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| Gaston of France Duke of Orleans |
Gaston of France
(1608-1660)
Duke of Orleans1626-1660
Dauphin of France 1611-1638
Duke of Anjou 1608
Duke of Orleans 1626
Duke of Chartres 1626
Count of Blois 1626
Duke of Alencon 1646
Lieutenant-General of France 1643.
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| Gaston of France Duc d'Orleans |
Son of: Henri IV de France & Marie de' Medici.
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| Gaston de France & Marie de Bourbon @ BNF |
Husband of:
1. Marie de Bourbon, Duchesse de Montpensier (1605-1627), mar 1626Daughter of Henri de Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier & Henriette-Catherine de Joyeuse.
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Gaston, Duc d'Orleans |
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Daughter of Francois II de Lorraine & Christina von Salm.
Gaston's lovers were:
1) Louise Rogier de La Marbelliere (1621-1650)Lover in 1626.
Natural offspring:
a. Louis batard d'Orleans, Comte de Charny (1638-1692)
"In the course of her wanderings, Mademoiselle had several other encounters with Gaston. The image conveyed is one of growing trust and affection between the two, often in ways that might seem surprising given Mademoiselle's age. Once, while at Tours, Gaston insisted on introducing his mistress of the hour, Louison Roger, to his daughter. The proposal to do so gave rise to some spirited discussions involving Gaston, Madame de Saint-Georges, and the princess. Mademoiselle Roger was only sixteen but well bred and of good bourgeois stock. In the end, the presentation came off well; Mademoiselle liked the young woman, and the two saw each other frequently." (La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France, 1627-1693: 20)
"Monsieur left Blois and went to Tours, drawn by his fondness for Louison Roger. . . . I found Monsieur in a house near the city, known a La Bourdaisiere, made ready for me. All the ladies had come, and Monsieur took the trouble to present them to me himself, particularly Louison, who was dark, and of medium height, and had a good figure, a very attractive face, and a good deal of wit for a girl of that class who had never been to court. Monsieur praised her liberally, instructed me to treat her well, and informed me that she would often come and play with me, and that she was too old for that; she was about sixteen. Mme de Saint-Georges, who knew of Monsieur's passion, asked him f she was a good girl, because, if not, although Louison had the honor of his good graces, she would not like her to come to my house. Monsieur gave her every assurance, and told her that, unless she were, he (Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier (La Grande): 7)
2) Louison des Ormes.
French comedienne
2) Louison des Ormes.
French comedienne
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| Philippe I of Orleans |
Philippe I d'Orleans
Armand de Gramont, Comte de Guiche (1637-1673)
Son of Antoine III de Gramont, Duc de Gramont & Marshal of France & Francoise-Marguerite du Plessis de Chivre.
Husband of Marguerite-Louise-Suzanne de Bethune.
Duc de Nevers 1660
(1640-1701)
Duc d'Orleans
1660-1701
Duc d'Anjou 1640
Duc de Valois
Duc de Chartres 1661
Duc de Nemours 1671
Duc d'Anjou 1640
Duc de Valois
Duc de Chartres 1661
Duc de Nemours 1671
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| Henrietta Anne of England Duchess of Orleans @Wikipedia |
Husband of:
1. Henrietta Anne of England (1644-16790), mar 1661.
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| Elisabeth of Palatinate Duchess of Orleans @Wikipedia |
2. Elisabeth Charlotte von Pfalz (1652-1722), mar 1672
Duchesse d'Orleans
Countess Palatine of the Rhine at Simmern
Duchess of Bavaria.
Daughter of Karl I Ludwig, Elector Palatine & Charlotte von Hessen-Kassel.
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Elisabeth Charlotte was described as stolid and mannish. She possessed the stamina to hunt all day, refusing to wear the mask that Frenchwomen were accustomed to use to protect their skin while watching their men hunt. Her face developed a ruddy and weather-beaten look. She walked too rapidly for most courtiers to keep up, save the king. She had a "no-nonsense" attitude. Her hearty appetite caused her to gain weight as the years went by, and when describing herself she once commented that she would be as good to eat as a roasted suckling pig. Raised a Protestant, she was not fond of lengthy Latin masses. She remained virtuous and at times outraged by the open infidelity practised by the aristocracy. Her views were frequently the opposite of those prevalent at the French court." (Wikipedia)
"Saint Simon gives this portrait of his looks of Orleans: Monsieur was a little man with a belly. He always wore high-heeled shoes and was always dressed up in a feminine way. He was always covered with rings, bracelets, jewels, and wore a long black wide spread curly wig. He also had ribbons wherever he could put them, wore all kinds of perfumes, and was a fine model of cleanliness. He was accused of putting on an imperceptible touch of rouge." (Spanish Succession)
"Her letters to her aunt, Sophia of Hanover, and others, created not only a vivid picture of life during the reign of Louis XIV, but also of the regency era of her son, Philippe. They reflect her alienation from her husband and other family members, as well as her warm relations with the king, and with her son, daughter and her two stepdaughters." (Wikipedia)
"Elisabeth Charlotte was described as stolid and mannish. She possessed the stamina to hunt all day, refusing to wear the mask that Frenchwomen were accustomed to use to protect their skin while watching their men hunt. Her face developed a ruddy and weather-beaten look. She walked too rapidly for most courtiers to keep up, save the king. She had a "no-nonsense" attitude. Her hearty appetite caused her to gain weight as the years went by, and when describing herself she once commented that she would be as good to eat as a roasted suckling pig. Raised a Protestant, she was not fond of lengthy Latin masses. She remained virtuous and at times outraged by the open infidelity practised by the aristocracy. Her views were frequently the opposite of those prevalent at the French court." (Wikipedia)
"Saint Simon gives this portrait of his looks of Orleans: Monsieur was a little man with a belly. He always wore high-heeled shoes and was always dressed up in a feminine way. He was always covered with rings, bracelets, jewels, and wore a long black wide spread curly wig. He also had ribbons wherever he could put them, wore all kinds of perfumes, and was a fine model of cleanliness. He was accused of putting on an imperceptible touch of rouge." (Spanish Succession)
"Her letters to her aunt, Sophia of Hanover, and others, created not only a vivid picture of life during the reign of Louis XIV, but also of the regency era of her son, Philippe. They reflect her alienation from her husband and other family members, as well as her warm relations with the king, and with her son, daughter and her two stepdaughters." (Wikipedia)
"If those who are in the next world could know what was happening in this one, I think His Grace, the late Monsieur, would be most pleased with me, for I have gone through his boxes to find all the letters written to him by his boyfriends and have burnt them unread, so that they will not fall into other people's hands... then ...I receive great comfort from the King, otherwise I could not endure my position. When the King speaks about Monsieur he is quite moved." (Wikipedia)
Menage-a-trois.
" . . . And Monsieur had more than one male favourite: his relationship with the Chevalier has appeared at times more as a ménage-à-trois with the Marquis d’Effiat or the Marquis de Beuvron than a one-to-one relationship, yet it was acknowledged by writers such as Saint-Simon that, for better or for worse, the relationship endured. . . ." (The Male Favourite as Prince, Partner and Patron)
"The physical descriptions of Monsieur all tend to reinforce a contrast between himand the king. He is often presented as physically grotesque, 'a pot-bellied man, raised on high heel shoes as if on stilts' (Duc de Saint-Siimon's Memoirs), a camp figure, 'adorned like a woman, dripping with rings, bracelets, precious stones, stuffed with ribbons
Philippe I's lovers were:
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| Armand de Gramont Count of Guiche @Wikipedia |
Son of Antoine III de Gramont, Duc de Gramont & Marshal of France & Francoise-Marguerite du Plessis de Chivre.
Husband of Marguerite-Louise-Suzanne de Bethune.
"The first love of his life was the comte de Guiche; they met clandestinely at the house of the mother of Philippe's transvestite friend, the abbe de Choisy. When Philippe was married off to Charles I's daughter, Henrietta, Guiche seduced the susceptible duchess, and husband and wife found themselves vying off for the attentions of the same man. . . ." (Homosexuality and Civilization: 341)
"But Philippe living with his wife and his boyfriend was just the start. He was also involved with another member of his household, Armand, the Comte de Guiche, who like the Chevalier was handsome, vain, and manipulative. Armand was Philippe’s lover, but he is widely thought to have been Henrietta’s lover as well. That apparently wasn’t enough for Guiche, because in 1665 he also tried to romance Louise de La Valliere, who was Louis’ chief mistress at the time. Louis exiled him in 1662 for plotting with Henrietta to break up Louis and Louise." (An Historian Goes to the Movies)
"Philippe’s attraction to men became first apparent as he became a young man. His first notable affair with a man was with the Comte de Guiche, a noble at court. Anne tried to prevent them spending time together when she realized the nature of their relationship, but they continued to see each other behind her back. Eventually, Philippe brought the connection out into the open, and the relationship became very public. The court was scandalized by how the Comte de Guiche treated Philippe, as he often acted very dominant towards Philippe despite his much lower rank (Barker 1989). This embarrassed Anne and the royal family and deteriorated Philippe’s personal image. But this particular relationship would come back to haunt him during his marriage with Henriette Anne. Henriette, who preyed on Philippe’s jealous tendencies by having multiple affairs, used the comte de Guiche against Philippe by starting a flirtation and possible affair with him. This denigrated Philippe even further, as now he was not in competition for the affection of his wife, as he was for most of her affairs, but was now competing with his wife for the attention of his own former lover." (Brother of the King: A Privilege and a Prison)
Monsieur and his brother the Sun King.
"But Philippe living with his wife and his boyfriend was just the start. He was also involved with another member of his household, Armand, the Comte de Guiche, who like the Chevalier was handsome, vain, and manipulative. Armand was Philippe’s lover, but he is widely thought to have been Henrietta’s lover as well. That apparently wasn’t enough for Guiche, because in 1665 he also tried to romance Louise de La Valliere, who was Louis’ chief mistress at the time. Louis exiled him in 1662 for plotting with Henrietta to break up Louis and Louise." (An Historian Goes to the Movies)
"Philippe’s attraction to men became first apparent as he became a young man. His first notable affair with a man was with the Comte de Guiche, a noble at court. Anne tried to prevent them spending time together when she realized the nature of their relationship, but they continued to see each other behind her back. Eventually, Philippe brought the connection out into the open, and the relationship became very public. The court was scandalized by how the Comte de Guiche treated Philippe, as he often acted very dominant towards Philippe despite his much lower rank (Barker 1989). This embarrassed Anne and the royal family and deteriorated Philippe’s personal image. But this particular relationship would come back to haunt him during his marriage with Henriette Anne. Henriette, who preyed on Philippe’s jealous tendencies by having multiple affairs, used the comte de Guiche against Philippe by starting a flirtation and possible affair with him. This denigrated Philippe even further, as now he was not in competition for the affection of his wife, as he was for most of her affairs, but was now competing with his wife for the attention of his own former lover." (Brother of the King: A Privilege and a Prison)
Monsieur and his brother the Sun King.
"Never were two brothers more totally different in their appearance than the King and Monsieur. The King was tall, with light hair; his mien was good and his deportment manly. Monsieur, without having a vulgar air, was very small; his hair and eye-brows were quite black, his eyes were dark, his face long and narrow, his nose large, his mouth small, and his teeth very bad; he was fond of play, of holding drawing-rooms, of eating, dancing and dress; in short, of all that women are fond of. The King loved the chase, music and the theatre; my husband rather affected large parties and masquerades: his brother was a man of great gallantry, and I do not believe my husband was ever in love during his life. He danced well, but in a feminine manner; he could not dance like a man because his shoes were too high-heeled. Excepting when he was with the army, he would never get on horseback. The soldiers used to say that he was more afraid of being sun-burnt and of the blackness of the powder than of the musket-balls; and it was very true. He was very fond of building. Before he had the Palais Royal completed, and particularly the grand apartment, the place was, in my opinion, perfectly horrible, although in the Queen-mother’s time it had been very much admired. He was so fond of the ringing of bells that he used to go to Paris on All Souls’ Day for the purpose of hearing the bells, which are rung during the whole of the vigils on that day he liked no other music, and was often laughed at for it by his friends. He would join in the joke, and confess that a peal of bells delighted him beyond all expression. He liked Paris better than any other place, because his secretary was there, and he lived under less restraint than at Versailles. He wrote so badly that he was often puzzled to read his own letters, and would bring them to me to decipher them." (Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV and of the Regency)
Duc de Nevers 1660
Duc de Donzy.
Capitaine-lieutenant de la 1re compagnie des Mousquetaires du roi
Capitaine-lieutenant de la 1re compagnie des Mousquetaires du roi
Gouverneur et lieutenant-général du Nivernais.
a.k.a. Philippe Julien Mancini-Mazarini.
a.k.a. Philippe Julien Mancini-Mazarini.
Son of Michele Lorenzo Mancini & Geronima Mazzarini
Husband of Diane-Gabrielle Damas de Thianges, niece of the king's mistress, Madame de Montespan, mar 1660
" . . . Cardinal Mazarin, . . . is credited with having arranged the deflowering of both Louis [XIV] (by one of his nieces, Olympe) and Philippe [Duc d'Orleans] in the hands of Philippe Mancini, Mazarin's own nephew, Duc de Nevers (1664-1707)." (Who's who in Gay and Lesbian History: 408)
"Anne was probably relieved when Philippe began to show a taste for men. In 1658, when Philippe was 18, rumors began to circulate that the duke of Nevers had “corrupted” Philippe with the “Italian vice”, and it was around that time that he first made contact with the Chevalier, with whom he formed a life-long, though hardly faithful, relationship." (An Historian Goes to the Movies)
"In the interest of keeping the two apart when it came to matters of the crown, Cardinal Mazarin went so far as to arrange for Philippe to lose his virginity to another man — his own nephew, Philippe Jules Mancini, the Duke of Nevers. In 1658, the Duke of Nevers was supposed to have been the "first to [have] corrupted" Philippe in the "Italian vice." Italian vice was a euphemism for homosexuality." (To Keep Him From Being A Threat, This French King Tried To Transform His Brother Into A Woman)
"Anne was probably relieved when Philippe began to show a taste for men. In 1658, when Philippe was 18, rumors began to circulate that the duke of Nevers had “corrupted” Philippe with the “Italian vice”, and it was around that time that he first made contact with the Chevalier, with whom he formed a life-long, though hardly faithful, relationship." (An Historian Goes to the Movies)
"In the interest of keeping the two apart when it came to matters of the crown, Cardinal Mazarin went so far as to arrange for Philippe to lose his virginity to another man — his own nephew, Philippe Jules Mancini, the Duke of Nevers. In 1658, the Duke of Nevers was supposed to have been the "first to [have] corrupted" Philippe in the "Italian vice." Italian vice was a euphemism for homosexuality." (To Keep Him From Being A Threat, This French King Tried To Transform His Brother Into A Woman)
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Antoine Coëffier de Ruzé |
Antoine Coiffier de Ruze, Marquis d'Effiat (1581-1632)
Lover in 1661.
French aristocrat & royal favourite
Marshal of France; Superintendent of Finance to Louis XIII 1626-1632; First Gentleman of the king's stable 1616; Ambassador Extraordinary to England 1624.
The true love of Philippe’s life.
