Anne, Duchess of Maine

Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon
Duchess of Maine
Louise Bénédicte by François de Troy
Born	(1676-11-08)8 November 1676 Hôtel de Condé, Paris, France
Died	23 January 1753(1753-01-23) (aged 76) Hôtel du Maine, Paris, France
Burial	26 January 1753 Church of Saint Jean Baptiste
Spouse	Louis Auguste de Bourbon
Issue Detail	Louis Auguste, Prince of Dombes Louis Charles, Count of Eu Louise Françoise, Mademoiselle du Maine
Full name Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon
Father	Henri Jules de Bourbon
Mother	Anne of Bavaria
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon (Anne Louise Bénédicte; 8 November 1676 – 23 January 1753), was the daughter of Henri Jules de Bourbon, Prince of Condé and Anne Henriette of Bavaria. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, she was a princesse du sang. Forced to marry the Duke of Maine, legitimised son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, she revelled in politics and the arts, and held a popular salon at the Hôtel du Maine as well as at the Château de Sceaux.

Louise Bénédicte was born on 8 November 1676 at the Hôtel de Condé in Paris. She was the eighth child born to the then Duke and Duchess of Enghien. The name Bénédicte was added in honour of the girls maternal aunt, Benedicta, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

She was brought up at the Hôtel de Condé with her many sisters and had to endure slave-like conditions under the madness of her father. Her mother, who was pious and gentle, was often beaten by her father as were their staff and her sister Marie Anne, Mademoiselle de Montmorency. When formally addressed, Louise Bénédicte was known as Mademosielle d'Enghien. As a princess of the blood, she possessed the style of Serene Highness. When she was nine years old, her father was given the title of Count of Chalorais, and as a result Louise Bénédicte became known as court as Mademoiselle de Charolais. This appellation would later pass to her niece Louise Anne.