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| Louis I of Bourbon 1st Prince de Conde @Wikipedia |
(1530-1569)
1546-1569
Husband of:
1. Éléanore de Roucy, mar 1551
"Louis of Conde was born in 1530 and was brought up for the most part at the little Court of the kings of Navarre, under the care of his mother, Frances of Alencon. We know little of his early training; but thought, to judge from his after-life, it could not have been particularly strict, it certainly was not unbecoming his rank, and possibly it implanted in his mind the germs of the religious tenets of which he became in manhood the champion. At Nerac the boy must have often been in the company of the beautiful Margaret of Navarre, that 'Pearl of the Valois,' whose gentle spirit was deeply touched by the Reformed doctrines, of Isabella and Henri d'Albret, both Huguenots of a decided type, and of several of the great Huguenot seigneurs; ad we cannot but suppose that these associations had an influence upon his disposition." (Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature, Vol. 11; Vol. 74: 260)
Plunging in ardor into a dissipated life.
"In 1549, the Prince received the modest appointment of Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Henry II, and became acquainted for the first time with the gay, dissolute, and intriguing throngs that encircled the throne of Catherine of Medici, or crowded the saloons of Diana of Poitiers. During the next two years he seems to have plunged with ardor into this dissipated life, and to have won many an easy triumph among that 'squadron of frail beauty' maintained by the subtle of Florentine Queen, and not the least potent of her instruments. But though he is one of the princes of the blood, he was entitled to a higher place of honor in the pageants of the Louvre and St. Germains he was looked upon coldly by the King, and was subjected to many slights and privations. In fact, ever since the disgrace of the Constable, the Bourbons had been disliked by the Valois; the family, ruined by fines and confiscations, had sunk from its former estate; and the young Prince of Conde found himself in poverty, and almost a stranger in the palaces of the French monarchy." (Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature, Vol. 11; Vol. 74: 260)
Prince de Conde's gallantries.
"Conde could not be indifferent to the devotion of such a woman, and there can be no doubt that, for a long time, he reciprocated her affection and that he always entertained for her a sincere regard. Nevertheless, his marriage did little to subdue his taste for gallantry, and his attentions to the light beauties of the Court must often have caused her the keenest pain. 'The good prince,' observes Brantome, 'was as worldly as his neighbour and loved other people's wives as much as his own, partaking largely of the nature of the Bourbons, who have always been of a very amorous complexion.'" (The Love Affairs of the Condes (1530-1740): 9)
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| Louis I de Bourbon Prince de Conde |
Husband of:
"In 1551, the princely but almost friendless youth contracted a marriage which did not fail to affect powerfully his subsequent fortunes. The name of the lady was Eleanor of Roye, grandniece of the aged Constable of Montmorency, first cousin of the illustrious Coligny, and in faith and manners a stanch Huguenot. The immediate result of this marriage was to separate Conde from the faction of the younger courtiers, headed by the Guises, that swayed Henry and the reigning favorite, and to attach him to the old feudal noblesse of which the Constable was the acknowledged head; and we can hardly doubt, although 'this prince loved other men's wives as well as his own,' that it inclined him towards the Reformed doctrines. Conde had not long been married when he left his bride to cross the Alps, and take part in the contest still raging between France and the Empire in Italy for that splendid possession. It is characteristic of his humble fortunes that, though nearly allied to the Royeal House, he entered the army as a volunteer; no knightly attendants bore his pennon; abd he served under the veteran Brissac as an obscure cadet of the French nobility. . . ." (Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature, Vol. 11; Vol. 74: 260)
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| Isabelle de Limeuil |
His lover was:
Isabelle de Limeuil (1535-1609)
Lover in 1562.
French aristocrat & courtesan
Maid-of-honour to Catherine de' Medici
Daughter of: Gilles de La Tour, Sieur de Limeuil.
"Two years earlier, in 1563, Limeuil had begun a relationship with the married Louis de Bourbon, first prince de Conde and leader of the French Protestant movement. The affair was tolerated at court until, in May 1564, Limeuil became ill during a solemn audience in Dijon and shortly thereafter gave birth to a son. She was immediately removed from the court and imprisoned not simply for sexual offenses but also because she had been accused of attempting to poison the prince de la Roche-sur-Yon. Her alleged motive was revenge: the elderly prince had taken great delight in informing Conde that the child in Limeuil's womb was probably not his, but more likely had been fathered by one of Catherine's secretaries of state, Florimond Robertet, seigneur de Fresnes. Yet despite the widespread doubts about his paternity and taunts about his potential cuckoldry, Conde pursued Limeuil during her imprisonment and eventually helped her escape in the early months of 1565. The possibility that he might then relinquish his Protestant beliefs in order to marry the Catholic Limeuil was the stuff of gossip at courts across Europe, and was the catalyst for the Huguenot ultimatum quoted above." (Scandal and Reputation at the Court of Catherine de Medici: 102)
