Born at the Royal Palace of Turin in December 1685, Marie Adélaïde was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, since 1675[2] and his French wife Anne Marie d'Orléans, a niece of Louis XIV, and the daughter of Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans, and of Henrietta of England.

[4] Marie Adélaïde enjoyed a particularly close relationship with her grandmother as well as her mother who, despite protocol, was raising her children herself, which was quite unusual among royalty during the era.

Victor Amadeus had first proposed Marie Adélaïde as a candidate for marriage with the Archduke Joseph, but Emperor Leopold I had declined because of their young age.

[8] The Treaty of Turin was negotiated under the influence of the Maréchal de Tessé, who suggested that Marie Adelaïde be sent to France to perfect her education before marrying the French prince.

Louis de Rouvroy in his memoirs, depicts the dauphine as an accomplished woman at court, full of spirit and energy.

This group, known as the cabale de Meudon, devoted themselves to her father-in-law, hoping to secure themselves in his expected reign upon the death of Louis XIV.

Her great enemy was the Duchess of Bourbon, a legitimated daughter of Louis XIV and his mistress, Madame de Montespan.

[15] The influential Marie Adélaïde also brought about the disgrace of Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, the great military man of the era.

Madame later said that Marie Adélaïde was one of only two persons Louis XIV had ever truly loved in his life, the other being Anne of Austria, the king's mother.

The only child to survive the epidemic was the future Louis XV who was locked inside his apartments with his governess Madame de Ventadour to avoid being bled to death by doctors like his elder brother had been.

[21] The Dauphine was the subject of a statue held at the Louvre in which she posed as the Roman goddess Diana which was crafted by Antoine Coysevox in 1710.