Fun AHC/WI: Maria Anna of Neuburg, Dauphine of France, Dowager Queen of Spain

I'm not sure how likely this is, but the rumour ran in Madrid shortly before/after Carlos II's death, that his widow wished to remarry to the dauphin. There was even a pasquinade on the clause in Carlos' will that settled the lordship of any city she chose on her wherein it said: "Madrid or dauphine, nothing else".

Now, the dauphin's "secret" marriage to Mlle de Choin aside (@Cornelis can correct me, but could Louis XIV not simply void that marriage?). Could the dauphin's remarriage to the Dowager Queen help his son (Anjou)'s cause in Spain? I know Maria Anna wasn't much liked (either by her subjects or her family - letters from her mother and brother, the Elector about her, hardly paint her in the most flattering light) in Spain, but I'd imagine the Spanish would throw her to the French andorder a Te Deum that they're rid of the she-devil.

How Maria Anna would cope at Versailles is another matter entirely. I imagine she'd have a clash of personalities with Louis XIV. And since there are rumours that she remarried and had kid(s) despite her age, let's say she and the dauphin manage one or two little petit-enfant(e)s de France.
 
I know I've asked about the dauphin and Mlle de Choin having kids on another thread, and whether said kids would be legitimate heirs to France or not. The answer was more or less a resounding no. OTOH, the dauphin and Maria Anna's marriage would be valid (i.e. not secret/morganatic) so any kids would have full succession rights in France (provided of course, they were male).

That said bump!
 
The trouble is, while Mlle de Choin is alive, the Dauphin is married, and it probably can't be voided without her (maybe) entering a convent. The marriage is morganic, but it's still a marriage and while the children aren't in line to the throne of France, they would 100% be legitimate. While she's there, the Dauphin cannot marry elsewhere without, at the most minimal of consequences, looking like a brute of a man who cares little for the feelings of his lover or, more importantly to those around him, the laws of the Church. It would be bigamy. However, should she die prior to this, he could quite easily marry Maria Anna, but I doubt he would. Louis Jnr. believed that he had done his duty to France with three sons, and while he was on board with Philippe taking the Spanish Throne, he knew that, outside of cutting himself out of that succession, he wasn't really necessary for that handover. Honestly, the best bet would be, in the event Mlle de Choin is dead, is for the Dauphin to attach himself to the Dowager Queen of Spain. But honestly, if the Dauphin is single and willing to remarry, while she isn't a terrible choice, the King is going to want a better bride to act as First Woman at Versailles. But maybe if the Dauphin is besotted, the King may bend. Worse marriages have been made in France.
 
@Kynan: AIUI a morganatic marriage can be contracted in the lifetime of a equally-born spouse. Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia did it not once, but twice; and IIRC one of the princes of Hesse did likewise. However, let's say that Mlle de Choin dies around the same time as Carlos II. The dauphin is likely as not to go for her, because Mariandl was reportedly the most beautiful of the Elector Palatine's daughters (something both his previous wives were not) until well into middle-age.

I was thinking it might be interesting to see what effects there are - especially if Maria Anna has kids by the dauphin - should we end up with a regency for an underage Louis like OTL. Louis XIV only nominated the duc d'Orléans because a) the dauphin's mother (Adélaïde de Savoie) was dead; and b) there were no closer males. If Maria Anna is there as dowager dauphine (perhaps with one or two children of her own - I think the rumours said she had about three kids, although I'm not sure how many survived), then, in theory, as Louis XV's step-grandmother, she has a rather shaky claim to the regency. I know a king's mother was the usual go-to regent, but IIRC François I appointed his mother to be regent if he died before his eldest son was of age; and it's hard to believe that Catherine de Medicis would have simply stepped aside had she been left with an infant male-line grandson; so there is a tenuous precedent.

Now, Maria Anna lived until 1740, and while the idea of her as regent of France is probably close to ASB, I could see her scheming and plotting away to ensure any children of hers have a better future than just being forgotten-about royals in the corridors of Versailles.
 
This could be interesting, but I don't understand why le Grand Dauphin would go for her. I mean he's already produced three healthy sons, so the succession is secure. And its not like Marianna (as she was known in Spain) would bring much to the table; she was a childless thirty-three year-old widow with no major claims, fortune or connections. Sure she could be an indirect channel to Vienna, but it was pretty obvious that Austria was going to war to contest Carlos II's will, so no real help there. I just don't see a reason for the Sun King or the Dauphin to go for here, even if Mlle de Choin dies.
 
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