She was the daughter of
Louis II de La Trémoille,
Duke of Noirmoutier, and his wife Renée Julie Aubery de Tilleport. She belonged to a
cadet branch of the
La Trémoille family, which held the exalted rank of
prince étranger in France. She was married young to Adrien Blaise de
Talleyrand, Prince de Chalais. Her husband, having been implicated in the
duel of four against four, in which
Pierre de Beauvilliers, son of the
Duc de Saint-Aignan, was killed in 1663, was compelled to flee France. He died soon afterward in Spain, and Marie Anne, now widowed, established herself in
Rome. In 1675, she married Flavio
Orsini,
Duke di Bracciano (1620–1698). The marriage was far from harmonious, but her husband left her his fortune (popular imagination thought it to be huge, but in reality, the duke was almost bankrupt) and the leadership of the French party in Rome. It brought her a series of lawsuits and troubles with
Livio Odescalchi, nephew of
Pope Innocent XI, who claimed that he had been adopted by the duke. Eventually, the widow sold the title and estates to Odescalchi. She then assumed the title
Princesse des Ursins, a French translation of Orsini, and was tacitly allowed to use it, though it had no legal basis. She had indulged in much unofficial diplomacy at Rome, particularly with
Neapolitans and Spaniards of rank, whom it was desirable to secure as French partisans in view of the approaching death of
Charles II of Spain, and the plans of
Louis XIV to place his family on the Spanish throne. Her services in favour of France were rewarded in 1699 by a pension, which her problematic financial situation made necessary. When
Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, grandson of the French king, was declared heir by the will of Charles II, she took an active part in arranging his marriage with Princess
Maria Luisa of Savoy, a daughter of
Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy. Her ambition was to secure the post of
camarera mayor de palacio (head of the queen's household) to the young queen, a child of barely thirteen. By quiet diplomacy and with the help of
Madame de Maintenon, she succeeded, and in 1701, she accompanied the young queen to Spain. Until 1714, the year of the death of the queen, she was the most powerful person in the country. Her functions in relation to the king and queen were almost those of a nurse. Her letters show that she had to put them to bed at night, and get them up in the morning. She gives a most amusing description of her embarrassments when she had to enter the royal bedroom, laden with articles of clothing and furniture. But if the
camarera mayor de palacio did the work of a domestic servant, it was for a serious political purpose. She was expected to look after French interests in the palace and to manage the
Spanish nobles, many of whom were of the
Austrian party, and who were generally opposed to foreign ways or to interference with the elaborate etiquette of the Spanish court. Madame des Ursins was resolved not to be a mere agent of
Versailles. During the first period of her tenure, she was in frequent conflict with the French ambassadors, who claimed the right to attend the
privy council and to direct the government. Madame des Ursins urged that the young king should rely as much as possible on his Spanish subjects. In 1704, her enemies at the French court secured her recall, but she still had the support of Madame de Maintenon, and her own tact enabled her to placate Louis XIV.
Spain In 1705, she returned to Spain with a free hand, and with what was practically the power to name her own ministry. During the worst times of the
War of the Spanish Succession, she was the real head of the
Bourbon party and was well aided by Princess
Maria Luisa of Savoy, the spirited young queen of
Philip V. She did not hesitate to quarrel even with so powerful a personage as Cardinal
Luis de Portocarrero, Archbishop of Toledo, when he proved hostile. Yet she was so far from offending the pride of the nation that, when in 1709 Louis XIV, severely pressed by the other
Great Powers, threatened or pretended to desert the cause of his grandson, she dismissed all Frenchmen from the court and threw the king on the support of the
Castilians. Her influence on the sovereigns was dominant until the death of the queen. Madame des Ursins confesses in her voluminous correspondence that she made herself a burden to the king in her anxiety to exclude from him all other influence, watching him as if he were a child. Philip was too weak to break the yoke himself and could insist only that he should be supplied with a wife. Madame des Ursins was persuaded by
Alberoni to arrange a marriage with
Elisabeth Farnese, hoping to govern the new queen as she had done the old. However,
Saint-Simon relates that the princess tried first to become queen of Spain herself and, when this plan failed, she persuaded Alberoni to choose a member of the
House of Farnese, hoping that Elisabeth, who could not otherwise have hoped for a royal crown, would feel indebted to her. In trying to become queen, Madame des Ursins lost the last remnants of support from Madame de Maintenon; in promoting Elisabeth Farnese without French consent, she also lost Louis XIV's support. Elisabeth Farnese managed to stipulate that she should be allowed to dismiss the
camarera mayor. Madame des Ursins, who had gone to meet the new queen at
Jadraque, was driven from her presence with insult and sent out of Spain without being allowed to change her court dress, in such bitter weather that the coachman lost his hand by frostbite. In
Bayonne, she waited for a while hoping that the king would call her back, but in vain. Saint-Simon believes that the dismissal had been schemed beforehand, and even happened with the consent of the king. After a short stay in France, she went to Italy, eventually establishing herself in Rome, where she imposed her personality on the small
émigré Jacobite court of "
The Old Pretender", effectively running it until she died on 5 December 1722. She had the final satisfaction of meeting Alberoni there after his fall. ==Legacy==