Maria Theresa Of Spain

Maria Theresa of Spain (, 1638 - July 30 , 1683 ), queen consort of France as wife of Louis XIV Of France , was born at the Escorial as the daughter of Philip IV Of Spain and of Elisabeth Of France (1602 - 1644).

She was called, in France, ''Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche'': her aunt, Anne Of Austria , also a Spanish princess, also used the Austrian archiducal title which the Spanish Habsburg s still bore.

By pretending to seek a bride for his master in Margaret of Savoy, Cardinal Mazarin had induced the king of Spain to make proposals for the marriage of his daughter with Louis XIV, and the Treaty Of The Pyrenees in 1659 stipulated for her marriage with the French king, that Marie would renounce any claim to the Spanish succession. As the treaty, however, hinged on the payment of her dowry, which was practically impossible for Spain, Mazarin could evade the other terms of the contract. Marie Thérèse was married on June 9 , 1660 , when Philip IV with his whole court accompanied the bride to the Isle of Pheasants in the Bidassoa , where Louis met her.

The new queen's amiability and her undoubted virtues failed to secure her husband's regard and affection. She saw herself neglected in turn for Louise De La Vallière , Mme. De Montespan and others; but Marie Thérèse was too pious and too adoring of her husband to openly resent the position in which she was placed by the king's avowed infidelities. Provided the Queen acted with dignity and didn't make a scene, the King would leave her to her own devices, with her dwarves, chocolate and maids. With the growing influence of Madame De Maintenon over his mind and affections he bestowed more attention on his wife, which she repaid by lavishing kindness on the mistress.

Marie Thérèse had no part in political affairs except in 1672, when she acted as Regent during Louis XIV's campaign in the Netherlands. She died on 30 July 1683 at Versailles , not without suspicion of foul play on the part of her doctors. There is, however, no real proof that the Queen was poisoned. Her death was probably the only occasion in her life that caused the King any sort of emotion on his part, albeitly briefly, apart from his sadness at losing so many legitimate children in infancy. Of her six children only one survived her, the Dauphin Louis , who died in 1711.

Perhaps Marie-Thérèse should be most famous for the notorious dictum "If they have no bread then let them eat cake!" usually simply attributed it to "a great princess".

It was rumoured that the Queen gave birth to a 'black' daughter, which was then hushed up by the King and her doctors. No proof of the existence of this child was ever found and historians are now confident that it is nothing but a myth. Both Louis and Maria-Theresa had Spanish and Moorish ancestry, but it was, perhaps, of insufficient quantities to produce a child with African colouring or facial characteristics.

See the funeral oration of Bossuet (Paris, 1684), E. Ducere, ''Le Mariage de Louis XIV d'après les contemporains et des documents inédits'' (Bayonne, 1905); Dr Cabanes, ''Les Morts mysterieuses de l'histoire'' (1900), and the literature dealing with her rivals Louise de la Vallière, Madame de Montespan and Madame de Maintenon.

GENETICS

As a Matrilineal descendant of Anne De Foix and ultimately a matrilineal relative of Queen Victoria , she with her children and all her female-line descendants are members of Mitochondria l Haplogroup H .

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Maria Theresa Of Spain