptiste Delespine (1705-1787),  huissier du cabinet to the Dauphine, who accompanied the princesses from France on their visit. Delespine  ran the little printing works at the château of Versailles and was the son-in-law of the royal printer Guillaume II Desprez, so this is in effect the official account.  The second is the Journal of  Fillion de Charigneu, Lieutenant in the Footguards of the King of Poland (See References for details; the black-and-white pictures are from Delespine's book.)

Stanislas - Grandfather

Here are some notes from another of Pierre Boyé's evocative studies, this time concerning King Stanislas's relationship with his grandchildren, the offspring of Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska.  Boyé's article was originally published in the Mémoires of the Lorraine Archaeological Society in 1922 where it prefaces a collection relevant documents, and letters from Stanislas's copious correspondence.  

Births

"If ever anyone, after the marriage of a cherished child, was eager to become a grandparent",  writes Pierre Boyé, "that person was was Stanislas". Clearly, apart from any personal considerations there were huge political and  dynastic interests at stake. 

The marriage between Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska took place on 5th September 1725.  At this time Stanislas, and his consort Catherine Opalińska were resident at Chambord.  "Astonishing notes" from the duc de Bourbon and Cardinal de Rohan made Stanislas privy to the intimate secrets of the royal wedding night.  After months of false alarms and anxiety, in March 1727 he was finally able to announce with joy his daughter's first pregnancy.  His correspondents were treated to bulletins on the most private details of her condition  - Pierre Boyé found himself "embarrassed to follow the King of Poland into such territory"(p.219-220).

On 7th May he reported that she has felt the first movements of her "precious fruit"; on 25th that she has her first milk.  On 1st June he announces that a pastoral instruction had been issued, by order of Louis XV, to implore divine mercy for a safe delivery.

On morning of 14th August 1727, Marie Leszczynska  gave birth to twin girls, Louise-Élisabeth and Henriette. A courier hurried with the news to Dyé-sur-Loire where the Polish royal couple were taking refuge from the malaria-ridden swamps of Chambord.  On the 23rd, Stanislas visited his new granddaughters in Versailles, and pronounced himself enraptured by the two "little dolls".

Madame Louise-Élisabeth of France and her twin sister Henriette.
Attributed to Pierre Gobert. Château de Versailles (Wikimedia)