Sophie of France (1786–1787)
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Sophie of France | |||||
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![]() Sophie of France, portrait by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun | |||||
Born | Palace of Versailles, France | 9 July 1786||||
Died | Palace of Versailles, France | 19 June 1787 (aged 11 months 10 days)||||
Burial | Basilica of St Denis, France | ||||
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House | Bourbon | ||||
Father | Louis XVI of France | ||||
Mother | Marie Antoinette |
Sophie Helena Beatrice (French: Sophie Hélène Béatrice; 9 July 1786 – 19 June 1787) was a French princess. She was the second daughter and last child of King Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette. She was styled as Madame Sophie at birth. As the daughter of a King of France, she was a Fille de France until her death in 1787.
Biography
Sophie Helena Beatrice was born at the Palace of Versailles, the youngest of the four children of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France. She was named after her great-aunt, Madame Sophie, King Louis XV's fifth daughter, who had died four years earlier.
Sophie was born a very large baby,[1] but her fragile health was undermined by tuberculosis. She died in the Palace of Versailles after suffering 5 or 6 days of convulsions.[2] She was only 11 months old.
Her death was a cause for much sorrow on the part of her parents. When Marie Antoinette's foster-brother, Joseph Weber,[3] attempted to console her with the fact that given Sophie's tender age Marie Antoinette must not have grown overly attached to her, the bereaved mother is supposed to have said, "Don't forget that she would have been my friend." This was a reference to her words after the birth of Sophie's older sister, Marie Thérèse, in 1778:[4]
- "Poor little one, you are not desired, but you will be nonetheless dear to me! A son would have belonged to the state—you will belong to me."[5]
Sophie was buried in the necropolis of the Kings of France, the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis, 5 km (3.1 mi) north of Paris.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Sophie of France |
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References
- ^ Lever, Evelyne, Marie-Antoinette, Fayard, Paris, 1991, p. 414, ISBN 2-213-02659-9.
- ^ Fraser, Antonia, Marie Antoinette, The Journey, Anchor Books, USA, 2001, p. 257, ISBN 0-385-48949-8.
- ^ Fraser, p. 4. Joseph Weber was the son of Marie-Antoinette's wet nurse, Constance Weber. His memoirs were published by Baudouin Frères, Imprimeurs-Libraires, in Paris, in 1822: https://archive.org/stream/mmoiresdeweberc03tolgoog/mmoiresdeweberc03tolgoog_djvu.txt
- ^ Fraser, p. 257.
- ^ Thieme, Hugo Paul (1908). Women of Modern France. Vol. 7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: George Barrie & Sons.
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