Early negotiations Maria was not described as a beauty; instead her characteristics in the marriage market were stated as those of being pleasant, well-educated, and graceful in manner and movement. When the list of 17 was further reduced to four, the preferred choices still presented numerous problems.
Anne and
Amelia of Great Britain, who were considered with the understanding that they would convert to the Catholic faith upon marriage, were favored by the Duke of Bourbon and Madame de Prie because they were supported by their political financiers, the firm of
Paris Brothers.
Cardinal Fleury easily prevented the British match because of religious reasons. The other two women on the list were the sisters of the Duke of Bourbon,
Henriette-Louise and
Élisabeth-Alexandrine, whom the King refused to marry because of the disapproval of Cardinal Fleury. Cardinal Fleury favored a match with
Princess Charlotte of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, which was supported by the maternal grandfather of Louis XV,
the King of Sardinia through his spy
Maria Vittoria of Savoy,
Princess of Carignan. In these complicated disputes over the choice of a royal marriage partner, Maria Leszczyńska eventually emerged as a choice acceptable to both the party of the Duke of Bourbon and Madame de Prie, as well as the party of Cardinal Fleury, mainly because she was politically uncontroversial and lacked any of the alliances which could harm either party. At this point, there were already negotiations of marriage between Maria and the Duke of Bourbon. The Duke of d'Argensson had already left a favorable report of her, and the groundwork had been done. Cardinal Fleury accepted the choice as Maria posed no threat to him because of her lack of connections, while the Duke of Bourbon and Madame de Prie, precisely because she lacked any personal power base, expected her to be indebted to them for her position. Maria was finally chosen because she was a healthy adult Catholic princess ready to procreate immediately after the wedding. Reportedly, Madame de Prie had a flattering portrait painted of Maria, in which she was deliberately made to look like the King's favorite portrait of his mother. When he was shown the portrait, he was impressed and exclaimed: "She is the loveliest of them all!" and became enthusiastic of the match, an episode which attracted some attention. The formal proposal was made on 2 April 1725. The announcement of the wedding was not received well at the royal court. Maria's father Stanislaus had been a monarch for only a short time and she was thought to be a poor choice and of inferior status, not worthy of being queen of France. The
Duchess of Lorraine, sister of the former Duke of Orléans was also insulted that her own daughter
Elisabeth-Therese had not been chosen. The nobility and the court looked upon the future queen as an upstart intruder, the ministers as a cause to diplomatic trouble with Spain and Russia, whose princesses had been refused in favor of Maria, and the general public was also reportedly initially dissatisfied with the fact that France would gain "from this marriage neither glory nor honor, riches nor alliances." There were rumors before the wedding that the bride was ugly, epileptic and sterile. On 6 May 1725, Maria was forced to undergo a medical examination, which ruled out epilepsy and also gave reassuring reports about her menstruation and ability to procreate. In the marriage contract, the same terms were given to her as were previously given to the Spanish Infanta, and she was thus guaranteed fifty thousand crowns for rings and jewelry, two hundred and fifty thousand crowns upon her wedding, and the further guarantee of an annual widow allowance of twenty thousand crowns.
