Madame Élisabeth was the younger sister of Louis XVI – a selfless, deeply religious and strong-willed woman who cared for the poor and needy with great devotion. She never married, despite numerous attempts to arrange a marriage to a prince at a foreign court. She always wished to remain by her brother's side. After his death, she supported the surviving members of the family and comforted her fellow prisoners. Marie Antoinette addressed her farewell letter to Élisabeth on the night before her execution, but it never reached her. For Catholics and monarchists, Élisabeth was the last sun of Versailles during the dark years of the Revolution. For republicans, she was merely the sister of the last tyrant. Shortly after her thirtieth birthday, she died on the guillotine.
May 3, 1764 · Élisabeth Philippe Marie Hélène de Bourbon is born at Versailles. She is the daughter of the Dauphin of France, son of Louis XV, and Maria Josepha of Saxony.
December 20, 1765 · Her father dies.
March 13, 1767 · Her mother dies. Elisabeth, not yet three years old, has now lost both parents.
1783 · Her elder brother, now King Louis XVI, gives her the Montreuil estate, where she arranges care for the sick and destitute.
October 6, 1789 · Elisabeth moves to Paris with the royal family.
June 21, 1791 · The royal family’s attempted escape, in which Elisabeth takes part, fails at Varennes.
June 20, 1792 · Parisian sans-culottes storm the Tuileries Palace. The rioters mistake Elisabeth for Marie Antoinette and threaten her. She deliberately does not correct their mistake in order to protect her sister-in-law.
August 13, 1792 · Following the storming of the Tuileries, she is imprisoned with the members of the royal family in the Temple in Paris.
May 10, 1794 · Elisabeth is sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed the same day.
Madame Élisabeth lived to be 30 years old.
Quotes
She is the consoling angel of the queen and her children. The Marquise de Bombelles on Élisabeth during her imprisonment.
If my brother had been a tyrant, you would not be where you are, and I would not be here. Élisabeth to the public prosecutor Fouquier-Tinville.
In the name of your mother, cover me, sir! Elisabeth to the executioner Sanson as he tore the kerchief from her shoulder.
Madame Élisabeth was the younger sister of Louis XVI – a selfless, deeply religious and strong-willed woman who cared for the poor and needy with great devotion. She never married, despite numerous attempts to arrange a marriage to a prince at a foreign court. She always wished to remain by her brother's side. After his death, she supported the surviving members of the family and comforted her fellow prisoners. Marie Antoinette addressed her farewell letter to Élisabeth on the night before her execution, but it never reached her. For Catholics and monarchists, Élisabeth was the last sun of Versailles during the dark years of the Revolution. For republicans, she was merely the sister of the last tyrant. Shortly after her thirtieth birthday, she died on the guillotine.