" . . . In truth, more than one historian asserts that Catherine had won the consent of Conde by means not uncommon in her diplomacy. A frail beauty, Isabella de Limeuil, it is said, was thrown in the way of the Prince, who, for her venal charms, betrayed the cause; and to judge from the dates of some of the letters of Conde to the lady in this book, the story seems to be not at all improbable. It is certain, at least, that for some reason, the Huguenot doctors at this juncture were especially severe upon the licentiousness of the Prince; the Huguenot congregations denounced him fiercely as a profligate and shallow-hearted apostate; and he was treated even by the Catholic leaders with supercilious contempt and neglect. 'The Prince,' thus reported a shrewd eyewitness, 'swymeth betwixt two waters, neither the Catholiks nor the Protestants do love him; in truth I cannot tell of which of the two he is more hated.'" (Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature, Vol. 11; Vol. 74: 267)
"To dominate Conde, Catherine had in reserve an auxiliary not less redoubtable than la belle Rouet. It was Isabelle de Limeuil, one of the two maids-of-honour whom she had brought to the Ile-aux-Boeufs, and who had already made a very favourable impression upon the inflammable prince. Isabelle was a member of a branch of the House of La Tour d'Auvergne, to which Madeleine de la Tour, the mother of Catherine de' Medici, had belonged, and was therefore a kinswoman of the Queen-Mother. She was a blond, with beautiful blue eyes and a dazzling complexion, in figure somewhat thin, but exquisitely formed. She had been well-educated, was extremely intelligent and possessed of a mordant with, which she used freely at the expense of those admirers who did not suit her fancy, not sparing even the most exalted personages. Brantome relates how, one day during the siege of Rouen, she rebuffed the old Connetable de Montmorency, whose bitter tongue was dreaded by all the Court. The Constable, who, in spite of his age and gravity, did not disdain an occasional amourette, attempted to make love to her and addressed her, in anticipation, as 'his mistress.' She replied tartly that, if he supposed he would ever have the right to address her thus, he was greatly mistaken, and promptly turned her back on him. Little accustomed to such a rebuff, the old gentleman took his departure, decidedly crestfallen. 'My mistress,' said he, 'I leave you, you snub me cruelly.' 'Which is quite fitting,' she retorted, 'since you are accustomed to snub everybody else.' (The Love Affairs of the Condes: 35)
"Louis de Conde was then so attracted by the scarcely veiled charms of Isabelle de Limeuil that he fell into the snare while he was detained in a kind of semi-captivity at the Court. Unfortunately Isabelle madly fell in love with Conde in turn; she therefore failed to win the Prince over to the Royal and Catholic cause, as Mademoiselle du Rouet had won his brother Antoine, and a short time later he was to be found, in company with the Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and other great nobles, both Protestant and Catholic, again in arms against the Crown. . . ." (The Amours of Henri de Navarre and of Marguerite de Valois: 26)
The Prince de Conde attracted la belle Rouet at the outset.
"Isabelle lent herself more than readily to Catherine's plans, since the mission confided to her was one in which her inclination happened to harmonize with her interests. For she seems to have been attracted from the first by this good-humoured little man, with his pleasant face and his laughing eyes, who danced so gracefully, paid such pretty compliments to the ladies, and, notwithstanding his lack of inches, could hold his own in manly exercises with any gentleman at the Court. And, besides, he was a Prince of the Blood and one of the bravest captains in France; and his narrow escape from the scaffold three years before, his exploits in the field, and his recent captivity, all of which naturally made a powerful appeal to ladies of a romantic disposition, had greatly enhanced the favour with which he had always been regarded by the opposite sex, many of whom would have been only too willing to accept him as a 'serviteur.'" (The Love Affairs of the Condes: 37)
La belle Rouet as bonne fortune for the Prince de Conde.
"As for Conde, flattered by the preference of a young beauty for whom some of the most fascinating gallants of the Court had sighed in vain, he never paused to consider how far this bonne fortune was due to his own attractions, but plunged into it with the same impetuosity with which on the battlefield he threw himself into the thick of the enemy's squadrons. He promised himself merely an agreeable adventure; he found one of those entanglements from which it is a difficult matter to escape." (The Love Affairs of the Condes: 37)
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Henri I de Bourbon 2nd Prince de Conde |
(1552-1588)
Son of: Louis I, Prince de Conde & Eleonore de Roye.
Husband of:
1. Marie de Cleves (1553-1574) mar 1572.
2. Charlotte-Catherine de La Tremoille (1568-1629).
His lover was:
Unnamed mistress:
Natural offspring:
a. Henriette d'Enghien.
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| Henri II, Prince de Conde |
(1558-1646)
3rd Prince de Conde, 3rd Duc d'Enghien, 3rd Duc d' Albert, 5th Duc de Montmorency, 2nd Duc de Bellegarde, Premier Prince of the Blood, Peer of France, Comte de Sancerre, Heir Presumptive to Henri IV 1589-1601, Grand Master de France. [Aristocracy Index]
Son of: Henri I de Bourbon, 2nd Prince de Conde & Charlotte-Catherine de La Tremoille
Husband of: Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency (1594-1650) mar 1609.
"In 1609
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Henri II de Bourbon-Condé by Clouet, 1618 |
His lover was:
Unnamed mistress:
Natural offspring:
a. Helene d'Enghien (d.1646), Abbesse de La Perigne.Husband of: Anna von Bayern.
His lovers were:
1) Francoise-Charlotte de Montalais(1633-1718)Comtesse de Marans
Lover in 1673.
Daughter of Pierre de Montalais, Seigneur de Chambellay, & Renee Le Clerc de Sautre.
Wife of Jean VII de Bueil, Seigneur de Bueil & de Vaujours (d.1665)
Natural offspring:
a. Julie de Bourbon (1668-1710)
Mademoiselle de Guenani, Mademoiselle de Chateaubriant
Wife of: Armand, Marquis de Lassay mar 1696.
2) Diane-Gabrielle Damas de Thianges, Duchesse de Nevers (1656-1715)
Francoise-Charlotte de Montalais (1633-1718)Lover in 1685.
