Charles-Philippe de France, Comte d'Artois.
Son of: Louis de France, Dauphin de France & Maria Josepha von Sachsen, Dauphine de France.
Husband of: Marie-Therese de Savoie, daughter of Amedeo III of Sardinia & Maria Antonieta de Espana. mar 1773.
Nothing but a 'marriage of state'.
"Charles grew into a handsome young man, tall, slim and broad-shouldered, with a fine, rather small head, very well set, with large brown eyes, black hair and the Bourbon nose. When he was only sixteen he was married to an equally juvenile Princess of Sardinia, Maria Theresa, daughter of Victor Amadeus III and sister to Madame. She was a dwarf, four foot high, with a grotesquely loing nose, and completely characterless. But it [the marriage] was never more than a marriage of state . . ." (Biographies & Memoirs)
"Artois shared neither Provence's corpulence nor his brains. Handsome, athletic and promiscuous, his limited talents were initially devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. . . ." (The Road from Versailles)
Comte d'Artois had the Bourbons' pathological sensuality.
"Artois had the pathological sensuality of his house. Not only did he run through all the most famous prostitutes in Paris, but he seduced many of the court ladies, including the Duchesse de Guiche whom, so Hezecques tells us, 'the public long looked upon as one of his easiest conquests'. Hezecques also explains how Charles possessed 'that fashionable ease and light amiability which please women. Once can well believe the rumours that few beauties could be cruel to him.'" (Biographies and Memoirs)
1) Aglae de Polignac (1768-1803)
Duchesse de Guiche
Son of: Louis de France, Dauphin de France & Maria Josepha von Sachsen, Dauphine de France.
Husband of: Marie-Therese de Savoie, daughter of Amedeo III of Sardinia & Maria Antonieta de Espana. mar 1773.
Nothing but a 'marriage of state'.
"Charles grew into a handsome young man, tall, slim and broad-shouldered, with a fine, rather small head, very well set, with large brown eyes, black hair and the Bourbon nose. When he was only sixteen he was married to an equally juvenile Princess of Sardinia, Maria Theresa, daughter of Victor Amadeus III and sister to Madame. She was a dwarf, four foot high, with a grotesquely loing nose, and completely characterless. But it [the marriage] was never more than a marriage of state . . ." (Biographies & Memoirs)
"Artois shared neither Provence's corpulence nor his brains. Handsome, athletic and promiscuous, his limited talents were initially devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. . . ." (The Road from Versailles)
Comte d'Artois had the Bourbons' pathological sensuality.
"Artois had the pathological sensuality of his house. Not only did he run through all the most famous prostitutes in Paris, but he seduced many of the court ladies, including the Duchesse de Guiche whom, so Hezecques tells us, 'the public long looked upon as one of his easiest conquests'. Hezecques also explains how Charles possessed 'that fashionable ease and light amiability which please women. Once can well believe the rumours that few beauties could be cruel to him.'" (Biographies and Memoirs)
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Aglae de Polignac. c1794 |
His lovers were:
Duchesse de Guiche
Also known as Aglae-Louise-Françoise-Gabrielle de Polignac.
Daughter of: Jules de Polignac, 1st Duc de Polignac & Gabrielle de Polastron.
2) Anne-Michelle-Dorothee de Roncherolles (1752-1844)
Comtesse de Canillac.
French salonniere & courtier
Also known as Anne de Roncherolles.
Daughter of: Marie-Louise Amelot de Chaillou, Marquis de Roncherolles. & Claude-Sibylle-Thomas- Gaspard-Nicolas-Dorothee (Diderot Studies, Volume 28: 137)
Wife of: Ignace Montboissier-Beaufort, Comte de Canillac.
"Anne de Roncherolles became the wife of Ignace Montboissier-Beaufort, Comte de Canillac. Madame de Canillac attended the court of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at Versailles and served as a lady-in-waiting to Princesse Elisabeth, the king’s unmarried sister. She was the mistress of the Comte d’Artois (Charles X) and attended the salons of Madame Du Deffand and Madame de La Reyniere in Paris. Madame de Canillac was mentioned in the the correspondence of the British antiquarian Horace Walpole and survived the horrors of the Revolution." (A Bit of History)
French aristocrat & royal mistress.
Comtesse de Polastron.
Lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie-Antoinette
Daughter of: Jules de Polignac, 1st Duc de Polignac & Gabrielle de Polastron.
2) Anne-Michelle-Dorothee de Roncherolles (1752-1844)
Comtesse de Canillac.
French salonniere & courtier
Also known as Anne de Roncherolles.
Daughter of: Marie-Louise Amelot de Chaillou, Marquis de Roncherolles. & Claude-Sibylle-Thomas- Gaspard-Nicolas-Dorothee (Diderot Studies, Volume 28: 137)
Wife of: Ignace Montboissier-Beaufort, Comte de Canillac.
