Louise-Élisabeth de France, the favorite daughter 

Louise-Elisabeth of France (1727-1759), daughter of France, then Infanta of Spain and Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, is the eldest of the ten children of King Louis XV of France and Marie Leszczyńska.

Born on August 14, 1727 in Versailles, she was the twin sister of Madame Henriette

• Madame Elisabeth with her twin sister Madame Henriette, by Pierre Gobert, Commissioned by Louis XV in 1732, 1737

As soon as she was born, she received the name "Madame Première". It was not until her baptism at Versailles on April 27, 1737 that she became Louise-Élisabeth, known as Madame Élisabeth, called "Madame" (after the king's eldest daughter). Her father more affectionately nicknamed her "Babette." She receives as godfather and godmother the cousins of the royal family, princes of blood: Louis-Philippe, Duke of Chartres, son of the Duke of Orleans, and Louise-Élisabeth de Bourbon-Condé, widowed princess of Conti.

When the twins were born, King Louis XV of France, father at the age of 17, exclaimed: "They told me that I could not father and that I had two." The following year a third daughter was born. Finally in 1729 the desired Dauphin was born, succeeded by a little Duke of Anjou who died at the age of 3 and with five daughters.

Madame, raised at Versailles in the princes' wing, with her twin Henriette, her sister Adelaide and her brother the Dauphin Louis born in 1729, quickly proved herself to be intelligent, autonomous and proud.

She was very loved by Louis XV, whom she was very similar to although she did not inherit the beauty of the "Beloved." To reconcile with Spain, outraged by the breakdown of the king's engagement with the Infanta Marie-Anne-Victoire in 1725, Louis XV had promised his beloved Babette to the Infante Philip of Spain, one of Philip's youngest children. V of Spain, while the dauphin was going to marry a infant's sister. She officially announced the news at the end of February 1739 .. The court was surprised at this alliance, because the infant had little chance of ascending to the Spanish throne. Young Louise-Élisabeth, who was only twelve years old, was married by her power on August 26, 1739. By this marriage, she took the name "Madame Infante". The sumptuous ceremonies that took place for the occasion are passed on to posterity.

On August 30 he had to leave Versailles. Louise-Élisabeth's parting from her family was heartbreaking. With tears in her eyes, she left her sister her twin with these words: "It is forever, my God, it is forever!"

It was in Spanish territory, in Alcalá de Henares, 30 km from Madrid, where Madame Infante was able to meet her husband, a 19-year-old young man who was barely bright but with whom she got along well. Their wedding took place on October 25, 1739.

• Engraving of the face-to-face wedding in Spain on October 25, 1739

• Drawing of the wedding by proxy at Versailles with Louis of Orleans as representative of Prince Philip of Spain, in the presence of the king, the queen, the Dauphin, madame Henriette, the princes of blood and the French Court. 

 They had three children whom she raised according to the philosophy of the Enlightenment, giving the French Mably and Condillac as tutor:

• Isabelle (1741 - 1763), married in 1760 to the future Emperor Joseph II (1741-1790) (brother of Marie Antoinette of Austria, Queen of France).
• Ferdinand  (1751 - 1802), married to Marie Amelie of Austria (1746-1804), sister of Joseph II
• Marie-Louise (1751 - 1819), married in 1765 to Charles IV, King of Spain (1748 - 1819).

• Isabelle of Bourbon-Parme, by Jean Marc Nattier, 1758

• Ferdinand I of Parme, by Pietro Melchiorre Ferrari 1765- 1769

• Marie Louise of Parme, by Raphael Mengs, 1765

• The Family of Philip V of Spain, by Charles Van Loo, 1743

• The Family of Philip I of Spain, by Giuseppe Baldrighi, 1755

• Louise Elisabeth with her daughter Isabelle at Fontainebleau, by Jean Marc Nattier, 1749-1750

Louise Elisabeth with her son Ferdinand I of Parme, by Adelaide Labille Guiard, 1788

Louise Elisabeth returned to France in 1757, hoping that her father would support her for the marriage of her daughter Isabelle with Archduke Joseph II, son of Maria Theresa of Austria, and the Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis XV with her daughter Marie Louise

.At Versailles, Madame Infante's health became increasingly uncertain.  Intrigues had affected her 

In early December 1759, smallpox broke out. The evil, against which the doctors were powerless, 

quickly prevailed. Louise-Élisabeth died on December 6, 1759 at Versailles.