Marie-Josèphe was intelligent and gentle and managed to put up with her husband’s continued mourning for his first wife Marie-Thérèse. She had to spend the first 9 months at Versailles in the apartment he had shared with Marie-Thérèse until the renovations on their new apartment on the ground floor were completed.
Next to the Dauphine’s bedroom was a small private room which was very much in keeping with the idea of a boudoir.
Originally in the niche there was a sofa. The doors either side led to a series of tiny rooms around an internal courtyard. On the side overlooking the garden there was a door which gave access to the small private room used by the Dauphin as a library.
Marie-Josèphe gave birth to 13 children in her bed chamber. Her first child was born the year after her wedding when she was 16. Unfortunately the son was stillborn as was the next child who was born the following year. The last of the 13 children was born when she was 32. Five in total were stillborn and 3 died as children. Of the 5 remaining she had 2 daughters and 3 sons. All 3 sons would eventually rule as Kings of France.
When the Dauphin died Marie-Josèphe was inconsolable. Louis XV decided it would be easier for her to live elsewhere at Versailles. He decided to renovate Madame de Pompadour’s ground floor apartment (she had died the previous year). While work was going on Marie-Josèphe moved into an apartment above the King’s private apartment. She died there before work was completed on the new apartment – less than 15 months after the Dauphin.
Her body lay in state in the new apartment.
