Gaston’s Descendants

Gaston de France, duc d’Orléans had five children by his second marriage to Marguerite of Lorraine.
1. Marguerite Louise, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (1645-1721)
2. Élisabeth (Isabelle) Marguerite/Élisabeth Françoise, Duchesse de Guise, d’Angoulême et d’Alençon (1646-1696)
3. Françoise Madeleine, Duchess of Savoy (1648-1664)
4. Jean Baptist Gaston, Duc de Valois (1650-1652)
5. Marie Anne, Mademoiselle de Chartres (1652-1656/1695)
Of these children, only the Grand Duchess and Duchesse de Guise had children (who in turn left no descent). But Gaston’s bastard line, though his son, the Comte de Charny, persisted until 1740. What would the French court (and by extension, Europe) look like if the duc de Valois were to survive? What sort of political player would he be? Like his cousin, Monsieur? Or like his father?

His youngest daughter, Mlle de Chartres, is by conflicting sources, as indicated above said to have been 4 or 43 when she died. That said, I find it hard to believe that French politics (she would’ve been the highest ranking unmarried lady at court until the birth of Monsieur’s daughter, the OTL queen of Spain), would’ve let her remain unmarried. There seems to be nothing to indicate she was disabled (mentally or physically), and even were she, the marriage to a petite-fille de France was of such caliber that a potential bridegroom would certainly overlook any disabilities.
Thoughts?
 
1695 date is an error here. Same typo as was given to Mademoiselle de Dunois in English wiki (killing her in 1663 instead of 1646). She died in 1656.
As for Duc de Valois surviving...well, he'll be the wealthiest landowner in France, as by proximity of blood she'll be the closest relative to inherit the properties of his elder half-sister.
I can see his early upbringing being marred by exile to Blois, but if anything, given the upbringing, I can see 2nd Duc d'Orleans become the leader of "devout" court party, due to upbringing his mother will give him
 
Thanks, Valena:)

If Valois survives then Mlle de Chartres can too? If so, where might she be married to further French ambitions? And if Valois is the leader of dévots, might he befriend Mme de Maintenon or be strongly opposed to her?

Also, is La Grande Mademoiselle still going to make a donation of Eu and Dombes (among others) for the duc du Maine with a nearer surviving male heir? Or rather, is that male heir going to be accept that?
 
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Well, with direct male heir Louis XIV won't have easy time blackmailing Anne-Marie-Louise into selling off properties to his bastards, that's for sure.
A duchy or two might be given, though, but Philippe d'Anjou (won't be d'Orleans TTL) won't receive anything from Anne's properties. He might still get Duchy of Nemours as his appanage, though:)

Maintenon can be butterflied from King's surrounding at all - La Valliere will be for certain, since she was initially lady-in-waiting to children of Marguerite de Lorraine, and only then was reassigned to household of Philippe d'Orleans.

Also, Duc de Valois was deformed since birth due to complications of his mother's pregnancy - if pregnancy goes uncomplicated, he'll survive. Mlle de Chartres seems to have died of bog standard pulmonary infection - exile to Blois wasn't exactly good for later-in-life Gaston's children.

I'm more interested in whom Duc de Valois will marry to. I did a TL when he survived (different Fronde of Princes due to William II of Orange not dying of smallpox and Conde being sent to Netherlands as part of French military aid instead of being imprisoned, thus different circumstances of pregnancy of Marguerite of Lorraine), and in this TL he married OTL Queen of Portugal, Maria Francesca of Savoy, getting title Duc d'Aumale from this marriage.
In this TL OTL Afonso VI of Portugal died early of his disease complications (contacted tuberculosis instead of his brother Teodosio in 1653 - secondary POD with primary POD of William II not dying), and Le Grande Mademoiselle married to Teodosio I of Portugal in 1655, becoming Queen of Portugal.
If I have time I'll translate this TL from Russian and upload it to this board.
 
That TL sounds awesome. A surviving William II is extremely interesting. I was also thinking that he'd probably catch a Savoie-Nemours princess. Since by allowing him to survive might likewise butterfly his sister's death, so Madama Reale goes to Nancy instead of Turin.

But, la Montespan is likely to still make her appearance as maitresse-en-titre since she was present among the queen's ladies-in-waiting, and also the other mistresses Louis took alongside la Vallière (princesse de Monaco, et al) do not sound like women who would be likely to hold the king's interest by comparison. And since la Montespan is still a baby factory, Madame Scarron (who was her friend) will still be gouvernesse to the royal bastards, so she might still end up as the king's secret wife.
 
Yes, La Montespan will still remain - she'll be Queen's lady-in-waiting, and Mortemars were close to Royal Family - brother of Athenais was a childhood playmate of Louis XIV, for example, and thus Maintenon won't be butterflied.
However Duc de Valois will be close in ideas to his sister, Duchess of Guise, and she seemed to hate King's mistresses with passion. So I suppose Jean-Gaston will act the same.
 
Can I ask a random question? What if a son is born to Gaston and Marguerite during their "annulment" (i.e. 1634-1643), would that son be naturalized or legitimized or both on his parents' remarriage? And should push come to shove, would he and his descendants be eligible for the French throne?
 
Reviving an old thread because I'm too lazy to make a new one, and its more of the same, anyways:p

About Isabelle/Élisabeth, the OTL duchesse de Guise, is there a chance that in lieu of Jeanne Baptiste de Savoie-Nemours being available (maybe she's betrothed to a surviving duc de Valois or something like that), that she could be offered to the duke of Lorraine instead of de Guise? Perhaps simply to keep Lorraine in French rather than Imperial-thrall?
 
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