Louis Xv's Mistresses | King Of France

Louis XV's MISTRESSES It's good to be the king, especially if your favorite pastime is seducing women. Louis XV, King of France, is one of the most notorious womanizers in history. In addition to his most famous and influential mistress, Madame du Pompadour, and his tragic final mistress, Madame du Berry, he took numerous other ladies to bed, including four sisters. Let's saunter through the halls of Versailles, retreat to Petit Trianon, and visit the Royal Harem at Stag Park to meet 21 of Louis XV's MISTRESSES. Louis inherited the throne at the tender age of five. Both his father, grandfather, and two older brothers had pre-deceased his great-grandfather, King Louis XIV. The young monarch was betrothed to his second cousin, Maria Victoria of Spain, but she was only three years old, and with so few bourbons left, finding a fertile royal bride was top priority. A list of 99 eligible princesses was drawn up, and Marie Leszczynska, daughter of the deposed king of Poland, was selected. The couple met when Louis was 15 and Marie 22. She was plain and slender, and entered Versailles like a frightened deer. Nevertheless, the king became infatuated with her on sight, and enthusiastically consummated their marriage seven times. Marie was pregnant every year for the next decade, and presented the king with ten children. But she was shy and awkward around her husband, and struggled to entertain him. Her go-to was playing cards. Once, when Louis got bored, she suggested he kill flies on the windowsill. The king was often melancholy and not inclined to action, so his ministers thought a mistress might be just the thing to motivate his majesty. Louise Anne de Bourbon was born to the Prince de Comdy and Louise François de Bourbon, daughter of King Louis XIV and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. She was a particular friend to her cousin. When Louis was 18 and she 33, there were rumors that Louise allowed the king to practice adultery with her first. Louise Jolie de Mayenelle was the great-granddaughter of Hortense Mancini, one of the five Mazarin sisters, famous beauties of the court of Louis XIV. Two of the sisters slept with the French king, while Hortense crossed the channel to have an affair with King Charles II. There must have been something in their DNA. Louise was the eldest of the five famous Danelle sisters, four of whom were mistresses of Louis XV. Louise was just 16 when she was forced into an unhappy marriage, but she did become a lady-in-waiting to the queen. When the king grew weary of playing cards, she was there to suggest more dynamic entertainment and bat her dark eyelashes. It took years for her to entice the timid king into a kiss. Courtiers finally had to literally throw Louis on top of the half-naked comtesse. He felt guilty for betraying his wife, but he couldn't keep away from Louise. At first, the identity of the king's mistress was kept secret. She was called the Fair Unknown. She regularly visited the king's apartments at night, concealed under a hood. Queen Marie was deeply hurt, but when she miscarried her eleventh child, her doctors warned her that another pregnancy could be fatal. She barred Louis from her bedroom. He sulked off, and the royal marriage turned cold. Courtiers were desperate for a new avenue to royal influence. So one night, a gentleman stepped out of the shadows and knocked the hood off of the Fair Unknown. Once Louise's identity was exposed, the king named her his first maitresse-entitre, or official mistress, and gave her apartments near his own. No more clandestine sex appointments needed. Louise was not especially beautiful, but she truly loved the king and asked very little of him. It was said that she cost him less than an opera singer costs a banker, but once their relationship was out in the open, it began to fray. Louis was insulted by suggestions that his mistress was not as beautiful as those of his great-grandfather, and Louise was inundated with petitions for royal favours, which the king resented her bringing up. Among the petitioners was her younger sister, Pauline Félicité de Mayenelle. She begged to be invited to court, and once she arrived, she betrayed her sister by stealing her boyfriend. Pauline was taller, louder, wittier, and more ambitious than Louise. She was eager to gain wealth and influence. The king gave her many gifts, including Castle Choisy-le-Ras. He also married her to a marquis, who, knowing his place, retired to the countryside on their wedding night. Pauline's rise to power was cut short when she died giving birth to Louis' son. While her body was lying in a chapel, peasants broke in and mutilated the corpse of the king's whore. Louis and Louise were both devastated and briefly reunited, but Louise hadn't learned her