Louis III, Prince of Condé

Louis III de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (10 November 1668 – 4 March 1710) was a prince du sang as a member of the reigning House of Bourbon at the French court of Louis XIV.<ref name=":0" /> Styled as Duke of Bourbon from birth, he succeeded his father in 1709 as Prince of Condé ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}); however, he was still known by the ducal title. He was prince for less than a year.

Biography

Louis de Bourbon was born at the Hôtel de Condé in Paris on 10 November 1668 to Henri Jules de Bourbon, Prince of Condé and Anne Henriette of Bavaria, and the grandson of le Grand Condé.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

One of nine children, he was his parents' eldest surviving son. His sister, Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, married François Louis, Prince of Conti in 1688. Another sister, Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, would marry Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine, a legitimised son of Louis XIV, in 1692. His youngest sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon, much later married the famed general Louis Joseph de Bourbon.

He was made a Chevalier du Saint-Esprit in 1686, a colonel of the Bourbon-Infanterie Regiment later that same year, a maréchal de camp in 1690, and a lieutenant general in 1692. Upon the death of his father, he inherited all the Condé titles and estates.

Marriage

File:1694 Portrait of Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé from the workshop of Rigaud (Versailles).jpg

Portrait of Bourbon in 1694 by Rigaud

In 1685, Louis married Louise Françoise de Bourbon, known at court as Mademoiselle de Nantes, a daughter of King Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It came as a surprise to the royal court seeing the marriage between a prince du sang and an illegitimate daughter of the king. The head of the House of Condé, le Grand Condé, however, acquiesced to the socially inferior match in the hope of gaining favour with the bride's father, Louis XIV.

The seventeen-year-old duc de Bourbon was known at court as Monsieur le Duc. After the marriage, his wife assumed the style of Madame la Duchesse. Bourbon was frequently unfaithful to his fourteen year old wife, who, despite being initially heartbroken,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> eventually followed him in this path. Historian Jacques Bernot notes:<ref name=":1" />

She learns that her husband is taking advantage of the Fontainebleau ladies with a few companions and gallop into the carriage to Paris to indulge in debauchery. The king, moved by her sorrow, sends her his physician and reproaches the equerry for not keeping a closer eye on the Duke of Bourbon.

Like his father, who became Prince of Condé in 1687, Bourbon led a typical, unremarkable life. In appearance, Bourbon was unimpressive in comparison with his wife, famed for her beauty.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was short in stature, and a macrocephalic with a bilious complexion.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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}}</ref> Bourbon was also noted for his lack of intelligence, as well as being notoriously malevolent and offensive.<ref name=":0" /> Saint-Simon described Bourbon as:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

... a man considerably shorter than the shortest men, who, without being fat, was stout all over, with a surprisingly large head and a frightening face; it was said that he was a dwarf of Madame la Princesse. He was lividly yellow, almost always looking furious, but at the same time so proud, so audacious that it was hard to get used to him. [...] He had wit, was well-read, retained some of an excellent education, and even displayed politeness and grace when he chose to; but he very rarely chose to. He had neither the avarice, nor the injustice, nor the baseness of his ancestors; but he possessed all their valor and showed application and intelligence in war. He also had the malice and all the cunning to increase his rank through subtle usurpations, and even more audacity and impetuosity than they did in attacking.

Prince of Condé

File:Coat of Arms of Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé.svg

Arms of Louis as the Prince of Condé

Bourbon was prince de Condé for just over a year, dying only eleven months after his father. Like his father, and his paternal great-grandmother Nicole du Plessis,<ref>Sister to Cardinal Richelieu</ref> Bourbon was deemed insane several years before his death,Template:Citation needed "making horrible faces", as one historian noted. Bourbon died in 1710 at the age of 41.

Issue

1. Marie Anne Éléonore de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Bourbon (22 December 1690 - 30 August 1760); became a nun.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
2. Louis Henri I, Prince of Condé (18 August 1692 - 27 January 1740); married Marie Anne de Bourbon and had no issue. He later married Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Rotenburg and had issue.
3. Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon (22 November 1693 – 27 May 1775); married Louis Armand, Prince of Conti and had issue.
4. Louise Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Charolais (23 June 1695 - 8 April 1758); died unmarried.
5. Marie Anne de Bourbon (16 October 1697 - 11 August 1741); secretly married Louis de Melun, Duke of Joyeuse.
6. Charles, Count of Charolais (19 June 1700 - 23 July 1760); secretly married Jeanne de Valois Saint Remy (descendant of Henri II of France) and had illegitimate issue.
7. Henriette Louise de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Vermandois (15 January 1703 - 19 September 1772); died unmarried.
8. Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Sens (15 September 1705 - 15 April 1765); died unmarried.
9. Louis, Count of Clermont (15 June 1709 - 16 June 1771); died unmarried.