"The true love of Philippe’s life, however, was not the Comte de Guiche, Henriette Anne, or even Elizabeth Charlotte, despite the contentment of the early years of their marriage. During the War of Devolution with the Spanish, Philippe went to the front lines in his first exposure to military service. Although he did not serve in any official capacity, he distinguished himself with the soldiers, a precursor to his later military exploits in the Franco-Dutch War, where he proved himself an able and courageous military commander (Barker 1989). But it was in this setting that Philippe met the Chevalier de Lorraine, who would continue to be in Philippe’s life for decades. The Chevalier was beautiful, haughty, and excelled as a military commander, much like Philippe himself, and was sexually attracted to both men and women, but Philippe was the ultimate prize on his quest for power and self-enrichment. Saint-Simon described him as “the favorite, by disgraceful means, of Monsieur” and said that he “completely ruled over Monsieur (de Rouvroy 2006).” He held apartments at both of Philippe’s main residencies, Saint Cloud and the Palais Royale. On several occasions during their relationship, Philippe dressed as a woman at balls and parties which he attended with the Chevalier. Their relationship caused such a stir that Henriette conspired with her brother to have him exiled to Italy." (Brother of the King: A Privilege and a Prison)
" . . .When they were married, Philippe took multiple lovers, usually male. He continued his relationship with the Comte de Guiche and started a relationship with the Chevalier de Lorraine after meeting him during the War of Devolution in 1668 (Barker 1989). . . ." (Brother of the King: A Privilege and a Prison)
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| Philippe de Lorraine Duke of Nevers @Wikipedia |
Philippe de Lorraine (1643-1702)
Lover in 1668-1701.
The true love of Philippe’s life.
"The true love of Philippe’s life, however, was not the Comte de Guiche, Henriette Anne, or even Elizabeth Charlotte, despite the contentment of the early years of their marriage. During the War of Devolution with the Spanish, Philippe went to the front lines in his first exposure to military service. Although he did not serve in any official capacity, he distinguished himself with the soldiers, a precursor to his later military exploits in the Franco-Dutch War, where he proved himself an able and courageous military commander (Barker 1989). But it was in this setting that Philippe met the Chevalier de Lorraine, who would continue to be in Philippe’s life for decades. The Chevalier was beautiful, haughty, and excelled as a military commander, much like Philippe himself, and was sexually attracted to both men and women, but Philippe was the ultimate prize on his quest for power and self-enrichment. Saint-Simon described him as “the favorite, by disgraceful means, of Monsieur” and said that he “completely ruled over Monsieur (de Rouvroy 2006).” He held apartments at both of Philippe’s main residencies, Saint Cloud and the Palais Royale. On several occasions during their relationship, Philippe dressed as a woman at balls and parties which he attended with the Chevalier. Their relationship caused such a stir that Henriette conspired with her brother to have him exiled to Italy." (Brother of the King: A Privilege and a Prison)
The chevalier held the highest position in Monsieur's life.
"In addition for being renowned for his military prowess, Monsieur was also known for his theatricality, flamboyant dress, and love of men. Of his lovers, the chevalier de Lorraine held the highest position. The memorialist Saint-Simon records that the power exercised by him over Monsieur was on more than one occasion used by the Sun King to persuade his younger brother to accede to his political wishes. Monsieur did not even try to hide his lack of interest in women, and his love the chevalier of Lorraine, who dominated him all his life, suggests a different taste. The chevalier had been a beautiful youth, and Monsieur had him painted in his adolescence 'en Ganymede.' While the chevalier was not Monsieur's only lover, he was clearly the most powerful erotic influence in the latter's life. The two were often seen together at parties where the duke, dressed in women's clothes, was escorted by his lover. Their relationship was a sadomasochistic one insofar as Monsieur took great pleasure in being dominated and treated cruelly, especially when in drag. Because he was passive in sexual matters, all his lovers were young, virile noblemen by whom he permitted himself to be abused. This behavior prompted the count of Tournon to call him'the craziest woman in the world'." (Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures: 1005)
First Encounter -- 1658.
"It seems likely they made their first romantic contacts around 1658, when Philippe, described as 'insinuating, brutal and devoid of scruple', was 15 years old, the same year in which the other Philippe was supposedly 'corrupted' by Philippe-Jules Mancini. According to some they already knew each other since 1650, when both Philippe and Louis de Lorraine used to play with the young Kind and his brother, sometimes even in the dried out moat of the Louvre." (Party Like 1660)
" . . . Openly homosexual, he married twice: firstly to Henrietta of England, Minette, sister of Charles II of England. During their marriage, Philippe met and began a relationship with the Chevalier de Lorraine who was the great love of Philippe's life, their long relationship beginning in 1668. . . ." (Wikipedia)
" . . .When they were married, Philippe took multiple lovers, usually male. He continued his relationship with the Comte de Guiche and started a relationship with the Chevalier de Lorraine after meeting him during the War of Devolution in 1668 (Barker 1989). . . ." (Brother of the King: A Privilege and a Prison)
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"But if the chevalier was financially impoverished, he had as compensation a wealth pf physical beauty. Writing to her daughter in 1672, Mme. de Sevigne referred to 'The chevalier with that beautiful, open physiognomy which I love and which you do not,' and even the second Madame recollected for the Raugrafin, fourteen years after Philippe de Lorraine's death, that 'he was a handsome man, well made; if the interior had been as good as the exterior, I would, never in my life, have had anything to say against him.' It was, however, Saint-Simon who made the necessary connection between beauty and favor. Writing of the chevalier and the young Chatillon, the duke observed that 'they had made a great fortune by their figures of which Monsieur had been more intoxicated than of any others.'" (Gerard & Hekma: 114)
" . . . It all came down to Monsieur's slavish love for the courtier his wife described as 'the man who is the cause of all my sorrows, past and present'. This was Philippe de Lorraine-Armagnac, a minor member of the Guise family, generally known as the Chevalier de Lorraine. The Chevalier was about three years older than Monsieur and in the contemporary cliche 'beautiful as an angel. He was also intelligent, very amusing and utterly unscrupulous. Everything had to be done according to his wishes, Monsieur even going so far as to suggest to Madame that he could love her 'unless his favourite is allowed to form a third in our union'." (Fraser: 125)
"The Chevalier de Lorraine looked very ill, but it was in consequence of his excessive debauchery; for he had once been a handsome man. He had a well made person, and if the interior had answered to the exterior, I should have had nothing to say against him. He was, however, a very bad man, and his friends were no better than he. . . He died so poor that his friends were obliged to bury him: yet he had 100,000 crowns of revenue, but he was so bad a manager, that his people always robbed him. Provided they would supply him when when he wanted them with a thousand pistoles, for his pleasures of hi splay, he let them dispose of his property as they thought fit. . . ." (Secret Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV. and of the Regency: 302)
" . . . But the great love of Monsieur's life was another Philippe, the chevalier de Lorraine, an angelically handsome but penurious nobleman of princely rank. In 1668 Lorraine moved into the most luxurious apartment in the Palais maitresse en titre ('official mistress'). Saint-Simon, in his famous memoirs, called him 'always the publicly recognized master of Monsieur's household.'" (Crompton: 341)
Character or persona.
"Philippe d'Orleans' mignon, the son of Henri de Lorraine, earl of Harcourt, Armagnac and Brionne and of Marguerite Philippe du Cambout-Coislin. He was Monsieur's favourite lover for many years even though he was the Abbot of Saint Pere, Chartres."
Affair's benefits to the Chevalier.
"Monsieur's favor brought the chevalier a stream of gifts, including four benefices which provided an annual income, this despite Louis XIV's reluctant to endow members of Monsieur's circle with abbeys, which brought a large degree of financial independence, instead preferring to bestow pensions, which were revocable. Madame, writing in 1716, put the chevalier's yearly revenue at the time of his death in 1702 at 100,000 ecus. . . ." (The Pursuit of Sodomy: 114)
" . . . At the end of his life, the Chevalier de Lorraine could consider himself secure, with a large income and a powerful patronage network. He was abbot of four large abbeys, owned a substantial country house at Frémont, enjoyed pensions from the king and from his brother, and held a dominant position within the household of the Palais-Royal, headquarters of the large and profitable apanage of the Duchy of Orléans. . . ." (The Male Favourite as Prince, Partner and Patron)
Alexis-Henri de Chatillon (1653-1737)
Marquis de Chatillon
a.k.a. Alexis-Henri, Chevalier de Chatillon.
First Gentleman of the Chamber to the Duc d'Orleans; Captain of the Guards du Corps of the Duc d'Orleans; Governor of Chartres,
Son of Francois de Chatillon, Seigneur de Boisrogues, & Madeleine-Francoise Honore.
Husband of Marie-Rosalie de Brouilly de Piennes, mar 1685.
". . . Chatillon is a poor gentleman, whose father held a small employment under M. Gaston, one of those offices which confer the privilege of the entree to the antechambers, and the holders of which do not sit in the carriage with their masters. The two descendants, as they call themselves, of the house of Chatillon, insist that this Chatillon, who married an attorney’s daughter, is descended from the illegitimate branches of that family. His son was a subaltern in the Body Guard. In the summer time, when the young officers went to bathe, they used to take young Chatillon with them to guard their clothes, and for this office they gave him a crown for his supper. Monsieur having taken this poor person into his service, gave him a cordon bleu, and furnished him with money to commence a suit which he subsequently gained against the House of Chatillon, and they were compelled to recognize him. He then made him a Captain in the Guards; gave him a considerable pension, which my son continued, and permitted him also to have apartments in the Palais Royal. In these very apartments did this ungrateful man hold those secret meetings, the end of which was proposed to be my son’s ruin. Rieux’s grandfather had neglected to uphold the honour to which he was entitled, of being called the King’s cousin. My son restored him to this honour, gave his brother a place in the gendarmerie, and rendered him many other services. Chatillon tried particularly to excite the nobility against my son; and this is the recompense for all his kindness. My son’s wife is gay and content, in the hope that all will go well with her brothers." (Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV and of the Regency)
". . . Chatillon is a poor gentleman, whose father held a small employment under M. Gaston, one of those offices which confer the privilege of the entree to the antechambers, and the holders of which do not sit in the carriage with their masters. The two descendants, as they call themselves, of the house of Chatillon, insist that this Chatillon, who married an attorney’s daughter, is descended from the illegitimate branches of that family. His son was a subaltern in the Body Guard. In the summer time, when the young officers went to bathe, they used to take young Chatillon with them to guard their clothes, and for this office they gave him a crown for his supper. Monsieur having taken this poor person into his service, gave him a cordon bleu, and furnished him with money to commence a suit which he subsequently gained against the House of Chatillon, and they were compelled to recognize him. He then made him a Captain in the Guards; gave him a considerable pension, which my son continued, and permitted him also to have apartments in the Palais Royal. In these very apartments did this ungrateful man hold those secret meetings, the end of which was proposed to be my son’s ruin. Rieux’s grandfather had neglected to uphold the honour to which he was entitled, of being called the King’s cousin. My son restored him to this honour, gave his brother a place in the gendarmerie, and rendered him many other services. Chatillon tried particularly to excite the nobility against my son; and this is the recompense for all his kindness. My son’s wife is gay and content, in the hope that all will go well with her brothers." (Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV and of the Regency)
Francois-Gabriel-Thibaut de La Carte (d.1717)
Marquis de La Carte, Marquis de la Ferte
Governor of Joinville, Captain of the Guards of the Duc d'Orleans.
Son of: Francois-Thibault de La Carte, Seigneur de La Carte & Francoise Berland, Dame de Bourbarre.
Husband of: Francoise-Charlotte, a.k.a. Charlotte de Saint-Nectaire, Demoiselle de Menetou de Saint-Nectaire, Demoiselle de Menetou (1679-1745), daughter of Henri-Francois de Saint-Nectaire, Duc de La Ferte-Sennecterre & Marie-Isabelle-Gabrielle-Angelique de La Mothe-Houdancourt.
"Her patience was remarkable. On 7th March 1696 she writes from Versailles: 'Monsieur passes his das and nights in dissipation, whilst his wife and children have hardly the necessities of life. His last favourite, the Marquis de la Carte, has received 10,000 crowns from him to buy Flemish linen, whilst I am obliged to mend everything with infinite care.'. . . ." (A Prince of Pleasure: Philip of France and His Court, 1640-1701: 356)
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| Philippe II of Orleans |
(1674-1723)
Duc d'Orleans
1701-1723
Regent of France
1715-1723
Son of Philippe I de France, Duc d'Orleans & Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate.
Husband of Francoise Marie de Bourbon, mar 1692, legitimized daughter of Louis XIV of France & Madame de Montespan.
The Duchesse d'Orleans.
"The young duchess possessed few personal attractions. She's tall, but not so much distinguished for grace as her mother; for she walks badly; her complexion, eyes, and arms were very beautiful, but her eyebrows were red, although her hair was auburn, and her cheeks large, and pendant. She conversed with fluency and inherited Madame de Montespan's graceful language, and facility of elocution. She also maintained great dignity and reserve in the duke's scandalous court after he became regent, and was much admired for her respectability of her retinue, her virtuous conduct, the care she bestowed on the education of her children, her sincere piety, and her patience under her husband's numerous infidelities. . . ." (The New World: Extra series, Issues 25-105: 53)
The Regent's girls, mistresses & lovely ladies.
Typology of the Regent's Numerous Amours.
" . . . Some writers have gone so far as to create categories for classifying the regent's numerous amours: thus we have the early mistresses (little Leonore, la Grandval), the grandes maitresses (Charlotte Desmares, Mlle Florence, Mme d'Argenton, Mme de Parabere, Mme de Sabran, Mme d'Averne), a transitional mistress (Mlle Houel), and a last mistress (Mme de Falari). Yet even the author who dreamed up this elaborate typology concedes that the ladies in question 'dominated the man without dominating the prince." (Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV: 260)
String of Amours.
" . . . Having assumed the regency he returned to Desmerre, exiling Baron, whom she secretly preferred. Weary of her, he devoted himself to Fillon for a short time and in turn abandoned her for a comedienne, named Emelie, a woman both virtuous and dignified; he then turned to Souris, another actress, so named on account of her pleasing and delicate form. As to women of quality, the regent loved all those who submitted to his attentions. Mme. de Parabere, daughter of Mme. de la Vieuville, and lady-in-waiting of Mme. de Berri, who was still loved by Beringhen, whom the regent exiled, also loved the prince; Mme. d'Averne and the famous sister of Cardinal de Tencin, also, were in love with the Duke of Orleans. . . . " (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 112)
Amorous tendency and love liaisons.
" . . . (T)he Duke de Chartres had a very amorous tendency . . . His love liaisons were never of long duration, and for the same reason he never devoted himself to difficult conquests, nor to women who demanded great assiduity. . . The young women whom the duke loved were almost all transitory mistresses who appeared for the moment, but was soon displaced. He took them from all ages and all ranks and commenced in his earliest years to make conquests in a small way. . . . " (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 25)
Love affairs difficult to recount.
"It would be difficult to recount the various love affairs of this prince, or even to give a simple list of the women he loved; he sought them even from the ranks of the bourgeoisie, but only a small number among the nobility. The women of the vicinage of the Palais-Royal, most exposed to his observation, never escaped his attention if they were comely. Indeed this quarter was soon abandoned by honest mothers who wished to preserve the honor of their children, and gradually there were left in the environs only those beautiful females who were not averse to his attentions." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 30)
A natural taste for the beautiful.
"The Duke de Chartres, afterwards Duke of Orleans and Regent of France . . . had a natural taste for the beautiful and all that was related to fine arts. He was a musician and a painter; he carved in a wonderful manner; he had an exquisite taste for architecture; sculpture, physics and all of the sciences. He sought out men of merit; he was kind, of even temperament, always having pleasant things to say to them. He was naturally drawn on by his tastes towards new objects, unknown systems and great enterprises; he loved liberty and glory and naturally inclined toward the profession of arms, he was ambitious to distinguish himself, a life-long admirer of good King Henry IV, and extremely pleased when told that he resembled that monarch in character and appearance." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 25)
Love of wine, women & song.
