Marie Clotilde of France

Marie Clotilde of FranceDavid Williamson in Debrett's Kings and Queens of Europe pp. 81 & 159 show that (1) her father's (not a king himself) geographic epithet was "of France" and (2) that her French name of address was Clotilde (not Marie-Clotilde) (Marie Adélaïde Clotilde Xavière; 23 September 1759 – 7 March 1802), known as Clotilde in Italy, was Queen of Sardinia by marriage to Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia. She was the younger sister of Louis XVI of France. She was politically active and acted as the de facto first minister of her spouse during his reign. She is venerated in the Catholic Church, having been declared Venerable by Pope Pius VII. Princess of France Born in Versailles, Clotilde was the elder daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France, the only son of King Louis XV and his wife, Queen Marie Leczinska, and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony. As the granddaughter of the king, she was a petite-fille de France. Upon the death of their grandfather in May 1774, Clotilde's oldest brother, Louis Auguste, became king Louis XVI of France. Clotilde and her younger sister Élisabeth were raised by Madame de Marsan, Governess to the Children of France. The sisters were considered much dissimilar in personality. Because she was overweight, Clotilde was nicknamed Gros-Madame in her youth. While her sister Elisabeth was described as "proud, inflexible, and passionate", Clothilde was in contrast estimated to be "endowed with the most happy disposition, which only needed guiding and developing". They were given the usual education of royal princesses in that time, focusing upon accomplishments, religion and virtue, an education to which Clothilde reportedly willingly subjected herself. They were tutored botany by M. Lemonnier, history and geography lessons by M. Leblond, and religion by Abbe de Montigat, Canon of Chartres, and they followed the court between the royal palaces with their days divided between studies, walks in the park, or drives in the forest.