Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti

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Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti bigraphy, stories - Prince of Conti

Louis Armand I, Prince of Conti : biography

30 April 1661 – 9 November 1685

Louis Armand de Bourbon (30 April 1661 – 9 November 1685) was Prince of Conti from 1666 to his death, succeeding his father, Armand de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince du Sang. He was a son in law of Louis XIV of France who was his namesake.

Titles

Biography

Louis Armand was born in Paris.

In August 1679 he acted as the groom in the proxy marriage where Marie Louise d’Orléans married Charles II of Spain. In 1680 he married Marie Anne de Bourbon, the illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV and his first mistress, Louise de La Vallière. The bride and groom were respectively thirteen and fifteen years old at the time. Since neither of them had been instructed on what to expect on their first night together, it ended up in disaster with the young princess fleeing in despair and the prince not wanting to share the bed of a woman again.

He served with distinction in Flanders in 1683, and, against the wish of the king, went to Hungary, where he helped the Imperialists defeat the Turks at Gran in the same year. He died in Fontainebleau from smallpox which he contracted from his wife. While she recovered after some time, the prince succumbed after five days.

Having no descendants, he was succeeded as Prince of Conti by his younger brother, François Louis de Bourbon (1664–1709).

Titles and styles

  • 30 April 1661 – 26 February 1666 His Serene Highness The Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon
  • 30 April 1661 – 9 November 1685 His Serene Highness The Prince of Conti