" . . . Renowned for his love of wine, women, and song, Philippe never renounced his pleasures. All-night balls, drunken feasts, and a succession of mistresses caused scandal about Philippe's moral example and worries over security. Saint-Simon denied that Philippe spoke indiscreetly, but the magnitude of his revels made for concern that he would. Philippe also seemed susceptible to the pecuniary appetites of his mistresses, implying inappropriate or unmasculine subordination to a woman. His activities especially gained him a reputation for wasting time that should have been devoted to matters of state. 'The Regent also lost infinite amounts of time with his family or in amusements and debaucheries,' Saint-Simon commented unfavourably about 'the pernicious company with whom [Philippe] dines, of te state in which he shows himself to others, often at the opera, and of the time he lost to almost all the representations of these spectacles.' . . . ." (Perilous Performances: Gender and Regency in Early Modern France: 168)
1) Charlotte Desmares (1682-1753).
Lover in 1696-1698; 1706.
" . . . Mademoiselle Florence, of the Opera, had a son, who, as Count of Saint-Albin, became Archbishop of Cambrai, and was an exemplary prelate, both in his manners and his orthodox opinions. . . ." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 56: 427)
7) Grace Elliott (1758-1823)
Also known as:
Grace Dalrymple
Grace Elliott Dalrymple
""Madame de Verrue suffered this for some time, but at last her virtue yielded to the bad treatment she received. She listened to the Duke of Savoy, and delivered herself up to him in order to free herself from persecution. Is not this a real romance? But it happened in our time, under the eyes and to the knowledge of everybody.'" (Geneanet)
"His first mistress was the little Leonore daughter of the concierge of the furniture guard at the Palais Royal. He was fourteen years old, a child who made a great noise. Monsieur was very angry with it, and Madame was not displeased with it. She even took care of the mother and the child. This daughter has since been married to M. de Charencey, son of a councilor at Riom." (Geneanet)
"His first mistress was the little Leonore, daughter of the concierge of the store-room at the Palais-Royal. At the age of fourteen, he had a child by her, which caused a great deal of talk. Monsieur was very much annoyed about it; Madame was not displeased, and even took care of both mother and child. This girl was afterwards married to M. de Charency, son of a counselor at Riom." (Williams: 12)
" . . . (H)e seduced Leonore a child like himself and a daughter of the Concierge of the storeroom of the Palais-Royal, an event which caused the greatest scandal, on account of the tender age of the girl as well as the prince. The king's brother was greatly grieved by it and the king punished the offender by forbidding him to appear before his presence until called for. Madame after having reprimanded him took the girl under her protection and she was afterwards married to Carencay, son of a lawyer of Rion in the department of Auvergne." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu:26-27)
15) Louise Charlotte de Foix-Rabat (1693-?)
French society figure and courtier.
Also known as:
19) Mrs. Hervaux.
22) Madame Levesque.
23) Madame de Mouchy.
28) Madame du Brossay.
29) Miss Cavalier.
30) Mademoiselle de Chausseraye.
31) Mademoiselle de Portes.
32) Mademoiselle de la Massonniere.
"The beautiful Miss Uzee would have only a few lines, but these lines would say as much as a book. She too died prematurely, and if she had only a smile for the funeral oration of the Regent, perhaps had a tear from the Duc de Noailles, who, like so many others, had taken a mistress for a laugh, and had finally loved him for good." (Geneanet)
"While he went to serve in Italy, under Marshal Catinat. He stops for some time at Lyons, and there he makes a mistress in passing, who is Mademoiselle Pinet de la Massonniere, to whom the mother consents. He is obliged to leave for Italy and leaves his mistress pregnant with a son whom she gave birth to. She will take as a lover the Prince de Robecq who will leave her fat and her mother will marry her to a MM Poncet, gentleman of Montélimart, captain of cavalry, who will receive a nice sum but will be fired some time later." (Geneanet)
35) Marechale de Villars.
Also known as:
Also known as:
"The last mistress of the Duke of Orleans was the young and beautiful Duchess of Phalaris or Phalaria, descended from the noble family of the Harancourts, in Dauphine. Her husband was the son of a farmer-general, named Gorge, who had been ennobled by Pope Clement XI for his successful negotiation of some important loans. She was only nineteen, and the Duke of Orleans was forty-nine; but notwithstanding this disparity of age she consented to abandon her husband and family, and to become an avowed mistress. None of his previous favourites had loved him so sincerely. She preferred his conversation to all the pleasures of the Court, she spent entire days in his cabinet when he was engaged with his ministerial duties, and accompanied him in the evening when he retired to his sybarite seclusion at St. Cloud." (Memoirs of the House of Orleans, Vol 2: 99)
"He, however, assumed Dubois' post of first minister; he made an effort to reform his mode of life; and, in order not to set a bad example to the young king, who now sojourned more frequently at the Tuileries, he even, we learn, went so far in his reform as to content himself with but one maitresse-en-titre, Madame d'Antragues---in the Roman states, Duchesse de Falari. She was the wife of a financier, to whom Clement XI, for some service of a financial nature, had given the title of Duke. But the excesses of the petits-soupers still went on, and the regent drank the usual quantity of his favourite vin d'Ai. His physicians warned him that dropsy or apoplexy would be the result of intemperance. 'Not dropsy,' he said, 'it is too lingering; death stares one in the face too long, and I had hoped to meet death from a cannon-ball on the battle-field.' And a death as sudden was granted him. Sitting beside the Duchesse de Falari, he suddenly exclaimed, 'Madelon! Madelon! --- sauvez moi,' and fell dead at her feet." (The Old Regime: Courts, Salons and Theatres, Vol 1: 204)
The duke died in her arms.
"After dinner he retired into a saloon, which he had recently furnished most sumptuously for the Duchess of Phalaris, to have some conversation with his beautiful mistress before waiting on the King. A private staircase led from this saloon to the door of the King's closet, and the duke sent his secretary round by the public gallery to meet him at this door when the hour of audience arrived. On entering the apartment, hr found the duchess preparing for a ball, her curling locks hanging loose on her shoulders, and her dressing gown not laid aside. He sat down upon a sofa, her head reposing upon his knees. After a short pause he said to her, 'My fair friend, I am quite worn out with fatigue this evening and have a stupefying head-ache; tell me one of those lively stories which you relate so well.' The young lady, looking up into his face with childish coquetry, and assuming a mocking smile, began with, 'There was once upon a time a king and a queen.' She scarcely uttered the words when the duke's head sank suddenly on his breast, and he fell sideways on her shoulder. As he was sometimes accustomed to take a brief nap in this position, the lady for a second or two felt no alarm; but when she saw his limbs grow stiff, after quivering with convulsion, she sprang to the bell, and rang it violently. No one replied. She rushed into the outer apartments; they were deserted; and it was not until she reached the court-yard that her cries attracted the attention of a few domestics. Chance had so arranged that the accident occurred at a time when everybody was either occupied or out visiting. It was more than half an our before any medical man made his appearance, and by that time the duke was quite dead. The body was laid on the carpet, and some attempts were made at bleeding; but they proved ineffectual. Expresses were sent to Paris, and the fatal event was communicated to the King." (Memoirs of the House of Orleans, Vol 2: 101)
41) Princess of Leon .
42) Sophie de Bregis.
Countess of Averne
"The Countess d'Averne had the good sense to resign herself to oblivion; she had acquired a fortune during the few brief moments of her ascendancy, and she withdrew to enjoy it without luxury or ostentation. . . ." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 56: 428)
" . . . During the reign of Louis XIV, the king's military brother Philippe Duc d'Orleans (1674-1723) was said to have organized a secret society of sodomitical military men, which may have included Marshal Louis-Joseph de Vendome (1654-1712), his brother Philippe de Vendome (1655-1730), Admiral Louis de Vermandois (1667-83), Marshal Nicolas d'Huxelles (1652-1730), General Claude-Alexandre de Bonneval (1675-1747), and Marshal Claude Louis Hector de Villars (1653-1734). . . ." (Napoleonic Friendship: 275)
Natural Offspring.
" . . . Screeds of this Ilk have bestowed legendary status on the women who had the good fortune to please Philippe d'Orleans, including Madame's erstwhile maid of honor Mlle Sery, who became Mme d'Argenton; Mme de Parabere, the daughter of a member of the queen's honor guard; Mme de Falari, a duchess with a papal title; Mme de Sabran, a spirited lady descended from a cadet branch of the house of Foix; and various others. . . . " (Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV: 260)
Typology of the Regent's Numerous Amours.
" . . . Some writers have gone so far as to create categories for classifying the regent's numerous amours: thus we have the early mistresses (little Leonore, la Grandval), the grandes maitresses (Charlotte Desmares, Mlle Florence, Mme d'Argenton, Mme de Parabere, Mme de Sabran, Mme d'Averne), a transitional mistress (Mlle Houel), and a last mistress (Mme de Falari). Yet even the author who dreamed up this elaborate typology concedes that the ladies in question 'dominated the man without dominating the prince." (Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV: 260)
String of Amours.
" . . . Having assumed the regency he returned to Desmerre, exiling Baron, whom she secretly preferred. Weary of her, he devoted himself to Fillon for a short time and in turn abandoned her for a comedienne, named Emelie, a woman both virtuous and dignified; he then turned to Souris, another actress, so named on account of her pleasing and delicate form. As to women of quality, the regent loved all those who submitted to his attentions. Mme. de Parabere, daughter of Mme. de la Vieuville, and lady-in-waiting of Mme. de Berri, who was still loved by Beringhen, whom the regent exiled, also loved the prince; Mme. d'Averne and the famous sister of Cardinal de Tencin, also, were in love with the Duke of Orleans. . . . " (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 112)
Amorous tendency and love liaisons.
" . . . (T)he Duke de Chartres had a very amorous tendency . . . His love liaisons were never of long duration, and for the same reason he never devoted himself to difficult conquests, nor to women who demanded great assiduity. . . The young women whom the duke loved were almost all transitory mistresses who appeared for the moment, but was soon displaced. He took them from all ages and all ranks and commenced in his earliest years to make conquests in a small way. . . . " (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 25)
Love affairs difficult to recount.
"It would be difficult to recount the various love affairs of this prince, or even to give a simple list of the women he loved; he sought them even from the ranks of the bourgeoisie, but only a small number among the nobility. The women of the vicinage of the Palais-Royal, most exposed to his observation, never escaped his attention if they were comely. Indeed this quarter was soon abandoned by honest mothers who wished to preserve the honor of their children, and gradually there were left in the environs only those beautiful females who were not averse to his attentions." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 30)
A natural taste for the beautiful.
"The Duke de Chartres, afterwards Duke of Orleans and Regent of France . . . had a natural taste for the beautiful and all that was related to fine arts. He was a musician and a painter; he carved in a wonderful manner; he had an exquisite taste for architecture; sculpture, physics and all of the sciences. He sought out men of merit; he was kind, of even temperament, always having pleasant things to say to them. He was naturally drawn on by his tastes towards new objects, unknown systems and great enterprises; he loved liberty and glory and naturally inclined toward the profession of arms, he was ambitious to distinguish himself, a life-long admirer of good King Henry IV, and extremely pleased when told that he resembled that monarch in character and appearance." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 25)
Love of wine, women & song.
" . . . Renowned for his love of wine, women, and song, Philippe never renounced his pleasures. All-night balls, drunken feasts, and a succession of mistresses caused scandal about Philippe's moral example and worries over security. Saint-Simon denied that Philippe spoke indiscreetly, but the magnitude of his revels made for concern that he would. Philippe also seemed susceptible to the pecuniary appetites of his mistresses, implying inappropriate or unmasculine subordination to a woman. His activities especially gained him a reputation for wasting time that should have been devoted to matters of state. 'The Regent also lost infinite amounts of time with his family or in amusements and debaucheries,' Saint-Simon commented unfavourably about 'the pernicious company with whom [Philippe] dines, of te state in which he shows himself to others, often at the opera, and of the time he lost to almost all the representations of these spectacles.' . . . ." (Perilous Performances: Gender and Regency in Early Modern France: 168)
Renowned for his love of wine, women & song.
"Because of their effect on the performance of the work of government, Philippe's personal habits came in for special scrutiny. Renowned for his love of wine, women and song, Philippe never renounced his pleasures. All-night balls, drunken feasts, and a succession of mistresses caused scandal about Philippe's moral example and worries over security. Saint-Simon denied the Philippe spoke indiscreetly, but the magnitude of his revels made for concern that he would. Philippe also seemed susceptible to the pecuniary appetites of his mistresses, implying inappropriate or unmasculine subordination to a woman. His activities especially gained him a reputation for wasting time that should have been devoted to matters of state: 'The Regent also lost infinite amounts of time with his family or in amusements and debaucheries.' Saint-Simon commented unfavorably about 'the pernicious company with whom [Philippe] dines, of the state in which he shows himself to others, often at the opera, and of the time he lost to almost all the representations of these spectacles.'. . . ." (Perilous Performances: Gender and Regency in Early Modern France: 168)
Philippe II of Orleans' lovers were:
 |
| Charlotte Desmares @Wikipedia |
Lover in 1696-1698; 1706.
French actress.
Also known as:
Also known as:
Christine-Antoinette-Charlotte Desmares
the Desmares
Lolotte.
Natural offspring:
Natural offspring:
a. Philippe-Angelique de Froissy (1702-?) Married Francois, Count of Segur.
"The most lamentable histories to relate are those which concern the end of those ladies who, beloved for a brief time, have shone in a world of pleasure only to pass an inglorious and and self-accusing old age. Mademoiselle Desmares was one of the least unfortunate. Connected with the Comedie-Francaise, she consoled herself for the loss the prince's affections by devotion to her profession, and by wedding a person in her own sphere of life. She had a daughter by the Regent, whom she was, most cruelly, never allowed to see, and who became, as the Marchioness of Segur, one of the most amiable and estimable ladies of the eighteenth century. . . ." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 56: 427)
"The real Charlotte Desmares . . . was also the plump, double-chinned matron of 50, known from an engraving by Lepicie after Coypel. She was . . . the niece of Mlle Chammesle, the mistress of Philippe d'Orleans and mother of his child, who was taken away from her at birth, but she was also the loyal mistress of the banker Hogguer and the mother of two other children whom she raised and to whom she was devoted. Her life was both splendid and frugal. She was one of the rare actresses who played tragedy and comedy equally well, and who also sang and danced with professional skill. She was, in other words, something far more substantial than the object of a painter's gaze, but beyond our power to recreate her as she was." (Women on the Stage in Early Modern France:1540-1750: 285)
"He also produced several children without her (his wife), making up for the indignity of his marriage with innumerable mistresses, among whom was Charlotte Desmares, niece of Mlle Champmesle and daughter of the Sieur Desmares, also a societaire. She made her debut on January 30, 1699 as Iphignie in the Oreste et Pylade of La Grange Chancel, the role Mlle Champmesle had been playing at the time of her death and was accepted at a quarter share on May 26, 'for the emploi of her aunt.'" (Women on the Stage in Early Modern France:1540-1750: 251)
Charlotte Desmares's other lover was:
Antoine d'Hoggeur
Baron de Presles
Councillor at the Royal Swedish Trade Council
" . . . Mlle Desmares, after her early fling with the regent, settled in for a long affair with a financier, Antoine Hogguer, who built for her two splendid mansions, the Folie Desmares in Chatillon and the Hotel Desmares-Villeroy on the rue de Varenne in Paris, now the Ministry of Agriculture. According to the official website of that ministry, Hogguer wanted to marry Mlle Desmares, but she was afraid of the scandal. In order for them to live together as if married, but without public acknowledgment, he had a house built for her separated by a garden from a property he already owned, the Hotel Rothlin, now the reisence of the Minister of Commerce. Unfortunately, scandal followed the baron anyway. He was accused of a number of financial transgressions and ruined in 1726. Fortunately, the Hotel Desmares was her property, at least until she was forced to sell it to pay debts in 1735. The lovers fled to St.-Germain-en-Laye, where she supported him until the end of his life on her pension from the theatre." (Women on the Stage in Early Modern France:1540-1750: 259)
2) Claudine Guerin de Tencin (1682-1749)
Also known as:
Claudine de Tencin
Claudine-Alexandrine Guerin, Baroness of St. Martin of Isle de Re
Madame de Tencin
Marquise de Tencin .
