The Governess of the Children of France (sometimes the Governess of the Royal Children) was an office at the royal French court during pre-Revolutionary France and the Bourbon Restoration. As the head of the royal nursery, she was charged with the education of the children and grandchildren of the monarch. The holder of the office was taken from the highest-ranking nobility of France and was passed between female family members for much of its history by right of succession (survivance). The governess was supported by various deputies or under-governesses (sous gouvernantes) and oversaw a household consisting of dozens of servants and caregivers.

The Livre qui contient tout ce qui peut interesser Madame la Gouvernante des Enfans de France et surintandante de Leurs Maisons[1] (1704-44) is the primary written source on the office of the royal governess during the Bourbon dynasty. It is housed and digitized by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The official court document serves as a manual for the governess and her deputies. It includes the etiquette, ceremonial procedures and daily responsibilities of the role in great detail. It also consists of household inventories of the royal nursery.

Governesses of the Children of France

The Duchess of La Ferté-Senneterre with the Duke of Anjou on her lap and the Duke of Brittany, François de Troy
The Duchess of Ventadour with Louis XIV, his young great-grandson (the future Louis XV), Louis the Grand Dauphin, and Louis, Duke of Burgundy
Engraving of Victoire de Rohan with Madame Royale overlooked by a painting of Marie Antoinette, unknown artist

Children of Louis XII of France

Children of Francis I of France

Children of Henry II of France

Children of Charles IX of France

Children of Henry IV of France

Children of Louis XIII

Children of Louis XIV

Children of the Grand Dauphin

  • 1682–1691: Louise de Prie, (1624–1709), Marquise of Toucy, Duchess of Cardona

Children of the Duke of Burgundy

Children of Louis XV

  • 1727–1735: Charlotte de La Mothe-Houdancourt, (1654–1744), Duchess of Ventadour.
  • 1735–1754: Marie Isabelle de Rohan, (1699–1754), Duchess of Tallard[12]
    • 1727–1746: Madame de La Lande, sous gouvernante (deputy)
    • 1727–1744: Marie-Suzanne de Valicourt, sous gouvernante (deputy)[11]
    • 1729–?: Marguerite d'Armand de Mizon, sous gouvernante (deputy)

Children of Louis, Dauphin of France

Children of Louis XVI

Children of Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry

Notes

  1. "Livre qui contient tout ce qui peut interesser Madame la Gouvernante des Enfans de France et surintandante de Leurs Maisons". archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr.
  2. Les outils de la connaissance: enseignement et formation intellectuelle en ...
  3. Robert J. Knecht, Hero or Tyrant? Henry III, King of France, 1574-89
  4. The girlhood of Mary queen of Scots from her landing in France in August 1548 to her departure from France in August 1561
  5. Susan Broomhall, Women's Medical Work in Early Modern France
  6. Vons, Jacqueline; Saint-Martin, Pauline (2010). "Vie et mort de Marie-Elisabeth de France (1572-1578), fille de Charles IX et Elisabeth d'Autriche". cour-de-france.fr (in French).
  7. wife of Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt
  8. daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cardona and older sister of Madame de Ventadour
  9. daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cardona
  10. Anne Julie was the wife of Jules, Prince of Soubise and as such, granddaughter "in law" of La Ventadour
  11. 1 2 (Génalogie de la famille de Valicourt) Souvenirs de la Flandre-Wallonne: recherches historiques et choix de documents relatifs à Douai et à la province - Volume 9 - Société d'agriculture, des sciences et arts de Douai - 1869
  12. daughter of Hercule Mériadec, Duke of Rohan-Rohan and Anne Geneviève de Lévis, granddaughter of the Duchess of Ventadour
  13. Daughter of Jules, Prince of Soubise and a great-granddaughter of the Duchess of Ventadour
  14. great-great-granddaughter of the Duchess of Ventadour
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