lesson and invited her younger sister, Marie-Anne de Mayenelle, to court. The most beautiful of the siblings was introduced to the king at a masked ball. He was smitten, but she was in love with another man. Louis sent her lover to the front lines of battle, but he was only wounded. So a woman was hired to seduce the unwitting soldier. She forwarded his love letters to Marie-Anne, who was heartbroken. She agreed to rebound with the king if he made her a duchess, gave her an allowance, a grand palace, and kicked her sister out and made her maitresse on titre. The king had never had to court a woman, but he was intrigued. He dismissed Louise from court. She retired to a convent and died at 41. Marie-Anne maintained the power in the relationship. She refused to attend dinners with the king, so he came to her. His majesty could often be found sitting obediently by her as she bathed or lounged in bed. He even wrote letters under her instructions. Marie-Anne invited her own older sisters, Diane Adelaide and Hortense Félicité, to court, but instead of getting double-crossed, she used her sisters in her ploy to keep the king. It was whispered that she allowed Louis to enjoy menage-a-trois with she and Diane. Marie acted as though she had no interest in state affairs, but subtly manipulated the king into thinking that their opinions were one and the same until he was begging her for advice. She badgered him to ride into battle in the war of Austrian succession. While acting the hero, Louis got lonely, so he asked Marie and Diane to travel to the front. While they were there, Louis fell ill and sent them away. As the sisters rode back to Paris, mobs threw stones at their coach and threatened to lynch them. The king recovered and returned to Versailles and Marie. Her enemies feared that the newly reinstated royal mistress would exact revenge upon them, but it seems someone might have gotten to her first. She fell suddenly ill with convulsions. On her deathbed, the 27-year-old was certain that she had been poisoned, but no investigation was launched. Louis briefly consoled himself with Diane, but within months he had moved on to the most significant mistress of his life, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Madame du Pompadour. She was born into a Parisian bourgeoisie family and was likely the result of her mother's affair with a wealthier man. Her probable baby daddy paid for a prestigious convent education and private tutoring, including elocution and singing lessons from actors. Her mother took her to a fortune-teller, who predicted that she would one day reign over the heart of a king. At 20, Jeanne wed Charles-Guillaume Lenormand de Tulle, the nephew and sole heir of her likely biological father. The couple were happy together and welcomed two children, but both died young. Jeanne's charm and beauty won her many admirers at Paris salons, but she joked that she would While Louis was on a hunting trip, Jeanne, who lived nearby, dressed in blue and boldly rode her bright pink buggy right in front of the royal party. The following day, she wore pink and drove a blue buggy. The king, who could hardly fail to notice, sent her a gift of venison. Current mistress Marie-Anne warned Jeanne off, but when she died, the path was wide open. Jeanne received an invitation to a masked ball at Versailles. She wore a stunning costume of Diana, goddess of the hunt. Louis, disguised as a yew tree, removed his own mask and declared his affection for Jeanne before the court. Within weeks, she was moved into the royal apartments and created Marquis de Pompadour. But Jeanne was much more than just sexy. She became Louis' closest friend, the only person at court he trusted to tell him the truth. She entertained the listless monarch with elegant parties, operas, hunts, and visits to their chateaus, and she often invited his wife along. Unlike the Danelle sisters, Jeanne took pains to ingratiate herself to Queen Marie. Thus, Louis felt less conflicted about this act of adultery. Louis built for her La Petite Trianon, a splendid retreat in the gardens of Versailles. Unfortunately, Jeanne suffered numerous health problems, including whooping cough, frequent headaches, three miscarriages, and leukaemia, a chronic yeast infection which made sex painful. She tried to increase her libido with aphrodisiacs, including truffles, celery, and vanilla, but to no avail. Five years in, she and Louis' sexual relationship ended. But Jeanne maintained her position as his maitresse-entitre and best friend. His majesty got his needs met elsewhere. It has long been suggested that Madame de Pompadour ran a sort of brothel for the king at Parcourser, or Stag Park, a discreet complex on the grounds of Versailles. In reality, the king's valet was responsible for keeping his bed filled. Jeanne