Daughter of: Antoine Guerin, Sieur de Tencin, President of the parliament.
From the convent to the pleasures of Paris.
"Claudine Alexandrine de Tencin was, after Pompadour, the most interesting of these women who swayed the powers of France in the first half of the eighteenth century. We have her escaping from a convent and generating d'Alembert. In Paris she took a home in the Rue St.-Honore, where she entertained a succession of lovers, including Bolingbroke, Richelieu, Fontenelle (silent but virile at seventy), sundry abbes, and the head of the Paris police. Gossip added her brother to the list, but probably she loved Pierre only as a fond sister resolved to make him a cardinal, if not prime minister. Through him and others she proposed to be a power in the life of France." (The Age of Voltaire)
"She was also involved with King Louis XV's best friend, the Marechal de Richelieu, over whom she allegedly exercised considerable control. She, however, was believed to have had little involvement in Richelieu's behind-the-scenes intrigues at Louis XV's court at Versailles." (Wikipedia)
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| Claudine-Alexandrine Guerin Marquise de Tencin |
Madame de Tencin's other lovers.
1. Alexis Piron.
2. Arthur Dillon, an Irish exile soldier
2. Arthur Dillon, an Irish exile soldier
Lover in 1708.
3. Bad'alembertron of Montesquieu .
4. Bernard the Bovier of Fontenelle .
5. Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brede and Montesquieu .
3. Bad'alembertron of Montesquieu .
4. Bernard the Bovier of Fontenelle .
5. Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brede and Montesquieu .
 |
| Charles-Irenee Castel Abbe of St. Peter |
6. Charles-Irenee Castel , Abbe de Saint-Pierre . (1658-1743).
French author.
7. Charles-Joseph de la Fresnaye .
Counsellor to the King of France.
8. Chevalier Louis-Camus Destouches .
French author.
7. Charles-Joseph de la Fresnaye .
Counsellor to the King of France.
8. Chevalier Louis-Camus Destouches .
a French artillery officer
Lover in 1716.
9. Chevalier Luke Schaub.
9. Chevalier Luke Schaub.
10. Guillaume Dubois, Cardinal Dubois .
11. Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke.
12. Jean Astruc, a physician
11. Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke.
12. Jean Astruc, a physician
Lover since 1723.
13. Louis-Camus Destouches .
14. Louis de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duc de Richelieu .
15. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield.
16. Pierre de Marivaux .
3) Duchess of Albret .
4) Emilie Dupre.
French dancer.
13. Louis-Camus Destouches .
14. Louis de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duc de Richelieu .
15. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield.
16. Pierre de Marivaux .
3) Duchess of Albret .
4) Emilie Dupre.
French dancer.
Also known as:
Emelie Dupre
Miss , .
" . . . Some, like Emiiie Dupre, a dancer from the French countryside, brazenly exceeded that figure. Mademoiselle Emelie, as the ballerina was known, had a great many protectors, all powerful men in French society who claimed her as their mistress---sometimes at the same time. They included the Duc Louis II de Melun, the regent Philippe d'Orleans, the Duc de Mazarin, and a Monsieur Firmacon, a colonel who got into a dispute over the ballerina with the Comte de Roche-Aymon, a musketeer, which ended in a duel." (Ballerina: 18)
"Two dancers in particular were the talk of the town. The first one was Emilie Dupre, who made a career under the stage name Mademoiselle Emilie. She successively granted her favors to the duc de Melun; to the regent, Philippe d'Orleans, whose mistress she remained for six months; to the Duc de Mazarin; and to a Monsieur Fimarcon (a colonel belonging to the comte de Charolais). In 1720, according to Barbier, 'the little Emilie, an Opera woman who is very pretty and is known by all the young men (who haunt the Palais Royal)' was the object of a quarrel between Fimarcon and the comte de Roche-Aymon that ended in a duel." (Women’s Work: Making Dance in Europe before 1800: 107)
Protectors and Lovers.
" . . . Some, like Emiiie Dupre, a dancer from the French countryside, brazenly exceeded that figure. Mademoiselle Emelie, as the ballerina was known, had a great many protectors, all powerful men in French society who claimed her as their mistress---sometimes at the same time. They included the Duc Louis II de Melun, the regent Philippe d'Orleans, the Duc de Mazarin, and a Monsieur Firmacon, a colonel who got into a dispute over the ballerina with the Comte de Roche-Aymon, a musketeer, which ended in a duel." (Ballerina: 18)
"Two dancers in particular were the talk of the town. The first one was Emilie Dupre, who made a career under the stage name Mademoiselle Emilie. She successively granted her favors to the duc de Melun; to the regent, Philippe d'Orleans, whose mistress she remained for six months; to the Duc de Mazarin; and to a Monsieur Fimarcon (a colonel belonging to the comte de Charolais). In 1720, according to Barbier, 'the little Emilie, an Opera woman who is very pretty and is known by all the young men (who haunt the Palais Royal)' was the object of a quarrel between Fimarcon and the comte de Roche-Aymon that ended in a duel." (Women’s Work: Making Dance in Europe before 1800: 107)
Protectors and Lovers.
". . . It was generally thought that no self-respecting ballerina went with fewer than three lovers at a time---one for prestige, one for money, one for love. Some, like Emilie Dupre, dancer from the French countryside, brazenly exceeded that figure. Mademoiselle Emilie, as the ballerina was known, had a great many protectors, all powerful men in French society who claimed her as their mistress---sometimes at the same time. They included the Duc Louis II de Melun, the regent Philippe d'Orleans, the duc de Mazarin, and a Monsieur Fimarcon, a colonel who got into a dispute over the ballerina with the Comte de Roche-Aymon, a musketeer, which ended in a duel." (Ballerina: Sex, Scandal, and Suffering Behind the Symbol of Perfection: 18)
The talk of the town.
". . . (I)n the context of a greater freedom of morals, it was acceptable for some women to multiply the gallant adventures that sometimes brought them notoriety, thanks to more or less influential protectors. . . Two dancers in particular were the talk of the town. The first one was Emilie Dupre, who made a career under the stage name of Mademoiselle Emilie. She successively granted her favors to the duc de Melun; to the regent, Philippe d'Orleans, whose mistress she remained for six months; to the duc de Mazarin; and to a Monsieur Fimarcon (a colonel belonging to the comte de Charolais). In 1720, according to Barbier, 'the little Emilie, an Opera woman who is very pretty and is known by all the young men (who haunt the Palais Royal)' was the object of a quarrel between Fimarcon and the comte de la Roche-Aymon that ended in a duel." (Women's Work: Making Dance in Europe Before 1800: 106)
" . . . Emelie who would not accept from the regent more than a simple livelihood did not wish to relinquish her position and awaiting the time when she would lose the good wishes of the prince, as the other mistresses whom she succeeded had done, determined to renounce all pleasures and lovers. Fimarcon was Emelie's first lover. Charmed by her modesty, he left the army of the Duke de Melon and formed a liaison with her and it was he whom the prince succeeded in her affections. Wishing one day to present her with a set of earrings worth fifteen thousand francs, Emelie, who had already received some jewels, modestly replied, that these diamonds were not made for her, that they were too beautiful. She refused them, begging the prince to keep them and give her ten thousand pounds in money instead with which to buy a house at Pantin, to which she wished to retire when she was no longer loved by him, adding, that after having enjoyed the kindness of so great a prince, no one would be worthy of succeeding him. The regent promised fidelity, embraced her tenderly and sent her twenty-five thousand pounds, instead of ten. Emelie always reserved, took five thousand and returned the rest saying the His Royal Majesty had made a mistake; but the regent assuring her that it was his intention to giver her the whole sum, insisted that she keep it, assuring her that he felt towards her a respect far more profound than towards any other women." (Memoirs of Duke of Richelieu : 112)
" . . . As for Mademoiselle Dupre, it seems strange that she would have been a mere walk-on in Lille in 1718 but dancing Pirithous at the Theatre de la Monnaire on 2 September 1726." (Women's Work: 106)
Emilie Dupre's other lovers were:
1. Duke of Mazarin.
2. Louis de Melun, Duke of Joyeuse (1694-1724), French aristocrat
3. Mr. Fimarcon, Colonel of the Earl of Charolais
5) Florence Pellerin (1676-1716)
Lover in 1696-1698.
French dancer & actress.
Also known as:
Florence Pellegrin
Miss Florence.
"Pellegrin was an actress and celebrated dancer with the Paris Opera being popularly known as Mademoiselle Florence. She became the mistress (1695) of Philippe d’Orleans, Duc de Chartres, later Regent of France (1715 – 1723), fourteen years her junior. Attractive but unintelligent, the duc appeared publicly with Florence in Paris, but she did not hold the affections of her youthful lover for long, though she was the mother of his illegitimate son, Charles de Saint-Albin, Abbe d’Orleans (1698 – 1764), who was baptized as the son of the duc's valet Coche, but was later appointed as Archbishop of Cambrai. Florence Pellegrin later became a nun (1707) and died a decade afterwards died (July 26, 1716)." (A Bit of History)
"Retrospectively speaking, a woman could even give birth to a prelate. Take the case of Florence Pellerin, an actress and dancer at the Opera, who was long the kept woman of M. le duc d'Orleans and by whom he had the archbishop of Cambrai. . . ." (Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV: 37)
"Retrospectively speaking, a woman could even give birth to a prelate. Take the case of Florence Pellerin, an actress and dancer at the Opera, who was long the kept woman of M. le duc d'Orleans and by whom he had the archbishop of Cambrai. . . ." (Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV: 37)
" . . . Mademoiselle Florence, of the Opera, had a son, who, as Count of Saint-Albin, became Archbishop of Cambrai, and was an exemplary prelate, both in his manners and his orthodox opinions. . . ." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 56: 427)
Natural offspring:
1. Charles de Saint Albin (1698-1764): "Retrospectively speaking, a woman could even give birth to a prelate. Take the case of Florence Pelerin, an actress and dancer at the Opera, who was long the kept woman of M. le duc d'Orleans and by whom he had the archbishop of Cambrai. . . . " (Saint-Simon and the Court of Louis XIV: 37)
"The illegitimate son of Philippe I, duc d'Orleans, regent of France, and Mlle Florence Pellerin, a dancer at the opera, Charles De Saint-Albin (1698-1764) was elevated to the lucrative archbishopric of Cambrai in the year he sat to Rigaud. . . ." (The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, Vol 17, 1989: 124)
Florence Pellegrin's other lover was:
1. Louis-Brittany-Alain de Rohan-Chabot, 5th Duke of Rohan .
" . . . D'Argenson faced a more complicated situation when the Prince de Leon, the oldest son of the duke de Rohan-Chabot, became infatuated with a very attractive dancer in the Paris Opera, Mlle Florence Pellerin. The young prince and this woman were an inseparable pair in Paris and often visited the prince's estates in Bretagne. When the duke de Rohan-Chabot petitioned the king that family honor demanded the arrest of the dancer, Louis agreed. D'Argenson took the precaution of arresting Mlle Pellerin while her lover was absent from Paris because the young prince had a wide reputation for being a hothead. After arresting Mlle Pellerin, d'Argenson and the duke de Rohan-Chabot examined all her papers to determine if indeed a clandestine marriage had taken place. It had not. In his report d'Argenson explained that even though the woman was three months pregnant, there was no record of marriage. Mlle Pellerin herself attested to the fact that she was not married not did she expect her lover to marry her. Because of her condition she was afforded all possible comfort while in detention (including fine wine and chocolate), but d'Argenson remained concerned about finding a suitable place for confinement, on that the impetuous young prince could not break into and recapture his mistress." (A Lust for Virtue: Louis XIV's Attack on Sin in Seventeenth-century: 137)
Also known as:
Duchess of Mazarin
Madame de La Vrillière.
Daughter of Louis de Mailly, Earl of Mailly & amp; Rubempre & amp; Anne-Marie-Francoise of Sainte-Hermine.
Wife of:
a. Paul-Jules of La Porte, Duke of Mazarin (1666-1731)
b. Louis Phelypeaux of La Vrilliere, Marquis de La Vrilliere (1672-1725) Mar 1700.
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| Grace Elliott |
Lover in 1784.
Scottish socialite & courtesan.
Also known as:
Grace Dalrymple
Grace Elliott Dalrymple
Grace Dalrymple Elliott
Mrs. Grace Elliott
Mrs. Elliott
Daughter of: Hew Dalrymple (d.1774), Scottish advocate & poet & Grisel Craw (d.1765)
Wife of: John Elliott, 1st Baronet, a very wealthy physician. mar 1771, div 1776.
"Grace left England for France in the late summer of 1784 with Philippe, Comte d'Chartres, who became Duc d'Orleans. Philippe was charming, generous, very rich and married; he provided Grace with her house in Paris and a cottage in the country. She was sincerely attached to him, as he was to her, but he was serially unfaithful...." (Gilbert)
"Grace left England for France in the late summer of 1784 with Philippe, Comte d'Chartres, who became Duc d'Orleans. Philippe was charming, generous, very rich and married; he provided Grace with her house in Paris and a cottage in the country. She was sincerely attached to him, as he was to her, but he was serially unfaithful...." (Gilbert)
8) Jeanne-Agnes Berthelot of Pleneuf.
Marquise de Prie
Marquise de Prie
a.k.a. Madam of Prie
9) Jeanne-Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes (1670-1736)
Comtesse de Verrue.
Lover in 1699.
9) Jeanne-Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes (1670-1736)
Comtesse de Verrue.
Lover in 1699.
""Madame de Verrue suffered this for some time, but at last her virtue yielded to the bad treatment she received. She listened to the Duke of Savoy, and delivered herself up to him in order to free herself from persecution. Is not this a real romance? But it happened in our time, under the eyes and to the knowledge of everybody.'" (Geneanet)
"Jeanne Camus de Pontcarre was the daughter of Pierre-Nicolas Camus de Pontcarre, first president of the Rouen parliament, and his second wife Marie-Francoise de Bragelonne, who died giving birth to her in 1705. Brought up by a succession of stepmothers, Jeanne grew up into an intelligent beauty who was soon noticed at court by Philippe II, the Duc d'Orleans and Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV. By the time she was eighteen, Jeanne was known as Philippe's most beautiful mistress, but her lover appears to have valued her as much for her mind as for anything else, for, as she was never tardy in reminding her acquaintances, he nicknamed her Egerie, after the Roman goddess Egeria, the trusted adviser of King Numa Pompilius de la Rochefoucauld de Lascaris, Marquis de Langeac. . . ." (Summers: 233)
"French occultist. Jeanne Camus de Pontcarre was married (1724) to Louis Christophe de La Rochefoucald-Lascaris (1704 – 1734), Marquis de Langheac d’Urfe, to whom she bore a son Alexandre, who died young, and two daughters, Adelaide, Marquise de Bage and Agnes Marie, Comtesse de Creuilly. She was in her youth quite beautiful, and was for a time the mistress of the Regent Duc d’Orleans. Intelligent but slightly mentally unbalanced, the marquise was very wealthy, and overtly interested in the occult. At her Chateau de Pontcarre she spent large sums of money acquiring a cabalistic library, and building her own laboratory. Madame d’Urfe gained public notoriety as the victim of a famous fraud arranged by the infamous adventurer Giacomo Casanova, who promised to reveal to her the fantastic secrets of occult law. Indeed, the scope of his weird schemes were recorded for posterity by the author himself (1822) and make entertaining reading, he himself referred to her as ‘that divine madwoman.’ The marquise eventually became so devoted to him that she entrusted large sums of money upon him to him. She sent him to Holland, Augsburg and Munich to fulfill business transactions for her (1758 – 1759), which sums he used to support his own lavish lifestyle. Finally realizing that his deception would unravel, and that he could safely milk the marquise no longer, Casanova returned to Paris (1763). Details he provides concerning details of Madame d’Urfe’s will are outright fabrications, though her own will reveals that she ordered two packets of letters to be burned at her death, presumably her letters from Casanova." (Russel, n.d.)
