Princess Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (6 December 1685 – 12 February 1712) was the wife of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Dauphin of France. She was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, and of Anne Marie d'Orléans. Her betrothal to the Duke of Burgundy in June 1696 was part of the Treaty of Turin, signed on 29 August 1696. She was the mother of the future King Louis XV. Styled as Duchess of Burgundy after her marriage, she became Dauphine of France upon the death of her father-in-law, Louis, Grand Dauphin, in 1711. She died of measles in 1712, followed by her husband a week later.
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Early life and background
Born at the Royal Palace of Turin in December 1685, she was originally named Maria Adelaide. She was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II (who had been Duke of Savoy since 1675) and his French wife Anne Marie d'Orléans, a niece of Louis XIV, and the daughter of Philippe of France, Duke of Orléans, and Henrietta of England. Her birth nearly cost her sixteen-year-old mother her life. As a female, she was not eligible to inherit the Duchy of Savoy due to salic law. Her grandmother Marie Jeanne of Savoy and the Prince of Carignan acted as godparents. 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. As children, she and her sister Maria Luisa frequented the Vigno di Madama outside Turin, and paid weekly visits to their grandmother at the Palazzo Madama in Turin.