His lover was:
Wife of: Louis, Marquis de Prie 1673-1751), Ambassador to Turin, Lieutenant-General in Languedoc, mar 1711
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Her beauty was enchanting; her friends and her foes were alike agreed on this point. One of the latter, Boisjourdain, said of her, 'Madame de Prie was more than beautiful; she was seductive in everything." A friend, d'Argenson, declared that he 'did not think there ever existed a more celestial creature that Madame de Prie. She was the real flower of the sweet pea. A charming face, and even more graces than beauty; wit, genius, ambition, and supreme presence of mind, and with it all the most decent air in the world. Her fascination was great." (Trowbridge, 2003, p. 9)
Character or persona.
"As to the character, however, of this enchantress, opinion was almost uniformly hostile. Historians influenced by her notorious profligacy, her unbridled arrogance, and her utter lack of principle in the conduct of public affairs, have generally painted her as a human tigress. It is true that she was a great libertine. . . The vices of her statecraft, however, are quite indefensible even on the plea of self-preservation. Dictated by an unbounded ambition, their corruption...was that of cold-blooded premeditation." (Trowbridge, 2003, pp. 9-10)
"This woman was bad enough; far worse was M. le Duc's mistress, the ambitious marquise de Prie. That Mme de Prie was remarkably pretty, sexy and intelligent no one denied. The late regent, always tempted ny beauty, had liked her; in fact, until she became M. le Duc's mistress, she had been quite popular in Paris. Of relatively humble birth - her father was as financier - she had received the best of educations. She was well read, knew how to conduct a conversation and could even run a salon. As the wife of the French ambassador to Savoy, she had been an outstanding success, but upon returning to Paris, she had raised her sights and become M. le Duc's official mistress, thus neatly displacing several better-born candidates who naturally resented her. . . ." (Louis XV)
Marquise de Prie's other lover was:
1) Nephew of Abbe d'Amfreville.
" . . . She had taken for her lover a nephew of the Abbe d'Amfreville. . . He was a sensible, intelligent, good-looking young fellow, and above all, very civil. She informed him of the day and hour on which she intended to die, but he refused to believe her and exhorted her to give up the cowardly project. . . . She gave her lover a diamond not worth 500 crowns and sent him to carry to a secret address in Rouen 50,000 crowns' worth of jewels. On his return he found her dead at the appointed hour. . . ." (Trowbridge: 17)
1) Marguerite Michelot (1755-?)
a. Adelaide-Charlotte-Louise de Bourbon-Conde (1780-1874), mar 1. Patrice-Bernard de Montesses, Comte de Rully (d.1831), French lieutenant-general & Peer of France & b. Guy de Chaumont, Comte de Quitry (d.1851), Chamberlain of Emperor Napoleon I.
English adventuress, actress & royal mistress.
Keeping appearances up.
Sophie's affairs while the Prince de Conde's mistress.
3) Marquise de Richelieu.
Offspring: " . . . Armand de Madaillan-Lesparre (1652-1738), Marquis de Lassay, . . . (married) in 1696 Julie de Guenani, also known as Mademoiselle de Chateaubriand, the illegitimate daughter of Henri-Jules de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, and Madame de Marans. . . ." (Busby, p. 140)
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| Henri-Jules de Bourbon Prince de Conde |
His lover was:
Comtesse de Marans, Dame de Vernee.
Daughter of: Pierre de Montalais, Lord of Chambellay & Renee Le Clerc de Sautre.
Wife of: Jean VIII de Beuil, Comte de Marans (d.1665)
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Duc de Bourbon, 1356-1410; Comte de Clermont, Seigneur de Mercoeur, Baron de Roannais, Comte de Forez, Sire de Beaujeau; Prince de Dombes
Son of: Pierre I de Bourbon & Isabelle de Valois
Husband of: Anne de Clermont, Comtesse de Forez, Dauphine d'Auvergne, Dame de Mercoeur mar 1368
His lover was: Unnamed mistress:
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| Louis III de Bourbon 7th Prince of Conde @Wikipedia |
(1668-1710)
Prince de Conde
Duc de Bourbon
Son of: Henri III Jules de Bourbon & Anne von Bayern.
Husband of: Louise-Francoise de Bourbon (1673-1743), , mar 1685.
His lover was:
Madame de Blanchefort.
Natural offspring:
Natural offspring:
a. Louise-Charlotte de Bourbon (1700-1754), Mademoiselle de Dampiette, mar 1726 Nicolas-Etienne de Chaugy, Comte de Rousillon.
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| Louis IV de Bourbon 7th Prince of Conde |
(1692-1740)
Duc de Bourbon
1709
7th Prince de Conde
1710
Son of: Louis III, Duc de Bourbon & Louise-Francoise de Bourbon
Husband of:
1. Marie-Anne de Bourbon-Conti, mar 1713
2) Caroline von Hessen-Rotenburg, mar 1728.
Husband of:
1. Marie-Anne de Bourbon-Conti, mar 1713
2) Caroline von Hessen-Rotenburg, mar 1728.