10) The Duclos .
"John Law, of Lauriston, was a tall and handsome man, remarkably graceful and active; skilled in all sorts of exercises, and a particularly good tennis-player, which game was then much in vogue; a skilful and successful gambler, and a great favourite with the fair sex. A duel, in which he killed his adversary, caused him to be thrown into prison; he made his escape, left England, and went to Paris. There, at the house of a courtezan named La Duclos, he became acquainted with the young Duke of Orleans, with whom he formed an intimacy, the result of which was the extraordinary system which for the time ruined half of France." (Hood's Magazine and Comic Miscellany, Vol 2: 415)
11) La Grandval.
Lover in 1690.
French actress.
"French occultist. Jeanne Camus de Pontcarre was married (1724) to Louis Christophe de La Rochefoucald-Lascaris (1704 – 1734), Marquis de Langheac d’Urfe, to whom she bore a son Alexandre, who died young, and two daughters, Adelaide, Marquise de Bage and Agnes Marie, Comtesse de Creuilly. She was in her youth quite beautiful, and was for a time the mistress of the Regent Duc d’Orleans. Intelligent but slightly mentally unbalanced, the marquise was very wealthy, and overtly interested in the occult. At her Chateau de Pontcarre she spent large sums of money acquiring a cabalistic library, and building her own laboratory. Madame d’Urfe gained public notoriety as the victim of a famous fraud arranged by the infamous adventurer Giacomo Casanova, who promised to reveal to her the fantastic secrets of occult law. Indeed, the scope of his weird schemes were recorded for posterity by the author himself (1822) and make entertaining reading, he himself referred to her as ‘that divine madwoman.’ The marquise eventually became so devoted to him that she entrusted large sums of money upon him to him. She sent him to Holland, Augsburg and Munich to fulfill business transactions for her (1758 – 1759), which sums he used to support his own lavish lifestyle. Finally realizing that his deception would unravel, and that he could safely milk the marquise no longer, Casanova returned to Paris (1763). Details he provides concerning details of Madame d’Urfe’s will are outright fabrications, though her own will reveals that she ordered two packets of letters to be burned at her death, presumably her letters from Casanova." (Russel, n.d.)
10) The Duclos .
"John Law, of Lauriston, was a tall and handsome man, remarkably graceful and active; skilled in all sorts of exercises, and a particularly good tennis-player, which game was then much in vogue; a skilful and successful gambler, and a great favourite with the fair sex. A duel, in which he killed his adversary, caused him to be thrown into prison; he made his escape, left England, and went to Paris. There, at the house of a courtezan named La Duclos, he became acquainted with the young Duke of Orleans, with whom he formed an intimacy, the result of which was the extraordinary system which for the time ruined half of France." (Hood's Magazine and Comic Miscellany, Vol 2: 415)
11) La Grandval.
Lover in 1690.
French actress.
"The Grandval, an actress, succeeded Leonore, but this intrigue was opposed because she was considered too old and too corrupt for him." (Geneanet)
"From this first gallantry the Duke de Chartres was constantly falling in love. From the daughter of the Concierge he passed to La Grandval, a famous actress. Madame this time circumvented the new liaison deeming this comedienne too old for him and too corrupt for such a young heart. They had the young prince leave for Italy to serve under Marshal de Catinant, who was then in that country." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 27)
12) La Presidente Fillon.
13) Léonore N. (1655-?)
Lover in 1688.
"From this first gallantry the Duke de Chartres was constantly falling in love. From the daughter of the Concierge he passed to La Grandval, a famous actress. Madame this time circumvented the new liaison deeming this comedienne too old for him and too corrupt for such a young heart. They had the young prince leave for Italy to serve under Marshal de Catinant, who was then in that country." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 27)
12) La Presidente Fillon.
13) Léonore N. (1655-?)
Lover in 1688.
"His first mistress was the little Leonore daughter of the concierge of the furniture guard at the Palais Royal. He was fourteen years old, a child who made a great noise. Monsieur was very angry with it, and Madame was not displeased with it. She even took care of the mother and the child. This daughter has since been married to M. de Charencey, son of a councilor at Riom." (Geneanet)
"His first mistress was the little Leonore, daughter of the concierge of the store-room at the Palais-Royal. At the age of fourteen, he had a child by her, which caused a great deal of talk. Monsieur was very much annoyed about it; Madame was not displeased, and even took care of both mother and child. This girl was afterwards married to M. de Charency, son of a counselor at Riom." (Williams: 12)
" . . . (H)e seduced Leonore a child like himself and a daughter of the Concierge of the storeroom of the Palais-Royal, an event which caused the greatest scandal, on account of the tender age of the girl as well as the prince. The king's brother was greatly grieved by it and the king punished the offender by forbidding him to appear before his presence until called for. Madame after having reprimanded him took the girl under her protection and she was afterwards married to Carencay, son of a lawyer of Rion in the department of Auvergne." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu:26-27)
15) Louise Charlotte de Foix-Rabat (1693-?)
Comtesse de Sabran
Lover in 1718.
Lover in 1718.
French society figure and courtier.
Marie-Madeleine-Charlotte de Foix
Madame de Sabran
Marquise de Sabran.
Daughter of Francois-Gaston of Foix, Earl of Rabat & amp; Dorothee-Theodore de Poudens de Villepinte.
Daughter of Francois-Gaston of Foix, Earl of Rabat & amp; Dorothee-Theodore de Poudens de Villepinte.
Wife of Jean-Honore, Marquis de Sabran.
"Madame de Sabran at that time wished to supplant Madame de Parabere, and succeeded for some time, but the Duke of Orleans, who was disgusted with it, and returned to Madame de Parabere." (Geneanet)
A mistress without prejudice to others.
". . . His roues and valets were always eager to present fresh mistresses to him, from which he generally selected one. Among these was Madame de Sabran, who had married a man of high rank, but without wealth or merit, in order to be at liberty. There never was a woman so beautiful as she, or of a beauty more regular, more agreeable, more touching, or of a grander or nobler bearing, and yet without affectation. Her air and her manners were simple and natural, making you think she was ignorant of her beauty and of her figure (this last the finest in the world), and when it pleased her she was deceitfully modest. With much intellect she was insinuating, merry, overflowing, dissipated, not bad-hearted, charming, especially at table. In a word, she was all M. le Duc d'Orleans wanted, and soon became his mistress without prejudice to the rest." (The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon on the Reign of Louis XIV and the Regency, Vol. 3: 118)
Affair's end & aftermath.
"As to the Countess of Sabran, she remained not the less a 'grande dame' for being a discarded of the Regent's. At court, or out of it, she not the less remained a Foix and a Sabran, and she could give back in contempt and sarcasms whatever insults successful courtiers kept in store for those who were unsuccessful. Overtaken, however, by old age, she ultimately withdrew into Provence, and, 'mindful of the pious traditions of her family, which reckoned a saint among its members, she also became pious, and died asking pardon of God for the outrages done to him in a life of dissipation." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 56: 427)
16) Madame d'Arpajon.
"Madame de Sabran at that time wished to supplant Madame de Parabere, and succeeded for some time, but the Duke of Orleans, who was disgusted with it, and returned to Madame de Parabere." (Geneanet)
A mistress without prejudice to others.
". . . His roues and valets were always eager to present fresh mistresses to him, from which he generally selected one. Among these was Madame de Sabran, who had married a man of high rank, but without wealth or merit, in order to be at liberty. There never was a woman so beautiful as she, or of a beauty more regular, more agreeable, more touching, or of a grander or nobler bearing, and yet without affectation. Her air and her manners were simple and natural, making you think she was ignorant of her beauty and of her figure (this last the finest in the world), and when it pleased her she was deceitfully modest. With much intellect she was insinuating, merry, overflowing, dissipated, not bad-hearted, charming, especially at table. In a word, she was all M. le Duc d'Orleans wanted, and soon became his mistress without prejudice to the rest." (The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon on the Reign of Louis XIV and the Regency, Vol. 3: 118)
Affair's end & aftermath.
"As to the Countess of Sabran, she remained not the less a 'grande dame' for being a discarded of the Regent's. At court, or out of it, she not the less remained a Foix and a Sabran, and she could give back in contempt and sarcasms whatever insults successful courtiers kept in store for those who were unsuccessful. Overtaken, however, by old age, she ultimately withdrew into Provence, and, 'mindful of the pious traditions of her family, which reckoned a saint among its members, she also became pious, and died asking pardon of God for the outrages done to him in a life of dissipation." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 56: 427)
16) Madame d'Arpajon.
18) Madame de Cursay.
29) Miss Cavalier.
30) Mademoiselle de Chausseraye.
31) Mademoiselle de Portes.
32) Mademoiselle de la Massonniere.
" . . . In passing through Lyons he won the heart of a young lady, de la Massonniere, whom he seduced. He corresponded with her during the war and on his return, having found a very pretty child as the result of his amours, engaged Mme. de la Massonniere to come with the mother and child to Paris. They reached there some days after his arrival and this kind of kidnapping caused such a scandal in Lyins that the old father Massonniere, who could not persuade his wife and daughter to return to him, died of a broken heart. The mother and daughter reached Paris eight days after the arrival of the prince, who, they found, had in a fickle manner devoted himself to (another woman). . . (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 27)
34) Mademoiselle Souris.
"She was extremely pretty, elegant, distinguished, and she made many conquests, including the Regent. But she was not less libertine, unfaithful, fickle and capricious. Their love did not last long, but it was rather the fault of the Duc de Richelieu than Miss Souris. The two Souris sisters, two sisters, slender and slender in stature, with a fickle heart and a sharp tooth, who nibbled at the Regency a great many lords, and whose merits must be sought elsewhere than on the registers of the Opera." (Geneanet)
33) Mademoiselle Uzee.
French dancer.
34) Mademoiselle Souris.
"She was extremely pretty, elegant, distinguished, and she made many conquests, including the Regent. But she was not less libertine, unfaithful, fickle and capricious. Their love did not last long, but it was rather the fault of the Duc de Richelieu than Miss Souris. The two Souris sisters, two sisters, slender and slender in stature, with a fickle heart and a sharp tooth, who nibbled at the Regency a great many lords, and whose merits must be sought elsewhere than on the registers of the Opera." (Geneanet)
33) Mademoiselle Uzee.
French dancer.
"The beautiful Miss Uzee would have only a few lines, but these lines would say as much as a book. She too died prematurely, and if she had only a smile for the funeral oration of the Regent, perhaps had a tear from the Duc de Noailles, who, like so many others, had taken a mistress for a laugh, and had finally loved him for good." (Geneanet)
33) Miss Florence.
Lover in 1706.
"While he went to serve in Italy, under Marshal Catinat. He stops for some time at Lyons, and there he makes a mistress in passing, who is Mademoiselle Pinet de la Massonniere, to whom the mother consents. He is obliged to leave for Italy and leaves his mistress pregnant with a son whom she gave birth to. She will take as a lover the Prince de Robecq who will leave her fat and her mother will marry her to a MM Poncet, gentleman of Montélimart, captain of cavalry, who will receive a nice sum but will be fired some time later." (Geneanet)
35) Marechale de Villars.
 |
| Marie du Deffand @ Wikipedia |
French hostess & patron of the arts.
Also known as:
Marie de Vichy
Marie du Deffand
Madame du Deffant.
"Mme. du Deffant was at this time a little old woman, thin, pale, white-haired, who could never have been handsome, and whose face wore an expression of gloomy sadness. She had shared largely in the delinquencies of her time, and had been the mistress of the Regent. Her liaison with the President Henault was known and recognized; there had probably been others. Then as old age crept on, she had sobered down; at one time, indeed, it was supposed so."
"Mme. du Deffant was at this time a little old woman, thin, pale, white-haired, who could never have been handsome, and whose face wore an expression of gloomy sadness. She had shared largely in the delinquencies of her time, and had been the mistress of the Regent. Her liaison with the President Henault was known and recognized; there had probably been others. Then as old age crept on, she had sobered down; at one time, indeed, it was supposed so."
Marquise du Deffand's other lover was:
1. President Henaut.
37) Marie-Louise Le Bel da La Boissiere de Sery (1684-1748)
Lover in 1700-1702.
Maid-of-honour to Duchesse d'Orleans
Lover in 1700-1702.
Maid-of-honour to Duchesse d'Orleans
Also known as:
Marie-Louise Madeleine-Victoire Le Bel da La Boissiere de Sery
Marie Louise Madeleine Victoire d’Argenton
Mademoiselle de Sery
Countess of Argenton
Madame d'Argenton.
". . . His intrigue, however, with Mademoiselle de Sery obtained publicity. She was one of Madame's ladies of honour, and was very pretty, very animated, very vain, and not a little proud of her conquest. The duke took no pains to conceal the intrigue, and the lady herself was equally reckless about secrecy. At length the birth of a son compelled Madame to signify her knowledge of the connexion; she turned Mademoiselle de Sery out of doors, who thenceforth lived avowedly under the duke's protection.
"Although the Duke de Chartres married Mlle. de Blois, a legitimate daughter of the king, he never ceased his attentions tom other women. . . (B)eautiful and generous though he was, he became smitten with Mlle. de Sery, maid of honor to Mme. of Orleans, his mother. Mlle. de Sery was a young lady beautiful, virtuous, witty and be it said to her credit resisted his pleadings for nearly two years. She was the only woman whom the prince pursued in this persistent manner, for was fonder of easy conquests; but having shown her his violent passion, she finally yielded to his desires, and as if to be consistent with his past fickle conduct, he at once caused her great sorrow by seeking another favorite, by whom he had two sons." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 28)
Effects on Lovers' Family, Other People and Society: "Louis XIV was very indignant at the open affront offered to his daughter. He sent for Monsieur, and angrily reproached him with his son's misconduct; the other tartly replied that the King had not fulfilled the promises he had made at the duke's marriage.
The angry scene, it will be remembered, preceded only by a couple of hours the fit of apoplexy which caused Monsieur's death." (Taylor, 1849, p. 185)
Personal & Family Background: She was the daughter of Daniel Le Bel, Sieur de La Boissiere, and of his wife Maria-Anne Masparault.
Spouse & Children: She married in 1713 the Knight Forbin d'Oppede. " . . . The Countess of Argenton, who always declared that her friendship for the prince was most beneficial to him, keeping him from the other and more disorderly connexions, solaced herself by marrying the Chevalier d'Oppede. Her son by the Duke of Orleans became Grand Prior of the Order of Malta, and he was at one time much looked up to, as the title which he bore of Batard d'Orleans reminded the people of Dunios; and it was even anticipated that he prove a match for the English. . . ." (Bentley's Miscellany, Volume 56:427)
Natural offspring.
1. Jean-Philippe d'Orleans (1702-1748).
a.k.a. Batard d'Orleans, le Chevalier d'Orleans; le Grand Prieur d'Orleans.