Private relationship to Louis XV The marriage by proxy took place on 15 August 1725 in the
Cathedral of Strasbourg, Louis XV being represented by his cousin, the Duke of Orléans
Louis le Pieux. For her marriage, Maria's Polish name was changed to the French
Marie. Despite her surname being difficult for the French to pronounce, it was still often used by commoners. She was escorted by Mademoiselle de Clermont, seven ladies-in-waiting, two maids-of-honour, numerous equerries and pages in a long train of coaches; however, she was not welcomed by triumphal entries, diplomatic greetings or the other official celebrations, as was normally the custom upon the arrival of a foreign princess for a royal marriage. Marie made a good impression upon the public from the beginning, such as when she handed out
largesse on her way to her wedding in
Fontainebleau. Louis and Marie first met on the eve of their wedding on 4 September 1725 at the
Château de Fontainebleau. Marie was twenty-two years old and Louis fifteen. The couple were reported to have fallen in love at first sight, based on eyewitness accounts such as those of
Cardinal de Rohan's letter and that of the Duke de Bourbon who were present when they met. Their relationship was very happy and idyllic at first and for eight years Louis XV was faithful to his wife and even compared Marie's beauty to that of
Blanche of Castile. The
Duke de Richelieu, best friend of the King, noted in his memoirs that Louis XV had a "true passion" for Marie Leczinska and at first resisted the idea of taking a mistress while his wife was pregnant. He had been impatient to marry her, was reportedly flattered to have a twenty-two-year-old wife, and refused to allow criticism of her appearance. In August 1727, at Versailles, Marie gave birth to twins, named
Louise Élisabeth and
Anne Henriette. The King was delighted, declaring that, after it had been said that he could not become a father, he had become the father of two. His first minister,
Cardinal Fleury, however, was displeased and decided that until the Queen had given birth to a son she could not be allowed to accompany the King on his trips but had to stay at Versailles. A year later, to the King's disappointment, another daughter,
Marie Louise, was born. The long-awaited
dauphin,
Louis, was born on 4 September 1729 to the relief of a country whose royal family had had a history of failing to establish a secure male line of succession. Marie had ten live children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. They all regarded her as a model of virtue, particularly her daughters. Marie, being of a phlegmatic nature, was not known to show them much affection. However, numerous contemporary accounts such as her own children's letters show a caring and attentive mother. Close friends such as the
Duke de Luynes and lady in waiting Marechale de Mouchy or the Barrister Barbier noted in their memoirs that "the Queen loved her children tenderly" and was said to be giving them "hugs and kisses" and supervise their education. She would also conduct and regularly send gifts and write letters to her younger daughters whom she was forbidden to see at
Fontevraud. According to the diaries, Marie Leczinska consoled her children on their personal problems and physically nursed them whenever they were ill. Marie was regarded as plain and slender in appearance by her contemporaries but with a fresh and healthy complexion. That faded with age but piety precluded her from using artificial means to make herself look attractive. She was described as shy and reserved in the company of her husband. She considered it her duty to show him gratitude and reverence but was unable to relax enough to entertain him or to flirt with him. Once, for example, she could find no other way to entertain him than to suggest that he kill the flies in the window panes. Louis XV, who suffered from melancholy and boredom, became inclined to listen when Marie was unfavorably compared to other women, and Cardinal Fleury, who wished to prevent Marie from eventually getting any influence over the King, favored the idea of the King taking a mistress as long as she was apolitical. Louis XV eventually became a notorious womanizer. In 1733, he entered into his first affair with
Louise Julie de Mailly; until 1737, this relationship was not official, and she was known at court as the
Fair Unknown. During these years, Marie unsuccessfully tried to figure out who the mistress was and did display her displeasure over the state of affairs. However, the adultery had the support of Cardinal Fleury because de Mailly was not interested in politics, and after the first years of the king's adultery, Marie became resigned to it. After the difficult birth of
Princess Louise in 1737, which nearly took her life, Marie was advised by the doctors that another pregnancy may end her life, and from 1738, she refused Louis entrance to her bedroom. In parallel with this, Louise Julie de Mailly was officially recognized as the King's royal mistress and favorite at court, and the relationship between the King and Queen soured, though they continued to perform their ceremonial roles side by side. The King paid only purely ceremonial visits to her rooms and no longer participated in her card games. The court, wary of her loss of the King's affection, only attended to her when court representation required it. Louise Julie de Mailly was followed by
Pauline Félicité de Mailly in 1739,
Marie Anne de Mailly in 1742 and
Diane Adélaïde de Mailly also in 1742. During the serious illness of Louis XV in Metz in August 1744, when he was believed to be dying, Marie was given his permission to join him. She was cheered by the supporting public along her journey, but when she arrived, he no longer wished to see her. She and the clergy supported the idea of the King exiling his mistress Marie Anne de Mailly including her sister, and the idea that the King should make a public apology for his adultery, but this did not improve their marriage.
Madame de Pompadour was presented at court in 1745 and was given such an important and influential position at court until her death in 1764 that she somewhat eclipsed the Queen. The lovers of Louis were often given positions in the court of Marie in order for them to have permanent access and an official excuse to remain at court, which placed Marie in a difficult position. She regarded the first official mistress Louise Julie de Mailly as the most hurtful because she was the first; however, she disliked Marie Anne de Mailly on a more personal level because Marie Anne was haughty and insolent. In contrast to the other official mistresses, Marie had a moderately friendly and cordial relationship to Madame de Pompadour, who always treated the Queen with deference and respect, though Marie did unsuccessfully oppose Pompadour's appointment as a lady-in-waiting in 1756. In contrast, Marie seems never to have had extramarital relations. ==Queen of France==