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
" . . . In contrast to his father, who had been very short and rather thick-set, Louis Henri de Bourbon-Conde was tall and thin, with a long face and prominent cheekbones. At this period, however, he was not considered an ill-looking young man, but two years later he had the misfortune to meet with an accident which disfigured him." (The Loves Affairs of the Condes, 1530-1740: 282)
Character: "The character of the prince is very diversely estimated by is contemporaries. Some writers, such as Marais, Barbier, and Duclos, judge him severely and describe him as hasty in temper, brusque in his manners, debauched, dishonourable, rapacious, and entirely destitute of political capacity. Others, like Saint-Simon and the Dowager-Duchess d'Orleans, recognize in his a certain merit. The former acknowledges that, with all his faults, he had 'an indomitable obstinacy, an inflexible firmness;' while the mother of the Regent, whose opinions at least possess an advantage of being consistently sincere, writes of him in 1719: 'Monsieur le Duc has many good qualities and many friends. He is polished and knows how to behave well, but his attainments are not very extensive. Nor is he better informed, but there is a loftiness and a nobility in his character, and he knows how to uphold his rank.' Louis Henri de Bourbon-Conde, in fact, was neither the odious nor the incapable person whom certain historians have depicted. His courage is indisputable; if he is rapacious, he was also generous and open-handed; if he was a bad enemy, he was also a faithful friend; he possessed cultured tastes, and beneath his love of pleasure and his apparent indifference to public affairs he concealed qualities which only required to be stimulated into activity to make him, if not a statesman, at least, a formidable party-leader." (The Loves Affairs of the Condes, 1530-1740: 283)
Quarry of all the dames galantes of the time.
Quarry of all the dames galantes of the time.
"Such being the relations between Monsieur le Duc and his consort, it was but natural that the former should have become the quarry of all the dames galantes of the time. Madame de Sabran, one time mistress of the Regent, Madame de Zurlauben, Madame de Polignac, Madame de Nesle, mother of the too-celebrated sisters who were to succeed one another in the affections of Louis XV, and other facile beauties seem to have dipped their pretty fingers freely into his coffers; but none of these liaisons was of long duration, and it was not until the price was approaching his thirtieth year that he found a woman capable of fixing his affections." (The Love Affairs of the Condes, 1530-1740: 285)
His lovers were:
1) Armande-Felicite de la Porte-Mazarin (1691-1729)
Marquise de Nesle
His lovers were:
1) Armande-Felicite de la Porte-Mazarin (1691-1729)
Marquise de Nesle
Daughter of: Paul-Jules de La Porte, Duc de Mazarin & La Meilleraye (1666-1731) & Charlotte-Felicite de Durfort (1672-1730).
Wife of: Louis III, Marquis de Nesle (1689-1767) mar 1709
Natural offspring:
Wife of: Louis III, Marquis de Nesle (1689-1767) mar 1709
Natural offspring:
a. Henriette de Bourbon (1725-1780), Mademoiselle de Verneuil, Legitimee 1734 married in 1740 Jean-Roger de Laguiche, Comte de Sevignon (1719-1770)
" . . . The marquise was mistress to both the Duc de Bourbon and the Prince de Soubise, and perhaps also the Marquis d’Alincourt. By the Duc she was the mother of an illegitimate child, Henriette de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Verneuil (1725 – 1780), later Comtesse de Laguiche, who was legitimated after her mother’s death (1734). Madame de Nesle died (Oct 14, 1729) aged thirty-eight. . . ." (A Bit of History)
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Jeanne-Agnes Berthelot de Pleneuf Marquise de Prie |
2) Jeanne-Agnes Berthelot de Pleneuf (1698-1727)
Marquise de Prie
French aristocrat, saloniere & royal mistress.
French aristocrat, saloniere & royal mistress.
Daughter of: Jean-Etienne Berthelot, Seigneur de Pleneuf (1663-1727) & Agnes Rioult d'Ouilly (1681-1758)
Wife of: Louis, Marquis de Prie 1673-1751), Ambassador to Turin, Lieutenant-General in Languedoc, mar 1711
She was "... French adventuress, was the daughter of a rich but unscrupulous father and an immoral mother. ...." (Wikipedia).
Spouse: In 1713, "... [a]t the age of fifteen she was married to Louis, marquis de Prie, and went with him to the court of Savoy at Turin, where he was ambassador...." (Wikipedia).
"Since the death of the former regent, the duc d'Orleans, in December 1723, the duc de Bourbon was not principal minister, a post snatched from under the nose of the new duc d'Orleans, who, in the eyes of some, was the heir presumptive to the throne. There was renewed speculation that Marie might marry him. This ugly man, blinded in one eye by the duc de Berry in a shooting accident, was dominated by his mistress, the marquise de Prie, daughter of a financier, Barthelot de Pleneuf, who had left France in a hurry in 1715. Her husband was a nephew of the duchesse de Ventadour, governess of the young Louis XV.
Marquise de Prie's personal & family background:
"In the closing years of the reign of Louis XIV there lived in a magnificent hotel at the corner of the Rues de Clery and Poissoniere a family name of Berthelot de Pleneuf. The father of the family, Etienne Berthelot de Pleneuf, was a wealthy Government official and army-contractor, a younger son of Francois Berthelot, a person of comparatively humble origin, who had amassed an enormous fortune, partly by judicious land-speculation in Canada, where he owned 'estates of the value of a province,' which the King had transformed for him into the county of Saint-Laurent, and partly as a revenue-farmer and commissary. Old Berthelot had employed a considerable portion of his wealth in the purchase of lucrative Government posts and estates in France, which he distributed among his sons, to Etienne's share falling the office of Director-General of the Powders and Saltpetres of France and the seigneurie of Pleneuf, which entitled him to style himself the seigneur de Pleneuf. (The Love Affairs of the Condes: 285-286)
Spouse: In 1713, "... [a]t the age of fifteen she was married to Louis, marquis de Prie, and went with him to the court of Savoy at Turin, where he was ambassador...." (Wikipedia).