"Although the Duke de Chartres married Mlle. de Blois, a legitimate daughter of the king, he never ceased his attentions tom other women. . . (B)eautiful and generous though he was, he became smitten with Mlle. de Sery, maid of honor to Mme. of Orleans, his mother. Mlle. de Sery was a young lady beautiful, virtuous, witty and be it said to her credit resisted his pleadings for nearly two years. She was the only woman whom the prince pursued in this persistent manner, for was fonder of easy conquests; but having shown her his violent passion, she finally yielded to his desires, and as if to be consistent with his past fickle conduct, he at once caused her great sorrow by seeking another favorite, by whom he had two sons." (Memoirs of the Duc de Richelieu: 28)
Effects on Lovers' Family, Other People and Society: "Louis XIV was very indignant at the open affront offered to his daughter. He sent for Monsieur, and angrily reproached him with his son's misconduct; the other tartly replied that the King had not fulfilled the promises he had made at the duke's marriage.
The angry scene, it will be remembered, preceded only by a couple of hours the fit of apoplexy which caused Monsieur's death." (Taylor, 1849, p. 185)
Personal & Family Background: She was the daughter of Daniel Le Bel, Sieur de La Boissiere, and of his wife Maria-Anne Masparault.
Spouse & Children: She married in 1713 the Knight Forbin d'Oppede. " . . . The Countess of Argenton, who always declared that her friendship for the prince was most beneficial to him, keeping him from the other and more disorderly connexions, solaced herself by marrying the Chevalier d'Oppede. Her son by the Duke of Orleans became Grand Prior of the Order of Malta, and he was at one time much looked up to, as the title which he bore of Batard d'Orleans reminded the people of Dunios; and it was even anticipated that he prove a match for the English. . . ." (Bentley's Miscellany, Volume 56:427)
Natural offspring.
1. Jean-Philippe d'Orleans (1702-1748).
a.k.a. Batard d'Orleans, le Chevalier d'Orleans; le Grand Prieur d'Orleans.
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Mary Magdalene of Vieuville Marquise of Parabere |
38) Mary Magdalene de La Vieuville (1693 - 1750).
Lover in 1716-1721.
Marquise of Parabere
Also known as:
Marie-Madeleine Parabere
Madame Parabere
Marie-Madeleine Coatquer of the Vieuville
Daughter of : Rene-Francois, Marquis of the Vieuville & amp; Marie-Louise from La Chaussee d'Eu.
Wife of : Cesar-Alexandre de Beaudean, Marquis de Parabere. March 1711 .
Physical appearance & personal qualities: "Mme. de Parabere, as her nickname indicates, was little, graceful, slender, daring and prompte a la repartie; and she ate and drank with admirable zest, and thanks to those qualities, and others respecting which one must be silent, she domineered over the Regent... (S)he loved the Regent for himself and not for the sake of lucre, being in that respect, indeed, Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillina cygno!" (Six Great Princesses: 144)
Many advantages of mind, person and attire.
" . . . Madame de Parabere, of Breton descent---her name was Marie Madeleine Coatquer de la Vieuxville---was educated at an Ursuline convent at Versailles, and introduced to the court of Louis XIV; she was protected there by the austerity of Madame de Maintenon, who wedded her to the Brigadier-general M. de Beaudeant, Count of Parabere. Madame de Parabere, at eighteen, was not only beautiful, but she also abounded in all the graces of conversation. She was fond of dress, and was always lively and smiling. Few in consequence came near her without being charmed by so many advantages of mind, person, and attire. . . ." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 86: 421)
The corbeau noir of the petits soupers: "It was at one of these 'petits soupers' that Madame de Parabere made her first appearance as an intimate guest, in the month of September, 1716. She could not only smile and talk, but she could also eat and drink to an extent that drew down upon her the animadversion of her enemies. The Princess Palatine said of her 'that she was capable of eating and drinking like a hog.' . . . Everyone of these suppers of the Regency had his or her name . . . Madame de Parabere was dubbed the Corbeau Noir, from her bright black eyes." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 56: 423)
Affair ends with a scary whisper.
"Madame de Parabere was the mistress of Philippe II, Duc d’Orleans, Regent of France for Louis XV (1715 – 1723), and was the granddaughter of her lover’s former governor. Marie Madeline de la Vieuville was married to Cesar Alexandre de Beaudean (1671 – 1716), Comte de Parabere. A kindly and charming woman, of pleasant disposition, her position with the regent lasted five years, and she received modest gifts of jewels, but she indulged herself in other amours. The Duc d’ Orleans is said to have ended their affair after whispering in her ear ‘ What a beautiful head, I could have it cut off whenever I wished.’" (Women of History - P)
Madame Parabere's other lovers were:
Lovers lost in most tragical manner.
" . . . [I]s is impossible to say how many she had not lost either in some most tragical manner or by a violent death. Many young officers fell in duels, two Breton gentlemen lost their heads, a Knight of Malta was drowned during his pilgrimage, and a page of honour assassinated in a hackney-coach; there were Abbes knocked down at her door, a counsellor who poisoned himself with mushrooms, and a youth thrown out of window, but above all, the poor unfortunate Antoine de Horn." (Reflections of a French Marchioness: 227)
1. Antoine-Joseph van Horn , Earl of Horn . (1698-1720)
"If we are to believe Henri Sanson, however, the favour shown by Madame de Parabere to the young Count of Horn was fatal to the latter. This young nobleman, allied to the highest houses of France, had got engaged in a squabble with another young gentleman, and a Jew, as to a claim to certain shares in the Mississippi scheme, and the Jew had, unfortunately, lost his life in the scrimmage. There are, however, various accounts given of the event. It was said that the shares being at the moment at a discount, it was necessary to make a sacrifice in order to keep up the prestige of the scheme, and that Law and Dubois were among the most inveterate enemies of the young count. But Sanson tells us that Madame de Parabere made such extraordinary exertions to save the young man (he was only twenty-two years of age) as would imply a more than usual interest in his welfare. . . ." (Bentley's Miscellany, Vol 56: 424)
" . . . This obstinacy on the part of the Regent was much commented upon. Personal animosity was said to be the cause. M. de Horn, being young, handsome, and captivating, had been something of a lady-killer. Now, morality was not the distinguishing feature of Philip d'Orleans* Court, and it was said that several beauties in fashion had regarded the foreign young lord with more than ordinary favour. Mdme. de Parabere's name was particularly mentioned ; and it was related that the Regent had once surprised M. de Horn in conversation with the beautiful marchioness. In his fury the prince showed him the door, saying, ' Sortez ' — to which the Count made the proud and appropriate answer : ' Monseigneur, nos an- cotres auraient dit, sortons.' To this adventure, whether real or invented, was attributed the Regent's hatred for Count de Horn, whose life he had sworn to sacrifice. . . ." (Memoirs of the Sansons: 63)
2. Claude-Alexandre of Breteuil, Baron of Fontenay-Tresigny (? -1721)
aka Chevalier de Breteuil.
"In our own, we had to lament the loss of the Chevalier de Breteuil, one of the most amiable persons possible, who was killed by a brother officer in his regiment of guards. He was the younger brother of the Bishop of Rennes, and the Marquis de Breteuil-Fontenay . . . and was one of the most famed admirers of Madame de Parabere. . . ." (Recollections of a French Marchioness: 227)
39) Marie-Marguerite Rouxel from Medavy (1676-1743)
Marquise de Flavacourt
 |
| Marie Thérèse Blonel d’Haraucourt |
French courtier & society figure
Marquise of Haraucourt (from father)
Marquise Falcoz of La Blanche (from mother)
Duchess of Phalaris
Also known as:
Marie-Therese Blonel of Phalaris
Madame Phalaris
Madame de Phalaris
Madame Falari
Madame Phalaria
Wife of Gorge of Entragues, a financier, later Duke of Phalaris, mar 1715
"The last mistress of the Duke of Orleans was the young and beautiful Duchess of Phalaris or Phalaria, descended from the noble family of the Harancourts, in Dauphine. Her husband was the son of a farmer-general, named Gorge, who had been ennobled by Pope Clement XI for his successful negotiation of some important loans. She was only nineteen, and the Duke of Orleans was forty-nine; but notwithstanding this disparity of age she consented to abandon her husband and family, and to become an avowed mistress. None of his previous favourites had loved him so sincerely. She preferred his conversation to all the pleasures of the Court, she spent entire days in his cabinet when he was engaged with his ministerial duties, and accompanied him in the evening when he retired to his sybarite seclusion at St. Cloud." (Memoirs of the House of Orleans, Vol 2: 99)
"He, however, assumed Dubois' post of first minister; he made an effort to reform his mode of life; and, in order not to set a bad example to the young king, who now sojourned more frequently at the Tuileries, he even, we learn, went so far in his reform as to content himself with but one maitresse-en-titre, Madame d'Antragues---in the Roman states, Duchesse de Falari. She was the wife of a financier, to whom Clement XI, for some service of a financial nature, had given the title of Duke. But the excesses of the petits-soupers still went on, and the regent drank the usual quantity of his favourite vin d'Ai. His physicians warned him that dropsy or apoplexy would be the result of intemperance. 'Not dropsy,' he said, 'it is too lingering; death stares one in the face too long, and I had hoped to meet death from a cannon-ball on the battle-field.' And a death as sudden was granted him. Sitting beside the Duchesse de Falari, he suddenly exclaimed, 'Madelon! Madelon! --- sauvez moi,' and fell dead at her feet." (The Old Regime: Courts, Salons and Theatres, Vol 1: 204)
The duke died in her arms.
"After dinner he retired into a saloon, which he had recently furnished most sumptuously for the Duchess of Phalaris, to have some conversation with his beautiful mistress before waiting on the King. A private staircase led from this saloon to the door of the King's closet, and the duke sent his secretary round by the public gallery to meet him at this door when the hour of audience arrived. On entering the apartment, hr found the duchess preparing for a ball, her curling locks hanging loose on her shoulders, and her dressing gown not laid aside. He sat down upon a sofa, her head reposing upon his knees. After a short pause he said to her, 'My fair friend, I am quite worn out with fatigue this evening and have a stupefying head-ache; tell me one of those lively stories which you relate so well.' The young lady, looking up into his face with childish coquetry, and assuming a mocking smile, began with, 'There was once upon a time a king and a queen.' She scarcely uttered the words when the duke's head sank suddenly on his breast, and he fell sideways on her shoulder. As he was sometimes accustomed to take a brief nap in this position, the lady for a second or two felt no alarm; but when she saw his limbs grow stiff, after quivering with convulsion, she sprang to the bell, and rang it violently. No one replied. She rushed into the outer apartments; they were deserted; and it was not until she reached the court-yard that her cries attracted the attention of a few domestics. Chance had so arranged that the accident occurred at a time when everybody was either occupied or out visiting. It was more than half an our before any medical man made his appearance, and by that time the duke was quite dead. The body was laid on the carpet, and some attempts were made at bleeding; but they proved ineffectual. Expresses were sent to Paris, and the fatal event was communicated to the King." (Memoirs of the House of Orleans, Vol 2: 101)
41) Princess of Leon .
42) Sophie de Bregis.
Countess of Averne
Also known as:
Sophie de Bregy, Madame d'Averne .
" . . . During the reign of Louis XIV, the king's military brother Philippe Duc d'Orleans (1674-1723) was said to have organized a secret society of sodomitical military men, which may have included Marshal Louis-Joseph de Vendome (1654-1712), his brother Philippe de Vendome (1655-1730), Admiral Louis de Vermandois (1667-83), Marshal Nicolas d'Huxelles (1652-1730), General Claude-Alexandre de Bonneval (1675-1747), and Marshal Claude Louis Hector de Villars (1653-1734). . . ." (Napoleonic Friendship: 275)
Natural Offspring.
"The Regent Orleans left four daughters and one son. The Duchess of Berri was the eldest. The second, Mademoiselle de Chartres, fell in love with an opera-singer, and was sent into a convent, where she led a disorderly life, and humbly imitated her elder sister. The third, Mademoiselle de Valois, was torn from the arms of the Duke of Richelieu to be married to the Duke of Modena. . . The fourth daughter of the Regent, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, married Luis, Prince of Asturias. Her levity of conduct so shocked the court of Spain that her husband, when King, had her arrested and sent to prison. He died shortly afterwards, and she returned to France, where for eighteen years she led a morose, secluded life, disliked by everyone. Her death was hardly noticed." (Harper's Magazine, Vol 10: 780)
43) Mouse.
French actress.
" . . . Although indulging himself [the Regent] in all pleasures indiscriminately, he opposed the attachment of his daughter for the Duke de Richelieu, and the latter, to avenge himself, determined to kidnap Souris, with whom the prince lived publicly. In order to execute this wild project, Richelieu took a celebrated actor of the opera, a favorite of Souris, named Thevenard, into his confidence, and gave him two hundred louis to defray the expenses of a festival which was to be held in a house that the actor owned at Auteuil. Throngs of people were invited to the ball to witness the fireworks and illuminations, and La Souris was to be the queen of the affair. Richelieu arrived there in the afternoon in one of his carriages which at that time was called a phaeton; two men informed Souris that a gentleman wished to speak with her. She was lifted in the carriage and driven at full speed to Paris. The regent was neither angered not did he resent the insult. Emelie then succeeded Souris in his affections. However licentious, unfaithful, inconstant and capricious Souris was, she was kind and good natured and among all his mistresses, she lived for the longest time with the regent who was utterly incapable of centering his affections upon one woman for any length of time. Souris, even when she was loved by the regent, never ceased to have other liaisons. Regardless of her own fortune she gave the subject of acquiring wealth for herself never a thought, bestowing whatever wealth she acquired upon a young page of the Duke of Luxembourg, who lavished his easily acquired income on another woman. . . ." (Memoirs of Duke of Richelieu: 112)
44) Renée de Romilley de La Chesnelaye (1684-1742).
Lover in 1706.
43) Mouse.
French actress.
" . . . Although indulging himself [the Regent] in all pleasures indiscriminately, he opposed the attachment of his daughter for the Duke de Richelieu, and the latter, to avenge himself, determined to kidnap Souris, with whom the prince lived publicly. In order to execute this wild project, Richelieu took a celebrated actor of the opera, a favorite of Souris, named Thevenard, into his confidence, and gave him two hundred louis to defray the expenses of a festival which was to be held in a house that the actor owned at Auteuil. Throngs of people were invited to the ball to witness the fireworks and illuminations, and La Souris was to be the queen of the affair. Richelieu arrived there in the afternoon in one of his carriages which at that time was called a phaeton; two men informed Souris that a gentleman wished to speak with her. She was lifted in the carriage and driven at full speed to Paris. The regent was neither angered not did he resent the insult. Emelie then succeeded Souris in his affections. However licentious, unfaithful, inconstant and capricious Souris was, she was kind and good natured and among all his mistresses, she lived for the longest time with the regent who was utterly incapable of centering his affections upon one woman for any length of time. Souris, even when she was loved by the regent, never ceased to have other liaisons. Regardless of her own fortune she gave the subject of acquiring wealth for herself never a thought, bestowing whatever wealth she acquired upon a young page of the Duke of Luxembourg, who lavished his easily acquired income on another woman. . . ." (Memoirs of Duke of Richelieu: 112)
44) Renée de Romilley de La Chesnelaye (1684-1742).
Lover in 1706.
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| Louis Philippe I of Orléans @Wikipedia |
Duke of Valois 1762
Duke of Nemours 1752
Duke of Montpensier
Duke of Chartres 1725
First Prince of the Blood 1752.
Son of : Louis d'Orleans , Duc d'Orleans & amp; Johanna of Baden-Baden.
Husband of:
1. Louise Henriette de Bourbon (1726-1759) mar 1743, Duchesse de Chartres 1743, Duchesse d'Orleans 1752
Daughter of: Louis-Armand II de Bourbon, Prince de Conti & Louise-Elisabeth de Bourbon.
