User:Princes&princessesoftheblood/Louise Henriette de Bourbon

Born in Paris on 20 June 1726, she was the only daughter of Louis Armand de Bourbon, "Prince of Conti" and his wife Louise  Élisabeth  de Bourbon. Louis Henriette was named in honour of her uncle the Duke of Bourbon and then Prime Minister of France under Louis XV. She was known simply as "Mademoiselle de Conti, with the style of Her/Your Serene Highness. She spent a majority of her youth being bought up in a convent. Her upbringing would later be the root cause for her marriage.

Marriage

One of Louise Henriette's cousins (Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre) had asked for her hand in marriage but her mother refused on behalf of her daughter. Eventually, Mademoiselle de Conti would marry another French Duke. The selected husband came in the form of Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Chartres, and the couple were officially married at the Royal Chapel of Versailles on 17 December 1743 in front of the court. The couple went on to have three children (the oldest of which was a daughter who died in infancy) Even though the couple had three children in total, the young Duchess of Chartres became a fairly notorious flirt causing rumours to sp[read round Paris that she was having numerous affairs with male staff in her entourage. The irony is that her marriage was bought about due to Louise Henriette being bought up in a convent.