"Since the death of the former regent, the duc d'Orleans, in December 1723, the duc de Bourbon was not principal minister, a post snatched from under the nose of the new duc d'Orleans, who, in the eyes of some, was the heir presumptive to the throne. There was renewed speculation that Marie might marry him. This ugly man, blinded in one eye by the duc de Berry in a shooting accident, was dominated by his mistress, the marquise de Prie, daughter of a financier, Barthelot de Pleneuf, who had left France in a hurry in 1715. Her husband was a nephew of the duchesse de Ventadour, governess of the young Louis XV.
Marquise de Prie's personal & family background:
"In the closing years of the reign of Louis XIV there lived in a magnificent hotel at the corner of the Rues de Clery and Poissoniere a family name of Berthelot de Pleneuf. The father of the family, Etienne Berthelot de Pleneuf, was a wealthy Government official and army-contractor, a younger son of Francois Berthelot, a person of comparatively humble origin, who had amassed an enormous fortune, partly by judicious land-speculation in Canada, where he owned 'estates of the value of a province,' which the King had transformed for him into the county of Saint-Laurent, and partly as a revenue-farmer and commissary. Old Berthelot had employed a considerable portion of his wealth in the purchase of lucrative Government posts and estates in France, which he distributed among his sons, to Etienne's share falling the office of Director-General of the Powders and Saltpetres of France and the seigneurie of Pleneuf, which entitled him to style himself the seigneur de Pleneuf. (The Love Affairs of the Condes: 285-286)
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Her beauty was enchanting; her friends and her foes were alike agreed on this point. One of the latter, Boisjourdain, said of her, 'Madame de Prie was more than beautiful; she was seductive in everything." A friend, d'Argenson, declared that he 'did not think there ever existed a more celestial creature that Madame de Prie. She was the real flower of the sweet pea. A charming face, and even more graces than beauty; wit, genius, ambition, and supreme presence of mind, and with it all the most decent air in the world. Her fascination was great." (Trowbridge, 2003, p. 9)
Character or persona.
"As to the character, however, of this enchantress, opinion was almost uniformly hostile. Historians influenced by her notorious profligacy, her unbridled arrogance, and her utter lack of principle in the conduct of public affairs, have generally painted her as a human tigress. It is true that she was a great libertine. . . The vices of her statecraft, however, are quite indefensible even on the plea of self-preservation. Dictated by an unbounded ambition, their corruption...was that of cold-blooded premeditation." (Trowbridge, 2003, pp. 9-10)
From a life of pleasure to her lover's adviser-in-chief.
"In 1723, after the death of the Regent, the Duc de Bourbon became Prime Minister of France. His wife, Anne Marie de Bourbon, had died and his mistress, the famous Marquise de Prie, reigned supreme---an even more fascinating, and certainly more intelligent woman than the Montespans,Pompadours, and Du Barrys, who so completely succeeded in captivating the Bourbon Kings. She possessed a beautiful voice, with which she interpreted Italian music, learnt during her stay in Turin where her husband for many years had been ambassador. She also, like Madame de Pompadour, patronised the arts and had portraits of herself painted by Rosalba and Vanloo. Her house was furnished with exquisite taste, and she understood to perfection the arts of the toilet. At first she devoted herself to a life of pleasure but she soon saw the wisdom of becoming her lover's adviser-in-chief. . . . " (Richter, 1913, p. 93)
"In 1723, after the death of the Regent, the Duc de Bourbon became Prime Minister of France. His wife, Anne Marie de Bourbon, had died and his mistress, the famous Marquise de Prie, reigned supreme---an even more fascinating, and certainly more intelligent woman than the Montespans,Pompadours, and Du Barrys, who so completely succeeded in captivating the Bourbon Kings. She possessed a beautiful voice, with which she interpreted Italian music, learnt during her stay in Turin where her husband for many years had been ambassador. She also, like Madame de Pompadour, patronised the arts and had portraits of herself painted by Rosalba and Vanloo. Her house was furnished with exquisite taste, and she understood to perfection the arts of the toilet. At first she devoted herself to a life of pleasure but she soon saw the wisdom of becoming her lover's adviser-in-chief. . . . " (Richter, 1913, p. 93)
Madame de Pleneuf, the Marquise de Prie's mother, also licentious. "In 1696, Pleneuf, who was then about thirty-five, had married, en secondes noces, a Mlle. Agnes Riault d'Ouilly, a daughter of a rich bourgeois family, which, like his own, had been recently ennobled. The second Madame de Pleneuf, who, it may be mentioned, was nearly twenty years her husband's junior, had been one of the prettiest girls in Paris, and in due course she became one of its most beautiful and fascinating women. 'Tall, perfectly shaped, with an extremely agreeable countenance, intelligence, grace, tact, and savoir-vivre,' she triumphed like a queen, and as Pleneuf, proud of her success, denied her nothing, the salons in the Rue de Clery soon became the rendezvous of all fashionable Paris. If in beauty and intelligence Madame de Pleneuf left little to be desired, the same, unfortunately, could bot be said for her reputation. The prolonged absences of her husband with the army provided her with abundant opportunities for receiving the homage of numerous admirers, and she took advantage of them so freely that she earned for herself the name of the Messalina of her time. To no lady in Paris did gossip ascribe so many lovers, and, in most cases, it is to be feared, with only too much justification. There was a Lorraine prince, the Prince Charles d'Armagnac; the Cardinal de Rohan; the Ducs de Duras and de l Valliere; the versatile Marquis de Dangeau, author of the famous 'Journal'; Canon Destouches, father of Nericault-Destouches, the diplomatist and playwright; young La Baume, son of the Marechal de Tallard; the Marquis de Cany, son of the War Minister Chamillard; the dashing Comte de Gace, who, in February, 1716, fought the famous midnight duel with the Duc de Richelieu in the middle of the Rue Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre. And the list might be considerably extended." (The Love Affairs of the Condes: 286)
Licentious mother and daughter feud over a common lover.