"The Orleans marriage, however, soon collapsed on is return from the war (the duchess had taken full advantage of her husband's absence to entertain a series of lovers in the Palais-Royal). . . ." (The Rape of Europa)
2. Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de La Haye de Riou (1738-1806), mar 1773, Marquise de Montesson.
Husband of:
1. Louise Henriette de Bourbon (1726-1759) mar 1743, Duchesse de Chartres 1743, Duchesse d'Orleans 1752
Daughter of: Louis-Armand II de Bourbon, Prince de Conti & Louise-Elisabeth de Bourbon.
"The Orleans marriage, however, soon collapsed on is return from the war (the duchess had taken full advantage of her husband's absence to entertain a series of lovers in the Palais-Royal). . . ." (The Rape of Europa)
2. Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de La Haye de Riou (1738-1806), mar 1773, Marquise de Montesson.
Louise-Henriette de Bourbon's lovers
The most charming girl Casanova has met in France.
The duchess strays away, too: " . . . As bitter confirmation that their passionate relationship was indeed now over he immediately rented a small, charming and discreet villa in the rue Cadet in the smartest area of Paris and invited his friends the Comte d'Estrehan, the Chevalier de Dampierre and several other trusted companions to share it with him. The rue Cadet would be their communal love nest, a venue where they could entertain the attractive and readily available actresses from the Paris theatres. When informed of this arrangement, Louise Henriette showed little concern, having recently began passionate affairs of her own with several young men. Among them was the 26-year-old Comte de Melfort, a man described by the diarist de Cheverney as being as beautiful as a classical statue and as strong as Hercules." (Godfather of the Revolution: 234)
Louise-Henriette's lovers:
1) Louis Drummond, Comte de Melfort (1722-1788)
French soldier.
Melfort's personal & family background.
"The count de Melfort is of an illustrious Scotch family, and grandson of John Drummond, count of Perth --- who was minister to James II who created him duke of Melfort; and Louis XIV made him a peer of France --- and grand-nephew to James Drummond, chancellor of Scotland, and who followed James II to St. Germain. The English king made James Drummond duke of Perth, and appointed him governor to his son the chevalier St. George. He was also a peer of France. (Memoirs of the Baroness d'Oberkirch, Countess de Montbrison, Vol. 2: 274)
Melfort's physical appearance & personal qualities. "This count de Melfort was colonel of the Orleans regiment, and afterwards lieutenant-general. In his youth he had been one of the most brilliant and seductive men at court; and the list of his 'conquests' was much longer than that of his victories, as the duchess de Bourbon told me, but in the greatest secrecy, as he had the reputation of being a lover of her own mother's, the duchess of Orleans, nee Louisa Henrietta de Bourbon-Conti. She was a woman of the most dissolute life; and dishonoured, in a most melancholy manner, the distinguished name she bore. Public report ascribed the paternity of her son, the duke de Chartres, to M. de Melfort; and if that had been true, he has bestowed a sad gift upon this country." ((Memoirs of the Baroness d'Oberkirch, Countess de Montbrison, Vo. 2: 276)
1) Charlotte-Jeanne Beraud de La Haye de Riou (1738-1806)
 |
Louise-Henriette de Bourbon |
1) Louis Drummond, Comte de Melfort (1722-1788)
French soldier.
Melfort's personal & family background.
"The count de Melfort is of an illustrious Scotch family, and grandson of John Drummond, count of Perth --- who was minister to James II who created him duke of Melfort; and Louis XIV made him a peer of France --- and grand-nephew to James Drummond, chancellor of Scotland, and who followed James II to St. Germain. The English king made James Drummond duke of Perth, and appointed him governor to his son the chevalier St. George. He was also a peer of France. (Memoirs of the Baroness d'Oberkirch, Countess de Montbrison, Vol. 2: 274)
Melfort's physical appearance & personal qualities. "This count de Melfort was colonel of the Orleans regiment, and afterwards lieutenant-general. In his youth he had been one of the most brilliant and seductive men at court; and the list of his 'conquests' was much longer than that of his victories, as the duchess de Bourbon told me, but in the greatest secrecy, as he had the reputation of being a lover of her own mother's, the duchess of Orleans, nee Louisa Henrietta de Bourbon-Conti. She was a woman of the most dissolute life; and dishonoured, in a most melancholy manner, the distinguished name she bore. Public report ascribed the paternity of her son, the duke de Chartres, to M. de Melfort; and if that had been true, he has bestowed a sad gift upon this country." ((Memoirs of the Baroness d'Oberkirch, Countess de Montbrison, Vo. 2: 276)
The Duc d'Orleans' lovers were:
 |
Charlotte-Jeanne Marquise de Montesson by Vigee-Lebrun, c1780-90 |
Marquise de Montesson.
French royal mistress
Daughter of: Jean Beraud de la Haye
Wife of: Jean-Baptiste, Marquis de Montesson (d.1769) mar 1757.
"The Marquise de Montesson, morganatic wife of Louis Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, had a theatre built in her mansion on the Chaussee d'Antin and engaged an orchestra led by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the Black violinist-composer. There members of the nobility took roles in plays by the Marquise herself and operas by Saint-Georges and others." (The Birth of the Orchestra: 203)
" . . . Mme de Montesson [had] come into a fortune on the death of her husband in 1769, but she was also the mistress and later the wife of the Duc d'Orleans, Louis 'Le Gros', the father of Philippe Egalite -- an irregular alliance. . . ."
Lover in 1766.
(She)..."was clandestinely married to the Duke of Orleans... The Duke of Orleans was so modest in the demands he made in her favour, that people said of him that because he could not make her Duchess of Orleans he made himself M. de Montesson." (Cleron,: 43)
2) Etiennette le Marquis de Villemomble (1737-1806)
Lover in 1759-1773.
French dancer, courtesan & royal mistress.
a.k.a Etiennette Le Marquis, Etiennette-Marie-Perrine de Villemomble, Madame Villemomble.
Natural offspring:
1. Louis-Etienne d'Orleans (1759-1825)
2. Louis-Philippe d'Orleans, Comte-Abbe de Saint-Albin (1761-1829)
3. Marie-Etiennette-Perrine d'Auvilliers (1761-?) married Francois-Constantin, Comte de Brossard
"Villemomble, Stephanie Le Marquis de (Etiennette) – (1737 – 1806),
French courtier. Stephanie de Villemomble was born at Dinan in Brittany. She was married and later became the mistress of Louis Philippe I de Bourbon (died 1785), Duc d’Orleans, cousin to Louis XV and father of Duc Philippe II Egalite of Revolutionary fame. Stephanie had born the Duc d’Orleans three children, whom he recognized and supported, and her sons were later legitimated by Louis XVIII (1815). She survived the horrors of the Revolution and died during the reign of Napoleon I. Her sons were Louis Etienne de Bourbon (1759 – 1825), created Comte de Saint-Phar, and Louis Philippe de Bourbon (1761 – 1829), created Comte de Saint-Albin. Her daughter, Marie Etiennette Perrine d’Auvilliers (1761 – before 1815), was styled Madame de Villemomble prior to her marriage (1778) with Comte Francois de Brossard (died 1810). Stephanie Villemomble died (Feb 9, 1806) aged sixty-eight, in Paris." (Women of History - V)
French royal mistress
Daughter of: Jean Beraud de la Haye
Wife of: Jean-Baptiste, Marquis de Montesson (d.1769) mar 1757.
"The Marquise de Montesson, morganatic wife of Louis Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, had a theatre built in her mansion on the Chaussee d'Antin and engaged an orchestra led by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the Black violinist-composer. There members of the nobility took roles in plays by the Marquise herself and operas by Saint-Georges and others." (The Birth of the Orchestra: 203)
" . . . Mme de Montesson [had] come into a fortune on the death of her husband in 1769, but she was also the mistress and later the wife of the Duc d'Orleans, Louis 'Le Gros', the father of Philippe Egalite -- an irregular alliance. . . ."
Marquise de Montesson's other lover was:
 |
Jean-Baptiste Comte de Valence |
son of Felicite de Genlis
"Born Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de la Haie, on October 5, 1728, the future marquise de Montesson was the daughter of the self-styled 'marquis' de la Haie. When Charlotte's mother (nee Mezieres) married her landlord, M. de la Haie, she already had a daughter from a former marriage. After Charlotte's arrive, she sent her older daughter to a convent, and, when the girl refused to take the veil, Mme. de la Haie left her destitute by purloining the inheritance her first husband had left his daughter before he died. The unfortunate young woman the fled the convent to marry for love, but her husband, Pierre-Cesar DuCrest, inept in business, died after incarceration in debtor's prison. His widow was left with a little girl called Felicite. Little Felicite grew up to become the famous Countess de Genlis . . ., but she never forgot that, after her grandmother de la Haie deprived her mother of her inheritance, her Aunt Charlotte, who had married the rich marquis de Montesson, would not lend them the paltry six hundred francs that would have save her father from prison. Though Charlotte later helped them having her society friends invite Felicite to play the harp at their supper parties, the memory of her stinginess accounted for their stormy relationship." (The Chevalier de Saint-George:Virtuoso of the Sword and the Bow: 205)
(She)..."was clandestinely married to the Duke of Orleans... The Duke of Orleans was so modest in the demands he made in her favour, that people said of him that because he could not make her Duchess of Orleans he made himself M. de Montesson." (Cleron,: 43)
2) Etiennette le Marquis de Villemomble (1737-1806)
Lover in 1759-1773.
French dancer, courtesan & royal mistress.
a.k.a Etiennette Le Marquis, Etiennette-Marie-Perrine de Villemomble, Madame Villemomble.
Natural offspring:
1. Louis-Etienne d'Orleans (1759-1825)
2. Louis-Philippe d'Orleans, Comte-Abbe de Saint-Albin (1761-1829)
3. Marie-Etiennette-Perrine d'Auvilliers (1761-?) married Francois-Constantin, Comte de Brossard
"Villemomble, Stephanie Le Marquis de (Etiennette) – (1737 – 1806),
French courtier. Stephanie de Villemomble was born at Dinan in Brittany. She was married and later became the mistress of Louis Philippe I de Bourbon (died 1785), Duc d’Orleans, cousin to Louis XV and father of Duc Philippe II Egalite of Revolutionary fame. Stephanie had born the Duc d’Orleans three children, whom he recognized and supported, and her sons were later legitimated by Louis XVIII (1815). She survived the horrors of the Revolution and died during the reign of Napoleon I. Her sons were Louis Etienne de Bourbon (1759 – 1825), created Comte de Saint-Phar, and Louis Philippe de Bourbon (1761 – 1829), created Comte de Saint-Albin. Her daughter, Marie Etiennette Perrine d’Auvilliers (1761 – before 1815), was styled Madame de Villemomble prior to her marriage (1778) with Comte Francois de Brossard (died 1810). Stephanie Villemomble died (Feb 9, 1806) aged sixty-eight, in Paris." (Women of History - V)
 |
| Louis-Philippe II d'Orleans |
Husband of: Louise-Marie-Adelaide de Bourbon. mar 1769.
"At the age of fifteen Louis Philippe Joseph differed from other young princes of the age. In appearance he was tall and slim, with a predictably aristocratic bearing and an open if expressionless face. Always impeccably dressed, he invariably wore across his chest the blue ribbon of the Saint Esprit and on his coat the black collar of the Order of Saint-Michel. A fine horseman, since the age of fourteen he had hunted regularly with Louis XV and attended the endless levees and receptions that filled the day at Versailles
Physical appearance at age 40.
"Now approaching the age of forty, Louis Philippe Joseph had changed little in character in the past twenty years in spite of his increasing involvement in politics. He was still more concerned with enjoyment than responsibility, and the passage of the years had begun to leave their mark on his physical appearance. His nose now had a slightly bulbous aspect and his face become permanently flushed from overindulgence in strong wine. His best feature, his piercing blue eyes, remained impressive, but his receding hairline was evidence of the passing years. . . The characteristic faint yet sardonic smile remained constantly on his lips, reflecting the assumed lassitude and ennui that he had made his own. Still bored by the inaction imposed by his position as the senior Prince of the Blood, he soon lost interest in ballooning and returned to hunting and fencing, in which he was known to be proficient. He also maintained his remarkable sexual vitality, exploring sensuality in all its forms as his huge cache of pornography, discovered at the Palais-Royal after his death, revealed." (Godfather of the Revolution: 109)
Mistresses coming & going with regularity.
"The mistresses still came and went with regularity. Over the years there was Mademoiselle de Cambis, soon followed by the Princesse de Lamballe, who was in turn supplanted by Madame de Genlis. Then shortly after the death of his father he met the woman who would remain his principal mistress until his death. Francoise-Marguerite Bouvier de Cepoy was the daughter of Georges-Louis Leclerk, Comte de Buffon . . . ." (The Godfather of the Revolution: 109)
His lovers were:
 |
Felicite, Comtesse de Genlis |
Lover in 1772-1773.
Comtesse de Genlis.
French writer, harpist and educator.
Lady-in-waiting to Duchesse de Chartres
Wife of: Charles-Alexis de Brulart, Marquis de Genlis (1737-1793), mar 1762, dep 1782
"Twenty-six years old, pretty, cultured and above all determined, Felicite de Genlis was the niece of Madame de Montesson, the Duc d'Orleans' mistress. It was claimed that her aunt had engineered her entry into the Palais-Royal in order to bring about a reconciliation between Louis Philippe Joseph and his father; still estranged over the issue of Orleans' choice of mistress. Within a few months Felicite had become the inseparable companion of Marie Adelaide and, without her knowledge, the lover of her husband. . . ."(Godfather of the Revolution: 60)
"This remarkable programme was conceived and executed by one of the most extraordinary women of her day. Felicite, comtesse de Genlis, was highly intelligent, manipulative and ambitions, as well as stunningly beautiful. Married to the captain of Louis-Philippe-Joseph's guards and herself lady-in-waiting to the latter's wife Marie-Adelaide, by the summer of 1772 Mme de Genlis was Louis-Philippe-Joseph's mistress, although his wife remained unaware of the fact until fifteen years later." (Prince, 2011, pp. 19-20)
"...It is during the summer of 1772, a few months after his wife had given birth to a stillborn daughter, that began Philippe's secret liaison with one of her ladies-in-waiting, Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de Genlis, the niece of Madame de Montesson, the Morganatic (sic) wife of Philippe's father. Passionate at first, the liaison cooled within a few months and, by the spring of 1773, was reported to be 'dead'. After the romantic affair was over, Félicité remained in the service of Marie-Adélaïde at the Palais-Royal, a trusted friend to both Marie-Adélaïde and Philippe. They both appreciated her intelligence and, in July 1779, she became the governess of the couple twin daughters born in 1777." (Wikipedia)
1. Anne Caroline Stéphanie Sims (1776?-1831).
"Felicite de Genlis was also the mother of an illegitimate daughter named Pamela after the eponymous heroine of Samuel Richardson's epistolary novel, published in 1740 and the fruit of her liaison with the Duc d'Orleans. The girl was legally adopted by Madame de Genlis and her husband and christened Pamela Brulart de Sillery (c1777-1831). During a voyage to Paris in October 1792, an Irish aristocrat, Lord Edward FitzGerald (1763-1798), who was lodging as the guest of the American patriot and philosopher Thomas Paine (1737-1809), espied Pamela at the theater and was introduced to her. The two were married on December 27, 1792. Rendered penniless after the unexpected death of her husband in 1798, Pamela fled to Hamburg to escape her creditors, where she briefly encounter her mother. She died in squalor in Paris on December 31, 1830." (Monville: Forgotten Luminary of the French Enlightenment: 41)
"Lady Edward 'Pamela' FitzGerald; née Stephanie Caroline Anne Syms (1776?-1831) Born Anne Caroline Stéphanie Sims, she was the illegitimate daughter of Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duc d'Orléans (1747-1793), cousin of Louis XVI of France, and his mistress, (Caroline) Stéphanie Félicité Brulart, Comtesse de Genlis (née Du Crest; 1746-1830). 'Pamela' was briefly engaged to Sheridan but married the Lord Edward FitzGerald. After the failed Irish uprising she was forced to flee Ireland. Estranged from FitzGerald's family, who blamed his radicalism on her, she lived in exile in Hamburg and later Paris. She was buried at Montmartre, but in 1880 her grandchildren bought her remains to Thames Ditton Church." (The Elmbridge Hundred)
2) Grace Elliott.
