Princess Victoire of France

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Princess Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse of France

Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse (May 11, 1733 - June 7, 1799) was the seventh child and fifth daughter of King Louis XV of France and his Queen consort Maria Leszczyńska. Originally known as "Madame Quatrième" (her older sister died in February 1733, before her birth) she was later known as "Madame Victoire". She outlived eight of her nine siblings, and was survived by her older sister Adélaïde by less than a year.

Victoire was born in Versailles. Unlike the older children of Louis XV (including Adélaïde, just one year her senior), Victoire was not raised at Versailles, but sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud.

She took up residence with her sister Madame Adélaïde at Château de Bellevue from 6 October 1789. Revolutionary laws against the church caused them to leave for Italy on 20 February 1791, although they were arrested and detained for several days at Arnay-le-Duc before they were allowed to depart. They visited their niece Clotilde, sister of Louis XVI, in Turin, and arrived in Rome on 16 April 1791. As a result of the increasing influence of Revolutionary France, they travelled further afield, moving to Naples in 1796, where Marie Caroline, sister of Marie Antoinette, was Queen. They moved to Corfou in 1799, and finally ending in Trieste, where Victoire died of breast cancer. Adélaïde died one year later, in exile in the French émigré society at Rome. Their bodies were later returned to France by Louis XVIII and buried at the Abbey of Saint-Denis