Libertine and unruly in conduct from an early age, her relations with her husband and his family were tempestuous and often bitter, with repeated appeals for mediation to Louis XIV.

Rendered financially independent by a legacy, she purchased a house in Paris, from which she spent the end of her life dispensing charity and keeping up dignified correspondence.

[citation needed] Marguerite Louise received a rudimentary education at her father's court at Blois, to which he withdrew after the failure of the insurrection against his nephew Louis XIV of France known as the Fronde.

[2] Marguerite Louise was convinced that Madame de Choisy advised her mother poorly in matters of court and ruined the negotiations for her marriage to Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy.

[4] It was for this reason that when another proposal came in 1658, this time from Cosimo de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, Marguerite Louise asked her half-sister to bring it about.

[5] In reaction, Marguerite Louise's behaviour became unconventional: she shocked the court by going out unaccompanied, a grievous offence in contemporary French society, with her cousin Prince Charles of Lorraine, who soon became her lover.

[7] Mattias de' Medici, brother to the incumbent Grand Duke and her bridegroom's uncle, conveyed Marguerite Louise to Tuscany in a fleet comprising nine galleys, three Tuscan, three on loan from the Republic of Genoa and another three from the Papal States.

In the conversations that took place, it emerged that Marguerite Louise wanted to return to France, and Mesme sympathised with this, as did much of the French court, so he concluded his visit without finding a solution to the heir's domestic problems, incensing both Ferdinando and Louis XIV.

However, by early 1671, the fighting between Marguerite Louise and Vittoria became so heated that a contemporary remarked that "the Pitti Palace has become the devil's own abode, and from morn till midnight only the noise of wrangling and abuse can be heard".

[24] Alliot, unlike Mesme, did not completely comply with Marguerite Louise's desire to be sent to France on the pretext of illness, declaring that the tumour was "in no wise malignant", though he did recommend thermal waters.

[27] In an effort to restore domestic harmony, Cosimo III sent for Madame du Deffand, Marguerite Louise's childhood governess who had sided with the Grand Duke before.

[30] Madame du Deffand's mission having failed, Louis XIV made one final attempt to reconcile the Grand Ducal couple, to no avail.

[32] Overjoyed, the Grand Duchess departed for France laden down with the fixtures and furniture of Villa Poggio a Caiano, for, in her own words, she had no intention "of setting forth without her proper wages".

[34] At Montmartre Marguerite Louise at first patronised charitable works and bore herself with "an air of piety", but she soon reverted to her unconventional ways, wearing heavy rouge and bright yellow periwigs, and embarking on an affair with the Count of Lovigny, and later with two members of the Luxembourg regiment.

[35][36] Louis XIV, ignoring the 1674 contract's article banning Marguerite Louise from setting foot outside the convent, admitted the Grand Duchess to court, where she gambled for high stakes.

[37] Because of her "shabby" retinue and short visits, Marguerite Louise garnered the reputation of a Bohemian among the courtiers of Versailles, and, therefore, was compelled to allow "those of insignificant birth" into her circle.

[41] Marguerite Louise was informed of Cosimo III's ensuing illness by her eldest son, Grand Prince Ferdinando, who had espoused his mother's cause and corresponded with her.

[46] It was in this context that Cosimo III consented, in line with her wishes, to Marguerite Louise's departure for a new convent, at Saint-Mandé on the Eastern outskirts of Paris, on the condition she go out only with the King Louis XIV's explicit permission and be attended by a chamberlain of his choice.

[48] The Regent of France, Philippe d'Orléans, allowed Marguerite Louise to buy a house in Paris at 15 Place des Vosges, where she spent her final years.