Lover in 1784-1789?.
"In 1784 Lady Elliott was presented to the Duke of Orléans, a cousin of the French King Louis XVI. The two started an affair and he took her to France in 1786. Their liaison came to an end when the revolution began. Although Grace disapproved of the Duke's involvement in the uprising under the name of Philippe Égalité, they remained friends. After the Tuileron Tower and the arrest of the royal family, Grace fled to her country house in Meudon . However, she returned to Paris at the request of a friend, a survivor of the September murdersto get out of the city. As it turned out, this (the governor of the Tuileries Champcenetz) was an enemy of the Duke. Nevertheless, Orléans helped him escape to England. Later Lady Elliott was arrested for sympathy for the counter-revolution , but escaped unlike the Duke of Guillotine . After the fall of Robespierre , she retired to her estate near Ville-d'Avray , where she died as a wealthy woman.
". . .(F)idelity to one woman was an impossibility for Louis Philippe Joseph, and the following year he added a second mistress to his entourage. This was another twenty-year-old who had recently arrived from England and would later give him much-needed comfort and support. . . She was now one of the leading courtesans in the land and was naturally introduced to the Duc de Chartres when he came to stay at Brighton. Mutual admiration of each other's tastes led to the Duc of Chartres becoming fascinated by his friend's mistress, and to his host's chagrin he invited Grace to visit him in Paris. A passionate affair followed, but within a year the relationship had cooled, as so often in Louis Philippe Joseph's life, into a friendship that would last for the next seven years." (Godfather of the Revolution: 110)
3) Marguerite-Francoise Bouvier de La Mothe de Cepy (1767-1808)
Lover in 1792.
Comtesse de Buffon.
Egalite's principal mistress until his death: ". . . Then shortly after the death of his father he met the woman who would remain his principal mistress until his death. Francoise-Marguerite Bouvier de Cepoy was the daughter of Georges-Louis Leclerk, Comte de Buffon, an author who had published the first authoritative encyclopedia on natural science. Better known as Agnes, Madame de Buffon was twenty years old in 1785 and a ravishing beauty. Before her early marriage to the Comte de Buffon she had been mistress of the Comte de Genlis, the husband of Madame de Genlis. Felicite had persuaded the new Duc d'Orleans that the pretty Agnes would make him a highly desirable young mistress. This was a clever move on her part, for at a stroke she had prised Agnes away from her husband and handed her to her ex-lover as a controllable and unthreatening replacement for herself. Orleans was completely smitten by her, telling his friend the Duc de Lauzun that she was a little animal in bed and possessed of a wonderful body. Within a week Agnes was established in a splendid little bourgeois house on the rue Bleue and ready to receive her new lover." (Godfather of the Revolution: 110)
"Agnes was the divorced daughter-in-law of the famous naturalist Buffon. She later become Philippe's mistress." (Banat: 219) [Ref1]
Affair's effects on lovers' family, other people & society: "Agnes de Buffon, however, remained the fixed point in his emotional life, a position she ensured by providing a unique combination of domestic comfort and erotic stimulation. She proved to be so charming that she even won over Marie Adelaide, who grudgingly accepted her presence in her husband's life as long as she was not accorded the rights of a second wife and her husband's respect and affection for herself as his wife was maintained. . . ." (Godfather of the Revolution: 111)
4) Mademoiselle de Cambis.
5) Princesse de Lamballe.
6) Rosalie Duthe.
Lover in 1766.
"...It is during the summer of 1772, a few months after his wife had given birth to a stillborn daughter, that began Philippe's secret liaison with one of her ladies-in-waiting, Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de Genlis, the niece of Madame de Montesson, the Morganatic (sic) wife of Philippe's father. Passionate at first, the liaison cooled within a few months and, by the spring of 1773, was reported to be 'dead'. After the romantic affair was over, Félicité remained in the service of Marie-Adélaïde at the Palais-Royal, a trusted friend to both Marie-Adélaïde and Philippe. They both appreciated her intelligence and, in July 1779, she became the governess of the couple twin daughters born in 1777." (Wikipedia)
 |
Anne Caroline Stéphanie Sims |
Natural offspring.
1. Anne Caroline Stéphanie Sims (1776?-1831).
"Felicite de Genlis was also the mother of an illegitimate daughter named Pamela after the eponymous heroine of Samuel Richardson's epistolary novel, published in 1740 and the fruit of her liaison with the Duc d'Orleans. The girl was legally adopted by Madame de Genlis and her husband and christened Pamela Brulart de Sillery (c1777-1831). During a voyage to Paris in October 1792, an Irish aristocrat, Lord Edward FitzGerald (1763-1798), who was lodging as the guest of the American patriot and philosopher Thomas Paine (1737-1809), espied Pamela at the theater and was introduced to her. The two were married on December 27, 1792. Rendered penniless after the unexpected death of her husband in 1798, Pamela fled to Hamburg to escape her creditors, where she briefly encounter her mother. She died in squalor in Paris on December 31, 1830." (Monville: Forgotten Luminary of the French Enlightenment: 41)
"Lady Edward 'Pamela' FitzGerald; née Stephanie Caroline Anne Syms (1776?-1831) Born Anne Caroline Stéphanie Sims, she was the illegitimate daughter of Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duc d'Orléans (1747-1793), cousin of Louis XVI of France, and his mistress, (Caroline) Stéphanie Félicité Brulart, Comtesse de Genlis (née Du Crest; 1746-1830). 'Pamela' was briefly engaged to Sheridan but married the Lord Edward FitzGerald. After the failed Irish uprising she was forced to flee Ireland. Estranged from FitzGerald's family, who blamed his radicalism on her, she lived in exile in Hamburg and later Paris. She was buried at Montmartre, but in 1880 her grandchildren bought her remains to Thames Ditton Church." (The Elmbridge Hundred)
2) Grace Elliott.
Lover in 1784-1789?.
"In 1784 Lady Elliott was presented to the Duke of Orléans, a cousin of the French King Louis XVI. The two started an affair and he took her to France in 1786. Their liaison came to an end when the revolution began. Although Grace disapproved of the Duke's involvement in the uprising under the name of Philippe Égalité, they remained friends. After the Tuileron Tower and the arrest of the royal family, Grace fled to her country house in Meudon . However, she returned to Paris at the request of a friend, a survivor of the September murdersto get out of the city. As it turned out, this (the governor of the Tuileries Champcenetz) was an enemy of the Duke. Nevertheless, Orléans helped him escape to England. Later Lady Elliott was arrested for sympathy for the counter-revolution , but escaped unlike the Duke of Guillotine . After the fall of Robespierre , she retired to her estate near Ville-d'Avray , where she died as a wealthy woman.
". . .(F)idelity to one woman was an impossibility for Louis Philippe Joseph, and the following year he added a second mistress to his entourage. This was another twenty-year-old who had recently arrived from England and would later give him much-needed comfort and support. . . She was now one of the leading courtesans in the land and was naturally introduced to the Duc de Chartres when he came to stay at Brighton. Mutual admiration of each other's tastes led to the Duc of Chartres becoming fascinated by his friend's mistress, and to his host's chagrin he invited Grace to visit him in Paris. A passionate affair followed, but within a year the relationship had cooled, as so often in Louis Philippe Joseph's life, into a friendship that would last for the next seven years." (Godfather of the Revolution: 110)
 |
Agnes, Comtesse de Buffon |
Lover in 1792.
Comtesse de Buffon.
Egalite's principal mistress until his death: ". . . Then shortly after the death of his father he met the woman who would remain his principal mistress until his death. Francoise-Marguerite Bouvier de Cepoy was the daughter of Georges-Louis Leclerk, Comte de Buffon, an author who had published the first authoritative encyclopedia on natural science. Better known as Agnes, Madame de Buffon was twenty years old in 1785 and a ravishing beauty. Before her early marriage to the Comte de Buffon she had been mistress of the Comte de Genlis, the husband of Madame de Genlis. Felicite had persuaded the new Duc d'Orleans that the pretty Agnes would make him a highly desirable young mistress. This was a clever move on her part, for at a stroke she had prised Agnes away from her husband and handed her to her ex-lover as a controllable and unthreatening replacement for herself. Orleans was completely smitten by her, telling his friend the Duc de Lauzun that she was a little animal in bed and possessed of a wonderful body. Within a week Agnes was established in a splendid little bourgeois house on the rue Bleue and ready to receive her new lover." (Godfather of the Revolution: 110)
"Agnes was the divorced daughter-in-law of the famous naturalist Buffon. She later become Philippe's mistress." (Banat: 219) [Ref1]
Affair's effects on lovers' family, other people & society: "Agnes de Buffon, however, remained the fixed point in his emotional life, a position she ensured by providing a unique combination of domestic comfort and erotic stimulation. She proved to be so charming that she even won over Marie Adelaide, who grudgingly accepted her presence in her husband's life as long as she was not accorded the rights of a second wife and her husband's respect and affection for herself as his wife was maintained. . . ." (Godfather of the Revolution: 111)
4) Mademoiselle de Cambis.
5) Princesse de Lamballe.
6) Rosalie Duthe.
Lover in 1766.
"The future Duke of Orleans was given a highly privileged upbringing in the palace. In his early childhood, on his father's instructions, he was allowed no familiarity with servants or dogs, but, once he reached adolescence, Philippe soon acquired the dissolute habits of his ancestors. At the age of 15, the Duke of Chartres , as he was known, was introduced to the attractive Rosalie Duthe, one of the most alluring young courtesans in Paris, who had been painted in the nude by Jean-Honors Fragonard, renowned for his playful and erotic paintings. Rosalie was soon a regular visitor to the Palais-Royal, eagerly anticipated by Philippe, and he was spotted, as Louis XV's spy Marais reported to his master, going round to her house every day, carried in a sedan chair. Once he had acquired a taste for the fair sex, Philippe progressed to spending the night with three dancers, Emile Zelmire and La Guerin. They were seen leaving at day-break, each clutching six gold Louis, a fortune even for courtesans at the height of their profession." (The Rape of Europa)
" . . . But one aspect of his character began increasingly to worry his father. Although he had evidently reached puberty the young Duc de Chartres appeared to have a strange and inexplicable indifference to the presence of women. Had he inherited the homosexuality that had made his ancestor Monsieur, the brother of Louis XIV, so reviled. Rather than risk a repeat of that near catastrophe, the Duc d'Orleans decided in March 1766 to deal with the maker personally and to engage the services of a young lady well known to him. Rosalie Duthe
(1810-1842)
7th Duke of Orleans 1830-1842
Husband of: Helena Luise Elisabeth von Mecklenburg (1814-1858), daughter of Friedrich Ludwig von Mecklenburg & Caroline von Sachsen.
Ferdinand-Philippe's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"The king did not arrive till after ten. He entered by a silken curtain in the rear of the platform on which seats were placed for his family. . . King Philippe looks anxious. . . His majesty came down, and walked through the hall about midnight. His eldest son, the Duke of Orleans, a handsome, unoffending-looking youth of eighteen, followed him, gazing round upon the crowd with his mouth open, and looking very much annoyed at his part of the pageant. The young duke has a good figure, and is certainly a very beautiful dancer. His mouth is loose and weak, and his eyes are as opaque as agates. He wore the uniform of the Garde Nationale, which does not become him. In ordinary gentleman's dress he is a very authentical copy of a Bond-street dandy, and looks as little like a Frenchman as most of Stultz's subjects. He danced all evening, and selected, very popularly, decidedly the most vulgar women in the room, looking all the while as one who had been petted by the finest women in France (Leontine Fay among the number), might be supposed to look under such an infliction. . . ." (The Prose Works of N.P. Willis: 18)
Tall, elegant, blond & blue-eyed.
Tall, elegant, blond & blue-eyed.
"The duc d'Orleans, whose marriage was designed to guarantee the dynasty's future, was now twenty-six. Tall, elegant, blond and blue-eyed, he cut an impressive figure. Although not as intellectually gifted as his younger brothers d'Aumale and Montpensier, like them he had received an excellent education at the Lycee Henri IV. . . . " (The Perilous Crown: France Between Revolutions, 1814-1848: 270)
State of exhaustion due to excessive womanizing.
"Alongside his military and official duties, before his marriage Orleans also found time for a crowded private life. His first mistress, at the age of nineteen, was a Polish countess, swiftly followed by the actress Leontine Fay, and these were succeeded by many others. By 1835, Louis-Philippe was becoming concerned that excessive womanizing might be undermining his heir's previous health. Confiding to Marie-Amelie his worries about Orleans' latest mistress, whom he did not name, he wrote: 'There is no time to lose, in view of some confidences he let slip to me about the state of exhaustion he is in. That wretched woman is tiring him out, a fact that she's flaunting everywhere, and he doesn't have the courage to break with her. Each day more of his vital forces are being drained away." (The Precious Crown: 272)
Duc d'Orleans' wife brought him a genuinely happy marriage.
Duc d'Orleans' wife brought him a genuinely happy marriage.
"It was this state of affairs that Helena of Mecklenburg was called on to remedy, and she was well equipped for the task. Tall and blonde, she had style, dignity and intelligence. She was also ambitious. Brought up in an obscure North German principality, she was happy to exchange it for the prospective throne of France. The doubts about the stability of the July monarchy that had prevented other suitable brides from accepting Orleans' hand mattered little to her. A Protestant, she refused to convert to Catholicism, but accepted that any future children would be raised as Catholics. On 30 May 1837, in a splendid ceremony at Fontainebleau, she married Orleans and assumed a new identity and title as Helene, duchesse d'Orleans. It was the beginning of a genuinely happy marriage." (The Precious Crown: 272)
His lovers were:
His lovers were:
Also known as:
nee Francoise-Zoe-Mathilde Mosselman
Fanny Mosselman
Daughter of: Francois-Dominique Mosselman & Marie-Louise Tacque.
"Ferdinand, Duke d'Orleans, the eldest of those children, and heir to the throne, became a young man of ability, but of expensive tastes and amorous disposition. His 'intrigues' with women were numerous. He was the lover of the beautiful Countess Le Hon, until displaced in her good graces by M. de Morny (half-brother of Napoleon III), with whom, on that account, he fought a duel. . . ." (Republican France. . .:92)
3) Leontine Fay (1810-1876)
French actress.
Daughter of: Etienne Fay, French musician.
Wife of: Charles Volnys, French actor mar 1832.
Leontine's physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Of the French actresses I have been most pleased with with Leontine Fay. She is not much talked of here, and perhaps, as a mere artist in her profession, is inferior to those who are more popular: but she has that indescribable something in her face that has interested me through life---that strange talisman which is linked wisely to every heart, confining its interest to some nice difference invisible to other eyes, and, by a happy consequence, undisputed by other admiration. She, too, has that retired sweetness of look that seems to come only from secluded habits, and in the highly-wrought passages of tragedy, when her fine dark eyes are filled with tears, and her tones, which have never the out-of-doors key of the stage, are clouded and imperfect, she seems less an actress than a refined and lovely woman, breaking through the habitual reserve of society in some agonizing crisis of real life. There are prints of Leontine Fay in the shops, and I have seen them in America, but they resemble her very little." (The Prose Works of N.P. Willis: 10)
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