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UN: RowenaRavenclaw
LN: Bonfils
DH: Louis François Philippe Henri Bonfils, Prince Louis, le Grand Dauphin of France (28)
DW: Adelheid Sophia Margarete Maria (née Kaarmann) Bonfils, Princess Adelaïde, Dauphine of France (18)
-DD: Catherine Louise Élisabeth Charlotte ’Käthelein’ Bonfils, Princess Catherine (2)
-DS: Louis Gautier François Guillaume ‘Lutz’ Bonfils, Prince Louis, le Petit Dauphin of France (nb)
Rank: Princess and Prince (sister and brother-in-law to the King)

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Adelheid had only a month’s respite before her husband resumed his nightly visits. Several months later, it was confirmed – the Dauphine was pregnant again! Once more, the Dauphin returned to his lovers and Adelheid regained her own bed. However, only a week or so later, she miscarried. The Dauphin was naturally upset and blamed the miscarriage on Adelheid’s spending so much time out-of-doors. Months later, when she announced that she was once more with child, Louis informed her that he would cease his visits to her bedchamber and that she was forbidden to ride or pick up a bow-and-arrow until the babe was born.

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Adelheid’s outdoor activities were restricted to walks in the garden, twice a day. All her other time was spent indoors. Luckily, she was still able to have audiences with Prince Charles, who would often join Adelheid and her ladies on her walks, his wife on his arm. On one of these walks it was discovered that Charles’s wife, Anne-Catherine, was not French, but Orlaisian. Adelheid was confused about why the King and Queen had arranged for their son to marry a daughter of the country that split apart from France, and it was rumored that Anne-Catherine was a spy for Orlais. It was also rumored that she was one of Prince Louis’s many lovers, an irony not lost on Adelheid.

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During this time, Adelheid received a letter from her brother, the King. Entailed was an account of the scandal caused by a Lady Mary James of England. Adelheid was shocked at the impropriety shown by the young lady, but more shocking and endlessly, increasingly vexing was Walter’s warning to Adelheid at the end of his letter: that Adelheid had better not take a lover, no matter how awful things were in France. The implication of it was almost enough to propel Adelheid straight into Charles’s arms. She eventually regained control of herself and responded to her brother’s letter.

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Adelheid first congratulated her brother on the pregnancy of his wife and relayed her hopes that the child was healthy. She then reminded her brother that she had always done her duty to Bial, and she wondered at her brother’s audacity to question her morality when she, of all their siblings, had given up the most for Bial. How dare he moralize to her when the rumors of his own infidelities with a certain Lady B had reached the ears (and lips) of even France? Adelheid continued by reminding her brother that she was no longer an infant, but a woman of eighteen – a mother, even, at a younger age than any of her sister and sisters-in-law – and she refused to be lectured to any longer. She signed the letter, “Your Loving Sister, Adelheid Sophia Margarete Maria, Princess of Bial, Dauphine of France”.

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A few weeks later, Adelheid went into labor. The birth was long and arduous, but all was worthwhile when a healthy, squalling son was born! Adelheid cried with relief upon seeing the heir she had prayed for. Perhaps now, she’d have more than a month before her husband returned to her bed! She knew that he would, for children of France did not often survive childhood; they would need at least one ‘spare,’ like Adelheid’s brother Joseph or Prince Charles.

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The baby was christened Louis (for the Dauphin and the King of France) Gautier (for King Walter of Bial, the baby’s godfather) François (for the Dauphin’s paternal grandfather) Guillaume (for King Wolfgang of Bial, known as King Guillaume in France). Once again, Adelheid had no say in what her child was named, although she had been rebelling in her own way: she delights in giving her children traditionally Bialan nicknames. The Princess Catherine (who looks more and more like Queen Dowager Elizabeth of Bial) has been known as ‘Käthelein’ (little Käthe) to her mother for about a year, and the Petit Dauphin was being called ‘Lutz’ as soon as he was christened. The Grand Dauphin speaks no Bialan (Prince Charles does, though), so his wife’s “habit” irritates him to no end.

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Plus, a picture of Prince Charles, -- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Prince_Albert-1842.jpg
Princess Catherine, -- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Jean-Etienne_Liotard_25.JPG
and le Petit Dauphin -- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Ferdinand_Bonaventura_II._Anton_von_Harrach.jpg
Again, the fashions are a little off for the 1730s - 40s, but it's the best I can do.

This message was edited 1/19/2011, 12:55 PM