"Anne de Roncherolles became the wife of Ignace Montboissier-Beaufort, Comte de Canillac. Madame de Canillac attended the court of Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette at Versailles and served as a lady-in-waiting to Princesse Elisabeth, the king’s unmarried sister. She was the mistress of the Comte d’Artois (Charles X) and attended the salons of Madame Du Deffand and Madame de La Reyniere in Paris. Madame de Canillac was mentioned in the the correspondence of the British antiquarian Horace Walpole and survived the horrors of the Revolution." (A Bit of History)
Louise d'Esparbes de Lussan
3) Louise d'Esparbes de Lussan (1764-1804)French aristocrat & royal mistress.
Comtesse de Polastron.
Lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie-Antoinette
Also known as:
Marie-Louise d'Esparbes de Lussan.
Daughter of: Louis-Francois d'Esparbes de Lussan & Marie-Catherine-Julie Rougeot.
Wife of: Denis Polastron (1758-1821)
"Marie Louise Franchise d'Esparbes de Lussan. Having had the misfortune to marry the Comte de Polastron, "a nonentity who played the violin," she became the mistress of the Comte d'Artois, and, when the Revolution broke out, followed the prince to Turin, and afterwards lived with him in Scotland and England. She died of consumption in London on March 27, 1804. On her deathbed, she made Monsieur, who had loved her passionately to the last, take a solemn oath, in the presence of his almoner, the Abbe de Latil, that "after her, he would love no one but God." This oath he faithfully observed. A few weeks after his mistress's death, the prince wrote to his friend, the Comte de Vaudreuil : " I have no longer anything on earth, neither object, nor desire, nor hope, nor even any feeling. She used to reunite everything ; she used to animate everything for me, and her death has broken all the links of my heart, my soul, and my mind." Unfortunately, the Duc de Berry was incapable of anything approaching such fidelity as this." (Princess of Adventure: 83)
"Ironically, it was through his membership of the Queen's set that in 1785 Charles met the woman who reformed him, Mme de Polastron, the sister-in-law of Yolande de Polignac. Louise de Lussan d'Esparbes, Vicomtesse de Polastron, was only twenty-one, a delicate, nervous ash-blonde with china-blue eyes, a wonderfully sweet smile and a low voice; Lamartine describes her as 'the perfection of tenderness'. Charles and Louise fell completely and unreservedly in love. Even Hezeques admits that 'the passion of Mme de Polastron for the Comte d'Artois was as unconcealed as it was genuine, for heartfelt affection was their only bond'. Charles confided to one of Louise's friends, the Marquise de Lage, 'It's really true---in all the world I live for her alone. Never, no never, was Heaven pleased to form two hearts, two beings better suited to each other. I truly believe it, I even dare be sure of it, and you can have no idea how proud the very idea makes me. But if I deserve your friend, if my heart is worthy of making her happy, it is to her alone that I owe it. It is her advice, still more her sentiments, which have purified my soul and renewed it, Think what I owe her for teaching me how to be happy.'" (Biographies & Memoirs)
French ballerina.
Daughter of: Louis-Francois d'Esparbes de Lussan & Marie-Catherine-Julie Rougeot.
Wife of: Denis Polastron (1758-1821)
"Marie Louise Franchise d'Esparbes de Lussan. Having had the misfortune to marry the Comte de Polastron, "a nonentity who played the violin," she became the mistress of the Comte d'Artois, and, when the Revolution broke out, followed the prince to Turin, and afterwards lived with him in Scotland and England. She died of consumption in London on March 27, 1804. On her deathbed, she made Monsieur, who had loved her passionately to the last, take a solemn oath, in the presence of his almoner, the Abbe de Latil, that "after her, he would love no one but God." This oath he faithfully observed. A few weeks after his mistress's death, the prince wrote to his friend, the Comte de Vaudreuil : " I have no longer anything on earth, neither object, nor desire, nor hope, nor even any feeling. She used to reunite everything ; she used to animate everything for me, and her death has broken all the links of my heart, my soul, and my mind." Unfortunately, the Duc de Berry was incapable of anything approaching such fidelity as this." (Princess of Adventure: 83)
"Ironically, it was through his membership of the Queen's set that in 1785 Charles met the woman who reformed him, Mme de Polastron, the sister-in-law of Yolande de Polignac. Louise de Lussan d'Esparbes, Vicomtesse de Polastron, was only twenty-one, a delicate, nervous ash-blonde with china-blue eyes, a wonderfully sweet smile and a low voice; Lamartine describes her as 'the perfection of tenderness'. Charles and Louise fell completely and unreservedly in love. Even Hezeques admits that 'the passion of Mme de Polastron for the Comte d'Artois was as unconcealed as it was genuine, for heartfelt affection was their only bond'. Charles confided to one of Louise's friends, the Marquise de Lage, 'It's really true---in all the world I live for her alone. Never, no never, was Heaven pleased to form two hearts, two beings better suited to each other. I truly believe it, I even dare be sure of it, and you can have no idea how proud the very idea makes me. But if I deserve your friend, if my heart is worthy of making her happy, it is to her alone that I owe it. It is her advice, still more her sentiments, which have purified my soul and renewed it, Think what I owe her for teaching me how to be happy.'" (Biographies & Memoirs)
Rosalie Duthe
4) Rosalie Duthe (1748-1830).French ballerina.
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