" . . . The private lives of madame de Prye, who was, as has already been stated, the mistress of the duke of Bourbon, and of her mother, madame de Pleineuf, who was the mistress of Le Blanc, the minister of foreign affairs under the regency, were equally licentious, and it appears not to have been unusual for them to have lovers in common. One of these, the marquis of Angennes, had excited a jealousy between the mother and daughter, which soon degenerated into a deadly hatred; and this young nobleman, the object of their jealousy, having deserted the mother for the daughter, disappeared soon afterwards from society, and was popularly believed to have been murdered by the agents of madame de Pleineuf, though it was pretended that he had died of the small-pox. Madame de Prye resolved to take her revenge upon her mother's favourite, Le Blanc, and she employed for this purpose the brothers Paris, who had private grounds of hostility towards him. They brought up some old charges of fraudulent dealings under the regency, which cast discredit on the regent himself, and thus indulged madame de Prye's spite against the family of the duke of Orleans, as well as against her own mother. Le Blanc was arrested, thrown into the Bastille, and treated with so much rigour, that it was believed to be the intention of his persecutors to bring about his death. . . ." (The History of France: 280)
Affair's benefits to the mistress.
"Was mistress to the duke of Bourbon, kinsman and prime minister to Louis XV. The passions of this prince were stronger than his judgment; they had rendered him the slave of his beautiful mistress, who governed in his name. Madame de Prie's ambition had first induced her to endeavour to fascinate the regent; but on learning that he allowed his mistresses no political influence, she directed all her powers of seduction towards the duke of Bourbon. Jealous of the influence of Fleury, bishop of Frejus, over his pupil, the young Louis XV, she induced her lover to remove him from court... Prompted by his personal fears, as well as by a sense of duty, Fleury exposed to his pupil, the conduct of the duke of Bourbon and his mistress, and they were sent to different places of exile. Madame de Prie survived her exile only one week. She died in 1727, according to Voltaire of ennui; according to other accounts of poison, administered by her own hand." (Woman's Record: 481)
" . . . The private lives of madame de Prye, who was, as has already been stated, the mistress of the duke of Bourbon, and of her mother, madame de Pleineuf, who was the mistress of Le Blanc, the minister of foreign affairs under the regency, were equally licentious, and it appears not to have been unusual for them to have lovers in common. One of these, the marquis of Angennes, had excited a jealousy between the mother and daughter, which soon degenerated into a deadly hatred; and this young nobleman, the object of their jealousy, having deserted the mother for the daughter, disappeared soon afterwards from society, and was popularly believed to have been murdered by the agents of madame de Pleineuf, though it was pretended that he had died of the small-pox. Madame de Prye resolved to take her revenge upon her mother's favourite, Le Blanc, and she employed for this purpose the brothers Paris, who had private grounds of hostility towards him. They brought up some old charges of fraudulent dealings under the regency, which cast discredit on the regent himself, and thus indulged madame de Prye's spite against the family of the duke of Orleans, as well as against her own mother. Le Blanc was arrested, thrown into the Bastille, and treated with so much rigour, that it was believed to be the intention of his persecutors to bring about his death. . . ." (The History of France: 280)
Affair's benefits to the mistress.
"Was mistress to the duke of Bourbon, kinsman and prime minister to Louis XV. The passions of this prince were stronger than his judgment; they had rendered him the slave of his beautiful mistress, who governed in his name. Madame de Prie's ambition had first induced her to endeavour to fascinate the regent; but on learning that he allowed his mistresses no political influence, she directed all her powers of seduction towards the duke of Bourbon. Jealous of the influence of Fleury, bishop of Frejus, over his pupil, the young Louis XV, she induced her lover to remove him from court... Prompted by his personal fears, as well as by a sense of duty, Fleury exposed to his pupil, the conduct of the duke of Bourbon and his mistress, and they were sent to different places of exile. Madame de Prie survived her exile only one week. She died in 1727, according to Voltaire of ennui; according to other accounts of poison, administered by her own hand." (Woman's Record: 481)
Beneficiaries and patronages.
" . . . A woman fo scandalous morals, the marquise de Prie, the mistress of the prime minister, ruled over his narrow mind, brutefied by debauchery and an insatiable cupidity. Duverney, the youngest of the brothers Paris, was chosen by her to administer affairs, and the duke de Bourbon received this minister directly from her hands; he proved to be the author of some wise measures, but he was likewise the accomplice and instrument of odious violences. . . . " (History of France: 439)
"This woman was bad enough; far worse was M. le Duc's mistress, the ambitious marquise de Prie. That Mme de Prie was remarkably pretty, sexy and intelligent no one denied. The late regent, always tempted ny beauty, had liked her; in fact, until she became M. le Duc's mistress, she had been quite popular in Paris. Of relatively humble birth - her father was as financier - she had received the best of educations. She was well read, knew how to conduct a conversation and could even run a salon. As the wife of the French ambassador to Savoy, she had been an outstanding success, but upon returning to Paris, she had raised her sights and become M. le Duc's official mistress, thus neatly displacing several better-born candidates who naturally resented her. . . ." (Louis XV)
Marquise de Prie's other lover was:
1) Nephew of Abbe d'Amfreville.
