Philippe-Charles d’Orléans, Duc de Valois

Born on 16 July in 1664, Philippe-Charles was the second child and first-born son of Philippe de France and his first wife Henriette d’Angleterre.

The little boy, a grandchild of France, received the title Duc de Valois from his father upon his birth at the Château de Fontainebleau and was emergency baptised in presence of the King and Queen. Upon the death of Anne d’Autriche in January 1666, Louis XIV, in a delicate state, promised his brother to have the little Duc de Valois, his nephew, raised along with the Dauphin… the little Duc died the same year. While his parents were at the Palais-Royal, where they wanted to spent Christmas and the following carnival season, the little Duc fell ill at Saint-Cloud in November.

As his condition became worrisome, by early December, he was brought to the Palais-Royal. His health declined further and it was feared the child might die. Monsieur arranged in a haste for a proper baptism for his only son and heir, which took place at the Palais-Royal on 6 December and was led by Daniel de Cosnac. The little Duc was named after his papa and uncle Charles II, the godparents being Charles II and Marie-Thérèse, wife of Louis XIV. Henri-Jules de Bourbon stood in for Charles II and interestingly Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orléans, la Grande Mademoiselle, did so for Marie-Thérèse, although the Queen was in Paris too. The matter was too urgent to wait for her to arrive at the Palais.

The little boy died two days later, on 8 December in 1666, at eight o’clock in the evening at the Palais-Royal. His heart was brought to the chapelle Sainte-Anne at Val-de-Grâce the next day and his entrails to the chapelle d’Orléans at the Couvent des Célestins de Paris. Philippe-Charles was buried at Saint-Denis on 10 December in 1666.