'The Great Miss'), was the only daughter of Gaston d'Orléans with his first wife, Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier.

One of the greatest heiresses in history, she died unmarried and childless, leaving her vast fortune to her cousin Philippe I, Duke of Orléans.

[1] After a string of proposals from various members of European ruling families, including Charles II of England,[2] Afonso VI of Portugal, and Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy, she eventually fell in love with the courtier Antoine Nompar de Caumont and scandalised the court of France when she asked Louis XIV for permission to marry him, as such a union was viewed as a mésalliance.

[5] Her father was Gaston, Duke of Orléans; as the eldest surviving brother of King Louis XIII, he was known at court by the traditional honorific Monsieur.

When she died five days after giving birth, she left the newborn Anne Marie, the new Duchess of Montpensier, heiress to an immense fortune which included five duchies, the Dauphinate of Auvergne, and the sovereign Principality of Dombes, found in the historical province of Burgundy.

Mademoiselle was moved from the Louvre to the Palais des Tuileries and placed under the care of Madame de Saint Georges, the governess of royal children, who taught her how to read and write.

Gaston was involved in multiple conspiracies against Louis XIII and his chief advisor Cardinal Richelieu, and generally on bad terms with the court.

Her father on the other hand wanted her to marry Louis, Count of Soissons, a descendant of Charles, Duke of Vendôme, one of his old co-conspirators.

At the Peace of Rueil of 1 April 1649, the Fronde Parlementaire ended, and the court returned to Paris in August amid great celebration.

[16] Having convalesced, Mademoiselle befriended Claire Clémence de Brézé, Madame la Princesse, the unwanted wife of the Grand Condé.

[17] Even in uncertain times, the possibility of a marriage between Mademoiselle and the Prince of Condé arose when Claire Clémence became critically ill with erysipelas.

Mademoiselle considered the proposal, as she would still have maintained her rank as one of the most important females at court, and her father had a good relationship with Condé.

While at Saint-Fargeau, she dabbled in writing and wrote a small biography under the title of Madame de Fouquerolles[28] despite her bad spelling and grammar.

[29] At the same time her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Guise, tricked Mademoiselle into signing away money to her under false pretences.

[30] In 1656, hearing that her father had been excused for his various scandals, Mademoiselle herself said she would forget the bad blood caused by his financial misdemeanours and resumed her close relationship with him.

[31] In a pen portrait of herself executed later the same year, she noted how she was neither "fat nor thin" and "looked healthy; my bosom is fairly well formed; my hands and arms not beautiful, but the skin is good...".

As his eldest daughter Mademoiselle was his principal heiress, and Gaston left her a considerable fortune that added to her already vast personal wealth.

[46][47] Initially overjoyed at the prospect of marrying, Marguerite Louise's ebullience faded to dismay when she discovered Mademoiselle no longer favoured the Tuscan match.

[47] After this, Marguerite Louise's behaviour became erratic: she shocked the court by going out unaccompanied with her cousin Prince Charles of Lorraine, who soon became her lover.

[50] The proud Mademoiselle ignored the idea, saying she would rather stay in France with her vast income and estates and that she did not want a husband who was rumoured to be alcoholic, impotent and paralytic.

This "exile" lasted roughly a year and during it she began to make repairs to the Château d'Eu, and started writing her memoirs.

Away from court in 1666, Mademoiselle regretted not being present at the entertainments organised at the Château de Fontainebleau in honour of Queen Marie Thérèse that summer.

At the entertainments was a man called Antoine Nompar de Caumont, later Duke of Lauzun, an impoverished nobleman from Guyenne.

[57] The joy was not to last; under pressure from a disapproving court, Louis XIV reversed his decision, and the engagement was called off on 18 December stating that it would damage his reputation.

[59] Mademoiselle secluded herself in her apartments and did not reappear until the beginning of 1671, when she was informed of the arrest of Lauzun without an official reason released.

Determined to get Lauzun freed, Mademoiselle devoted herself to his interests and approached Madame de Montespan to try to encourage the king to release him.

Prior to the death of Queen Marie Thérèse in July 1683, the couple had been on bad terms when they again came together temporarily in their grief.

[34] As a "Granddaughter of France", the title she treasured so much, she was buried at the Royal Basilica of Saint Denis outside Paris on 19 April.

Lying in state, the urn containing her entrails exploded mid-ceremony, which caused chaos as people fled to avoid the smell.