Maison royale de Saint-Louis

Maison royale de Saint-Louis
Location
Saint-Cyr-l'École , Yvelines France
Information
Type	Maison d'éducation
Founded	1686
Founder	Madame de Maintenon
Status	Closed - buildings reused by École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr and Lycée militaire de Saint-Cyr
Closed	1803
Head of school	Madame de Brinon

The Maison Royale de Saint-Louis was a boarding school for girls set up on 15 June 1686^[1] at Saint-Cyr (what is now the commune of Saint-Cyr-l'École, Yvelines) in France by King Louis XIV at the request of his second secret wife, Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, who wanted a school for girls from impoverished noble families. The establishment lost its leading role on the deaths of Louis and then Maintenon, but it nevertheless marked an evolution in female education under the Ancien Régime. Its notable students included Maintenon's niece Marthe-Marguerite Le Valois de Villette de Mursay, marquise de Caylus, and Napoleon's sister Elisa Bonaparte, grand duchess of Tuscany.

It remained in existence during the first years of the French Revolution, but closed for good in March 1793, with its empty buildings being taken over by the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1808. However, the Maison royale later provided Napoleon with the inspiration for his Maison des demoiselles de la Légion d'honneur, which still exists as the Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur.