Marie Leszczyńska
| Marie Leszczyńska | |||||
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Queen Marie by Charles van Loo, 1748
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| Queen consort of France and Navarre | |||||
| Tenure | 4 September 1725 – 24 June 1768 | ||||
| Born |
23 June 1703 Trzebnica, Silesia, Habsburg Monarchy (now Poland) |
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| Died | 24 June 1768 (aged 65) Versailles, Yvelines, France |
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| Burial | Basilica of St Denis | ||||
| Spouse | Louis XV of France | ||||
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| House | Leszczyński | ||||
| Father | Stanisław I of Poland | ||||
| Mother | Catherine Opalińska | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||
| Signature |  |
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| Full name | |
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Polish: Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja French: Marie Caroline Sophie Felice |
Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska (23 June 1703 – 24 June 1768), better known as Marie Leszczyńska, was a queen consort of France. She was a daughter of King Stanisław I of Poland (later Duke of Lorraine) and Catherine Opalińska. She married King Louis XV of France and was the grandmother of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. She was the longest-serving queen consort of France and was popular due to her generosity and piety.
Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczyńska h. Wieniawa was the second daughter of Stanisław I Leszczyński and his wife Catherine Opalińska.
Maria's early life was troubled by her father's political misfortune. Ironically, King Stanisław's hopeless political career was eventually the reason why his daughter Maria was chosen as the bride of King Louis XV of France. Devoid of political connections, his daughter was viewed by the French as being free from the burden of international alliances.
She was born in Trzebnica (German: Trebnitz) in Lower Silesia, the year before her father was made king of Poland by Charles XII of Sweden, who had invaded the country in 1704. In 1709, her father was deposed when the Swedish army lost the military upper hand in Poland, and the family was granted refuge by Charles XII in the Swedish city of Kristianstad in Scania. During the escape, Marie was separated from the rest of her family; she was later found with her nurse hiding in a crib in a stable, although another version claims it was actually a cave in an old mineshaft. In Sweden, the family was welcomed by the queen dowager Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp and became popular members of society life on the estates of the nobility around Kristianstad. In 1712, they made an official visit to Medevi, the spa of the Queen Dowager. During this period in her life, Marie began speaking the Swedish language (with a Scanian accent). As Queen of France, she was known to welcome Swedish ambassadors to France with the Swedish phrase: "Welcome, Dearest Heart!". In 1714, Charles XII gave them permission to live in his fiefdom of Zweibrücken in the Holy Roman Empire, where they were supported by the income of Zweibrücken: they lived there until the death of Charles XII in 1718. Zweibrücken then passed to a cousin of his. These lands were parallel to the confiscated Polish properties of Stanisław. Stanisław appealed to the Regent of France, the Duke of Orléans, and the Duke of Lorraine for help, with the Queen of Sweden acting as his mediator. With the support of the Duke of Lorraine, the family was allowed to settle in Wissembourg in the French province of Alsace, a place suggested by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, a nephew of Louis XIV and Regent of the Kingdom of France during Louis XV's minority. The family lived a modest life in a large town house at the expense of the French Regent.
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