" . . . She had taken for her lover a nephew of the Abbe d'Amfreville. . . He was a sensible, intelligent, good-looking young fellow, and above all, very civil. She informed him of the day and hour on which she intended to die, but he refused to believe her and exhorted her to give up the cowardly project. . . . She gave her lover a diamond not worth 500 crowns and sent him to carry to a secret address in Rouen 50,000 crowns' worth of jewels. On his return he found her dead at the appointed hour. . . ." (Trowbridge: 17)
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Louis VI Henri de Bourbon 9th Prince de Conde |
"Perhaps the Island's (Isle of Wight) most notorious daughter died on this day. Sophie Dawes was born at St Helens, the child of smuggler Richard 'Dickie' Dawes. Her mother was driven to go with her brood into the workhouse and Sophie was found work as a domestic. She soon escaped to London and came to the notice of French émigré Louis Henry, Prince of Conde. Pursuing him to France, with a mixture of threats and bribery she took charge of his household in the process making herself extremely rich. When she had taken everything that she could, she possibly murdered him. Her desire to enter French society, however, failed and she eventually returned to England, bearing the title Baronne de Feucheres, having conned a French army officer into marrying her. Sophie set herself up in a house in Hampshire and a second property in London and converted to Catholicism, giving much of her money to charity. Here she died from a heart attack. (Marjorie Bowen, The Scandal of Sophie Dawes, John Lane, 1934)
The Prince de Conde's death by suicide.
"Conde was eventually found hanging from a window, and Sophie was suspected or organising his murder. He may well have perished whilst indulging in the solitary pleasure of auto-erotic asphyxiation -- that we'll never know -- but the French public blamed that foreign guttersnipe, Sophie, and they turned against her. So, Sophie ended up living very well in England, where she was known as the Queen of Chantilly. Her brother died before her, and his grave is in St. Helens churchyard." (Hampshire and Isle of Wight Folk Tales)
His lovers were:
His lovers were:
French opera singer
Lover in 1780.
". . . The marriage [Louis-Henri's and Bathilde's] broke down soon afterwards and Bourbon had his first affair with an opera singer Marguerite Michelot. . . ." (The Impossible Bourbons)
Natural offspring:
Natural offspring:
b. Louise-Charlotte-Aglae de Bourbon (1782-1795)
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Sophia Dawes Baronne de Feucheres |
2) Sophie Dawes, Baronne de Feucheres (1795-1840)
Lover in 1811.
Daughter of: Richard Daw, English fisherman & Jane Callaway.
Wife of: Adrien-Victor de Feucheres, Major in the royal Guards, mar 1818, sep 1827.
"Known for her intimacy with the last Duc de Bourbon, from whom she obtained the rich estates of Saint Leu and of Boissy and the sum of a million. It was she who induced the Prince to leave the remainder of his fortune to the young Duc d'Aumale, his cousin, to escape the danger to which she would have been exposed if she had taken if for herself. An object of general contemp, she lived in England after the death of Prince de Conde, who was found one day hanging to the cross-bar of a window in his Castle of Chantilly in 1830." (Memoirs of the Duchesse De Dino, 1841-1850)
" . . . The Duc d'Aumale inherited the property from him in the following manner: The Duc de Bourbon, who was a passioante, cowardly, avaricious old man, was under the control of an Englishwoman named Sophie Dawes. All her wishes were gratified, and when she expressed a desire to marry the Baron de Feuchere, one of the chamberlains, the baron was ordered to take for his wife this English outcast. Sophie's influence over the duke increased, if that were possible, and he gave her the estates of Boissy, Saint-Leu and the Forest of Enghien. She was wise enough to knw that after the death of the Duc de Bourbon the Orleans Princes, who were his legitimate heirs, would contest her rights, so decided to share with them the fortune of her protector. She persuaded him to adopt the young D'Aumale, but soon as his will was made the Duc de Bourbon refused to sign, saying: 'I have always been very suspicious of my Orleans relatives and soon as they obtain what they desire my days are numbered.' Madame de Feuchere made such a scene (some say she went so far as to strike the old man), that the document was signed and the Duc d'Aumale was made the heir, with the stipulation that he should pay $2,000,000 to the Baroness Dawes-Feuchere." (Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine, Volume 22: 106)
Physical appearance & personality.
". . . Mme Montagu . . . describes Sophie a little earlier . . . as having 'developed into a fine young woman, not exactly pretty or handsome, but she held her head gracefully, and her regular features were illumined by a pair of remarkably bright and intelligent eyes. She was tall and squarely built, with legs and arms which might have served as models for a statue of Hercules. Her muscular force was extraordinary. Her lips were rather thin, and she had an ugly habit of contracting them when she was angry. Her intelligence was above the average, and she had a good shre of wit." (She Stands Accused: 113)
"It is because Sophie had plenty of brains of a sort, besides attributes of good looks, health, and by much a disproportionate share of determination, and because, with all that she attained to, she died quite ostracized by the people with whom it had been her life's ambition to mix, and was thus in a sense a failure. . . ." (She Stands Accused: 116)
First encounter.
"It was during this period in London that he met fifteen-year-old Sophie Dawes (1798-1840), a servant in a Piccadilly brothel brought up in a Portsmouth workhouse, the daughter of a drunken fisherman on the Isle of Wight. She became his Eliza Doolittle for he was so infatuated that he had her thought French, Latin and Greek so he could be introduced in aristocratic society. . . . " (The Impossible Bourbons)
" . . . We next hear of her as servant-maid in a Piccadilly brothel, a lupanar much patronized by wealthy emigres from France, among whom was Louis-Henri-Joseph, Duc de Bourbon and later Prince de Conde, a man at that time of about fifty-four. The Duc's attention was directed to the good looks of Sophie by a manservant of his. Mme Montagu says of Sophie at this time that 'her face had already lost the first bloom of youth and innocence.'
