MADAME ROYALE, Marie-Thérèse de FRANCE, dite (1778-1851)

MADAME ROYALE, Marie-Thérèse de FRANCE, dite (1778-1851)

Autograph letter signed « MT » to her chargé d’affaire Théodore Charlet
Vienna [Austria], 9th April 1850, 1 p. in-8° on bifolio
Autograph address on fourth page
Numbered “271” by Madame Royale on top left corner
Broken seal, stamping marks, ink smudges by Madame Royale

Tender letter from Madame Royale, in the twilight of her life, awaiting the return of her nephew the Comte de Chambord

From the Hubert Guerrand-Hermès collection

« Je ne vous écris qu’un mot pour vous dire que mon voyage s’est très bien passé. Je suis revenue samedi passé à ma campagne, charmée de m’y retrouver. Dans une quinzaine mon neveu y reviendra [Henri d’Artois, le comte de Chambord]. Maria et les siens ne sont pas revenus, mais je les attends vers le 15.
Je suis revenue ici en ville, j’ai vu le banquier et l’ai chargé de vous faire passer 15000 francs pour le moment, je ne puis donner que la moitié de la somme ordinaire à cause du change. J’enverrai l’autre partie plus tard.
J’espère que vous vous portez bien et tous les vôtres. Adieu et comptez toujours sur mes sentiments pour vous.
MT »

Daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France, known as Madame Royale (to distinguish her from the king’s sister-in-law), was the first child of the royal couple, born after more than eight years of marriage. Locked up in the Temple in 1792 with her family, she was the only survivor, exchanged in extremis in 1795 for the French commissioners handed over to the Austrians by Dumouriez. In 1799, she married her cousin Louis of France, Duke of Angoulême, son of the future Charles X. The childless death of Louis XVIII made her and her husband the last Dauphins of France. Forced into exile during the July Revolution in 1830, Madame Royale joined the former King Charles X, and left with her court for Gorizia, a city under Austrian domination. In 1844, she moved with her relatives and her nephew Henri d’Artois, Count of Chambord, to Frohsdorf Castle, located southeast of Vienna where she died on 19 October 1851.