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Stuff You Missed in History Class

A Medici Marriage: Marguerite-Louise d'Orléans

Stuff You Missed in History Class

iHeartPodcasts

History, Society & Culture

4.224.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2012

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Marguerite-Louise d'Orléans was the grandchild of the King of France, cousin of Louis XIV and eventually betrothed to Cosimo III de Medici. Her marriage was (to say the least) unstable. But how did she finally find herself back in France?

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from HouseofWorks.com

0:12.0

Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm DeBlena Tarker Bordy.

0:16.0

And this summer as a special treat to all of our royal loving listeners, we're

0:21.0

going to be focusing on some of the shenanigans of some notable princesses in history.

0:26.0

And last time we discussed Sophia D'Orthia of Stella, who was a pretty sympathetic character in her story,

0:33.0

I would say. She was married off to an incompatible cousin at a young age,

0:37.0

was manipulated by her father-in-law's mistress, who may or may not have been responsible for the murder of her own Swedish boyfriend.

0:46.0

And to top all of that off, she spent nearly half of her life held prisoner in a castle.

0:52.0

I mean that really does top it off, doesn't it? Yeah, so we can definitely feel sorry for her.

0:56.0

Yeah, even her husband's own subjects, both in Hanover and later in England, felt kind of sorry for her.

1:02.0

But today's subject is going to be a little more divisive, I think.

1:07.0

Yeah, we're going to be talking about Marguerite Louise Dorleo, who was a near contemporary of Sophia D'Orthia.

1:14.0

And she was also a dynastic pawn for her powerful family.

1:18.0

She also made an unsuitable match in her midteens and was held prisoner by her in-laws.

1:24.0

But whereas Sophia D'Orthia comes across as unlucky and maybe somewhat naive,

1:30.0

Marguerite Louise seems like she would have been hell on wheel.

1:34.0

She really does. She was a firecracker.

1:36.0

Just to give you a sense of what other people have said about her,

1:40.0

Eleanor Herman, who wrote, sex with the queen, that she was, quote,

1:44.0

an uncontrollable temperament ill-suited to her royal position.

1:48.0

You know, a position where you kind of need to keep your mouth shut most of the time.

1:52.0

She also said she had a fearless toxic nastiness.

...

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