Sophie Dawes personal & family background.
" Sophia Dawes was born at St Helens on the Isle of Wight, the daughter of a fisherman. She later worked as a servant in a brothel before she rose to become the mistress to the Duc de Bourbon, who succeeded as the ninth and last Prince de Conde. He arranged her marriage (1818) with the military officer, Adrien Victor de Feucheres, who was later created Baron de Feucheres. When the Duc de Bourbon was found dead in his palace (Aug 27, 1830), Sophia was suspected, but not prosecuted for the crime. Released and now owning some of her later lover’s properties, she was publicly vilified by by the republicans and monarchists alike, and she retired to Hampshire, in England. She disposed of most of her French property and purchased a town residence in Hyde Park Square. Sophia Dawes died of dropsy in London, aged fifty (Dec, 1840)." (Women of History - D)
"The name of Sophie's father was given as 'Daw.' . . . Sophie spelled her name variously, though ultimately she fixed on 'Dawes.' Richard, or Dickey, Daw was a fisherman for appearance sake and a smuggler for preference. The question of Sophie's legitimacy arises from the fact that her mother, Jane Callaway, was registered at death as 'a spinster.' Sophie was one of ten children. Dickey Daw drank his family into the poorhouse, an institution which sent Sophie to fend for herself in 1805, procuring her a place as servant at a farm on an island." (She Stands Accused: 117)
Spouse & children.
Spouse & children.
" . . . She was mistress to the Duc de Bourbon and married his aide-de-camp, the Baron de Feucheres, in 1818. She is thought to have murdered the Duc (1830)." (Houghton Miflin Co: 410)
She married, in 1818, Baron Victor de Feucheres, an officer in the royal guard. ". . . She let if get about that she was the natural daughter of the Duc, and soon had in tow one Adrien-Victor de Feucheres. He was an officer of the Royal Guard. Without enlarging on the all-round tawdriness of this contract it will suffice here to say that Sophie and Adrien were married in London in August of 1818, the Duc presenting the bride with a dowry of about 5600 pounds in francs. Next year de Feucheres became a baron, and was made aide-de-camp to the Duc. Incredible as it may seem, de Feucheres took four years to realize what was the real relationship between his wife and the Prince de Conde. . . ." (She Stands Accused: 122)
Keeping appearances up.
"Then in 1818 her patience was rewarded. The Duc's father died and he became Prince de Conde. She could now enter Bourbon's household, but not as his official mistress as she was a mere commoner. Instead, she would pose as his illegitimate daughter, and, for the sake of appearances, she was married off to Adrien de Feucheres, an officer in Louis XVIII's Guards. But as mistress of the Bourbon estates, Madame de Feucheres was known as the Queen of Chantilly." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals)
". . . To provide cover for his relationship with Sophie Dawes he arranged a marriage for her with an unsuspecting aide, Baron Feucheres,, who thought she was his daughter. . . ." (The Impossible Bourbons)
Sophie's other affairs before the Prince de Conde.
". . . To provide cover for his relationship with Sophie Dawes he arranged a marriage for her with an unsuspecting aide, Baron Feucheres,, who thought she was his daughter. . . ." (The Impossible Bourbons)
Sophie's other affairs before the Prince de Conde.
"Sophie ran away to Portsmouth. Then, to make the most of her physical charms, she moved to London. She got a job as an assistant in a milliner's shop, but was dismissed for having an affair with a young water-carrier. After selling oranges in Covent Garden, she took to the stage and became the mistress of a wealthy gentleman from Turnham Green. When he tired of her, she went to work in a brothel in Piccadilly. There she attracted the attention of Monsieur Guy, the manservant of an exiled French nobleman, Louis-Henri-Joseph, the Duc de Bourbon. She became his willing mistress and even allowed him to use her as a stake in a game of cards with the Duke of Kent. The Duc became so enamoured of her that he spent huge sums on having her taught French, Greek, Latin, music, dancing and deportment." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals)
Sophie's affairs while the Prince de Conde's mistress.
"Now twenty-six, Sophie dominated the sixty-year-old prince, bringing her nephew, a meat-packer from London, over to be his equerry. She took a score of lovers, including the prince's own hairdresser. Finally, this all grew too much for her husband who horsewhipped and divorced her, causing a huge public scandal. Everywhere she went Sophie faced boos and catcalls. . . On the night of 27 August 1830, at Sophie's behest, her current lover, a sergeant in the gendarmes, crept into the prince's apartment and smothered him while he slept. Then, he tied two handkerchiefs round the corpse's neck and hung it from the crossbar of the window to make it look like suicide." (The Mammoth Book of Sex Scandals)
3) Sophie Harris.
4) Victoire de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Comtesse de Vaudreuil.
3) Sophie Harris.
4) Victoire de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Comtesse de Vaudreuil.
He married, in 1770, Bathilde d'Orleans. ". . . He had married, at the early age of fourteen, Louise-Marie-Therese-Mathilde d'Orleans, daughter of Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orleans and the Duchesse de Chartres, the bride being six years older than her husband. Such a marriage could not last. It merely sustained the honeymoon and the birth of that only son. The couple were apart in eighteen months, and after ten years they never saw each other again. About the time when Sophie's husband found her out and departed the Princesse died. The Prince was advised to marry again, on the chance that an heir might be born to the large fortune he possessed. But Sophie by then had become a habit with the Prince---a bad one---and the old man was content to be left to his continual hunting, and not to bother over the fact that he was the last of his ancient line." (She Stands Accused:125)
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