127 - Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, known as the Grande Mademoiselle, 1627–1693.

Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, known as the Grande Mademoiselle, 1627–1693. Autograph letter signed “Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans,” Saint-Cloud, July 7, 1651, 1½ folio pages addressed to MAZARIN (“‘Monsieur le cardinal, my cousin’”), with black wax seals bearing the coat of arms on pale pink silk. La Grande Mademoiselle encloses a personal letter with the one her father, Gaston d’Orléans (“His Royal Highness”), had entrusted to the Count of Béthune to deliver to Mazarin. In it, Gaston thanked the cardinal “for what [he] has so graciously done for me,” and his daughter wished to add her own thanks to his. She also expresses her gratitude for the “expressions of friendship” contained in the reply brought back to her by the gentleman she had previously sent to him, and assures him of her desire to deserve this goodwill. The letter takes on added significance in the context of the Fronde: forced to leave Paris in February 1651, Mazarin remained in exile but maintained, through correspondents and agents, close ties with the Court and the principal political figures. Gaston d’Orléans, however, had played an important role in his disgrace, and Mademoiselle herself had been openly hostile toward the minister. This letter thus reveals the more discreet side of these conflicts: as early as July 1651, Mademoiselle was maintaining personal contact with Mazarin, to whom she had sent her own gentleman, while her father also sent him his thanks. Hippolyte de Béthune appears here as one of the intermediaries in these confidential exchanges with the exiled cardinal. Includes its original cultural property export certificate from the Ministry of Culture.