Chantal Thomas resurrects forgotten princesses in L'Échange des princesses

Chantal Thomas's novel L'Échange des princesses (Le Seuil) recounts the political machinations behind the 1721 Franco-Spanish double marriage exchange. The Regency of Philippe d'Orléans arranged for the four-year-old Infanta Anna Maria Victoria of Spain to marry the eleven-year-old Louis XV of France, while Philippe's daughter Louise Élisabeth de Montpensier was wed to Prince Luis of Spain (later Louis I). Thomas draws on unpublished correspondence from the Archivo Histórico Nacional in Madrid to trace the fates of the two child queens, exchanged on an island in the Bidassoa River in early 1722. The plans unravel: Louise Élisabeth proves rebellious and vulgar, refusing her husband and threatening him with a candlestick; Louis XV grows indifferent to the Infanta, who falls ill. Luis I dies after only seven and a half months on August 31, 1724. Louis XV breaks his engagement and marries Marie Leszczynska in September 1725. In May 1725, a second, quieter exchange returns the two girls to their home countries. Saint-Simon, the architect of both marriages, is left to his memoirs.