Philippe, Duke of Anjou

Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou (30 August 1730 – 7 April 1733) was a French prince and the second son of king Louis XV of France and Marie Leszczyńska. He was styled Duke of Anjou from birth.

Philippe of France
Duke of Anjou
"Philippe blowing bubbles": a depiction of Philippe on a snuffbox in the Walters Museum
Born	30 August 1730 Palace of Versailles, France
Died	7 April 1733 (aged 2) Palace of Versailles, France
Burial	Royal Basilica, Saint Denis, Paris, France
Full name Philippe de France
House	Bourbons of France
Father	Louis XV of France
Mother	Marie Leszczyńska
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Biography

Philippe was born at the Palace of Versailles on 30 August 1730, the second son and fifth child of Louis XV of France and Marie Leszczyńska. As a son of the king, he held the rank of a fils de France ("son of France"), which also entitled him to the style of Royal Highness. In his short lifetime, he was the third most important male at court, after his father Louis XV and his elder brother Louis, Dauphin of France.

Philippe was styled Duke of Anjou from birth; this title had last been bestowed on his father, from his own birth in 1710 until his accession to the throne in 1715.

Philippe grew up at Versailles with his brother, the Dauphin, and their twin sisters Louise Élisabeth (Madame Royale, later Duchess of Parma) and Henriette (Madame Seconde). In his short lifetime, Philippe saw the birth of his younger sister Madame Adélaïde, in March 1732, and the death of his older sister Marie Louise de France (Madame Troisième) from the common cold, in February 1733.

Always a sickly child, Philippe was cared for by a group of female attendants, as royal children were cared for by women until the age of five. As part of their intensely superstitious beliefs, the women mixed in earth from the grave of Saint Medard with his food; the child was given so much earth that his organs failed. As a result, Philippe died at Versailles on 7 April 1733, at the age of two. He was buried at the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis outside Paris.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Philippe of France[1][2]
8. Louis, Dauphin of France 4. Louis, Duke of Burgundy 9. Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria 2. Louis XV of France 10. Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia 5. Marie Adélaïde of Savoy 11. Anne Marie of Orléans 1. Philippe, Duke of Anjou 12. Rafał Leszczyński 6. Stanisław I Leszczyński 13. Anna Jabłonowska 3. Marie Leszczyńska 14. Jan Karol Opaliński 7. Katarzyna Opalińska 15. Zofia Czarnkowska

Notes

1. Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 12.
2. Żychliński, Teodor (1882). Złota księga szlachty polskiéj: Rocznik IVty (in Polish). Jarosław Leitgeber. p. 1. Retrieved 1 August 2018.