Louise-Élisabeth de Croÿ (Louise Élisabeth Félicité Françoise Armande Anne Marie Jeanne Joséphine; 11 June 1749 – 15 May 1832) was a French noblewoman and courtier, as the Marquise of Tourzel. She was the Governess of the Children of France from 1789 until 1792. Decades after the French Revolution, Louise-Élisabeth published her memoirs, which presented a unique perspective on the royal family during the French Revolution. She later acquired the title of duchess.

Life

Louise Élisabeth was born in Paris, into the illustrious House of Croÿ during the reign of King Louis XV. She was the daughter of Louis Ferdinand Joseph de Croÿ, Duke of Havré and his wife, Princess Marie Louise Cunégonde de Montmorency-Luxembourg.

Louise Élisabeth was married in 1766, at the age of seventeen, to the Marquis de Tourzel. They enjoyed a happy marriage for twenty years, in which Louise Élisabeth bore six children; her husband was, however, killed in a hunting accident in 1786. She was a staunch supporter of the House of Bourbon, and had this motto engraved on a ring she refused to part with: Lord, save the King, the Dauphin, and his sister!.

French Revolution

After the Storming of the Bastille in 1789, many members of Queen Marie Antoinette’s intimate circle were forced to flee abroad. The duchesse de Polignac, the queen's favourite and the governess to the royal children, was forced to emigrate to Switzerland. Marie Antoinette appointed Louise Élisabeth to the newly vacant post, with particular attention to be paid to the dauphin, Louis-Charles. The marquise was advised to curb the dauphin's fear of loud noises, particularly the barking of the many dogs at Versailles.

After an angry mob of women incited by revolutionaries stormed the Palace of Versailles on 5 October 1789, the marquise accompanied the royal family to live in the Tuileries Palace in Paris. This attempt failed, and the entire party was brought back to Paris. Also imprisoned at the same time was her daughter, Pauline de Tourzel, and Marie Antoinette's personal friend, Princesse de Lamballe. Louise Élisabeth and her daughter were advised by their rescuer, a "Monsieur Hardi", to leave Paris because Pauline had escaped the prison illegally and was in danger of arrest, and they left for the countryside, where they lived incognito in Vincennes and at the property of her son in Abondant outside of Dreux. In October, the former queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was also sent to the guillotine. She attended the wedding of Marie-Therese and Louis Antoine in Mitau in the June of 1799, and remained in Mitau for some time. She later published her memoirs, which are an invaluable historical account of the final days of the royal household.

References

  • Memoirs of the Duchess de Tourzel, Volume I
  • Mémoires de Madame la duchesse de Tourzel, Volume I