Editing Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (section)

==Marriage==
[[File:Portrait painting of Françoise Marie de Bourbon, later Duchess of Orléans by François de Troy.jpg|thumb|Philippe's wife, [[Françoise Marie de Bourbon]], youngest daughter of Madame de Montespan, by [[François de Troy]].]]
Constant wars with many of the [[major powers]] in Europe rendered a significant marriage with a foreign princess unlikely, or so Louis XIV told his brother, ''Monsieur'', when persuading him to accept the king's legitimised daughter, [[Françoise Marie de Bourbon]] (known as ''Mademoiselle de Blois''), as wife for Philippe. The king offered a [[dowry]] of two million ''[[French livre|livre]]s'' with his daughter's hand (not to be paid until the [[Nine Years' War]] was over),<ref name=Pevitt/>{{rp|[https://archive.org/details/philippeducdorle00pevi/page/41/ 41]}} as well as the ''Palais-Royal'' for the bridegroom's parents. Upon hearing that her son had agreed to the marriage, Philippe's mother slapped his face in full view of the court and turned her back on the king as he bowed to her. Nonetheless, on 18 February 1692, the cousins were married.<ref>The previous day there had been a formal engagement party at Versailles.</ref>

The lavish ceremony took place in the chapel of the [[Palace of Versailles]]. The service was conducted by the [[Cardinal de Bouillon]]&mdash;a member of the [[House of La Tour d'Auvergne]]. In 1685, the Cardinal de Bouillon had refused to take part in the marriage of the Duke of Bourbon and Françoise Marie's sister, ''Mademoiselle de Nantes'', and, as a result, had been sent into exile, but he was recalled for the wedding of Françoise-Marie and the Duke of Chartres. After the ceremony, a banquet was given in the [[Hall of Mirrors (Palace of Versailles)|Hall of Mirrors]] with all the [[prince du sang|princes and princesses of the blood royal]] in attendance.<ref name="ReferenceA">[https://archive.org/stream/unrulydaughtersr00willrich/unrulydaughtersr00willrich_djvu.txt The Unruly Daughter of the Regent]</ref> Guests included the exiled [[James II of England]] and his consort, [[Mary of Modena]]. At the newlyweds' [[bedding ceremony]] later that evening, the exiled Queen of England had the honour of handing the new Duchess of Chartres her bed clothes.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> ''Madame de Montespan'' had not been invited to the wedding of her daughter.

The young couple, mismatched from the start, never grew to like each other, and soon the young Philippe gave his wife the nickname of ''Madame Lucifer''.<ref>Dufresne,
Claude, ''Les Orléans'', Criterion, Paris, 1991, p. 74-78, (French).</ref> In spite of this, they had eight children (see below).

There were contemporary rumors of an incestuous relationship between the duke and his daughter, Marie Louise Elisabeth of Berry.<ref name="Nancy Mitford 1966">{{cite book
 | author =Nancy Mitford
 | title = Solkonungen (The Sun King)
 | year = 1966
 | language = sv
}}</ref><ref name="hare">
{{cite book
 | author = Simon Sebac Montefiore
 | title = Potemkin och Katarina den stora- en kejserlig förbindelse (Potemkin and Catherine the Great – an Imperial liaison)
 | year = 2005
 | page= 237
 | language = sv
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | author = Joan Haslip
 | title = Marie Antoinette
 | isbn = 978-1555841836
 | year = 1991
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781555841836/page/38 38]
 | publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson
 | url-access = registration
 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781555841836/page/38
 }}
</ref>
These rumors were never confirmed, although the duke reacted to them by demonstrating affectionate behavior towards her at court.<ref name="Nancy Mitford 1966"/>  The rumors were also used by the opposition during his period as regent, and were the inspiration of libelous songs and poems<ref name="hare" />