Sophie of France

Sophie Philippine Élisabeth Justine of France (27 July 1734 – 2 March 1782) was a French princess, a fille de France. She was the sixth daughter and eighth child of King Louis XV of France and his popular queen consort, Marie Leszczyńska. First known as Madame Cinquième (an older sister, Marie Louise, had died in 1733), she later became Madame Sophie. She and her sisters were collectively known as Mesdames. In 1777, Sophie and her elder sister Adélaïde were both given the title Duchess of Louvois. Biography Early life Sophie Philippine Élisabeth Justine was born on 27 July 1734 in France. She was the eighth child and sixth daughter of King Louis XV of France and his charitable wife, Maria Leszczyńska who was nicknamed "The Good Queen" by the common people. Sophie is less well known than many of her sisters. Her birth at the Palace of Versailles was relatively unremarked. Her second name, Philippine, was given in honour of her older brother Philippe, who had died the previous year. Sophie and her sisters were collectively called the Mesdames. Unlike the older children of Louis XV, she was not raised at Versailles but, in June 1738, sent to live at the Abbey of Fontevraud with her elder sister Madame Victoire and younger sisters Madame Thérèse (who died young) and Madame Louise, because the cost of raising the sisters in Versailles with all the status they were entitled to was deemed too expensive by Cardinal Fleury, Louis XV's chief minister. Their mother, Marie Leczinska was forbidden on visiting them and thus frequently wrote to them and sending them gifts such as a toy horse for little Sophie. On 6 June, they officially left Versailles for Fontevraud in eight coaches and two chaises with twenty wagon loads of luggage. The journey took thirteen days.