merely tolerated the arrangement. She was happy to share the promiscuous king's body, remarking, It is his heart I want. All these little girls with no education will not take it from me. Jeanne held considerable political influence. She persuaded Louis to make peace with Austria. When the Seven Years' War broke out, France sided with Austria and Russia against Britain and Prussia. But the French lost the war and most of their American colonies. Pompadour was largely blamed for the defeat, and the subsequent bankrupting of France. She is credited with After Me, the Flood, generally interpreted as a nihilistic statement of enjoying the present and not caring about the consequences. Pompadour was indeed long dead by the time the revolution washed over France, sweeping away royals and nobles in its path, but her reputation was left Her many enemies at court resented her common background and made jokes about her surname, Poisson, French for fish. Jeanne's place in history has been somewhat resuscitated because of her contributions to the arts and enlightenment. She promoted the Encyclopedia, Philosopher Voltaire, numerous court painters and architects, and purchased a porcelain factory which became world famous and provided jobs. She was a champion of the Rococo style and helped make Paris the world capital of art and culture. But so much activity wore her down, and she fell ill with tuberculosis. The king personally nursed her, but she died at 42. Devastated, Louis bid her coffin farewell as she was carried off in the rain to Convis de Compostine. In the 20th century, the popular Pompadour hairstyle was named in the famous royal mistress' honor, though she never actually wore anything like it. Now let's stroll across the gardens of Versailles to Parc Auxerre, or Stag Park, and meet the many women who kept Louis entertained for brief seasons. Irène de Buisson de Longpré was employed in the household of Louis' daughter, Princess Adelaide. She was the first woman who caught the king's eye once things turned cold in the bedroom with Madame de Pompadour. She was known as a petite maitresse, or unofficial mistress. She gave birth to a daughter, Julie, but Louis' wandering eye soon lit upon Marie Geneviève Radix de Sainte-Foy, a noblewoman who received invitations from both the 40-year-old king and his 21-year-old son, Le Dauphin, on the same evening. She showed both to her husband, and they decided that she should go for the greater financial reward and sleep with the king. She did accept a later invitation from Le Dauphin and maintained affairs with both father and son at the same time. One courtier remarked that the king and the prince were both sailing to paradise on the same ship. Charlotte Rosalie de Choiseul-Beaupré was a lady-in-waiting to the king's daughters. Her relatives plotted to replace Madame de Pompadour with the beautiful 19-year-old. She managed to sleep with the king at the Palace of Fontainebleau during the summer of 1752, but the erotic plot was exposed, and Charlotte was banished from court. She died in childbirth the following year. Marie-Louise O'Murphy's grandfather was an Irish Jacobite who followed King James II of England in his exile to France. Her parents had rap sheets at the Bastille prison for espionage, blackmail, and sex work. Marie-Louise and her four sisters also worked in the oldest profession. Notorious lover Giacomo Casanova met her while sampling the pleasures of Paris and gave her the nickname O'Murphy, a pun on her name from the Greek for beautiful. Marie-Louise posed for François Boucher's Reclining Girl. When King Louis saw the painting, he was eager to meet the model. He promptly moved her into Stagg Park, where she could be brought to his bedchamber in the palace whenever he liked. Marie-Louise gave birth to a daughter. After two years, Marie-Louise made an unwise attempt to replace Madame de Pompadour. The king was insulted and ordered her out of her home in the middle of the night. He commanded her to marry a handsome but impoverished aristocrat. She was given a fabricated pedigree and her groom a generous bribe. They had two children before he was killed in the Seven Years' War. Her second husband was even further up the social pecking order. With his connections and her clever brain, Marie-Louise was able to make a fortune in finance, buy a palace in Paris, and return to court in style. While there, she probably had another fling with the king, resulting in the birth of a daughter. When the revolution broke out, Marie-Louise was arrested, but she managed to negotiate her release. She ingratiated herself with the new order by marrying a member of the revolutionary government 28 years her junior. Marie-Louise lived to the age of 77. François de Chaloux accompanied Louis' daughter, Princess Elisabeth, to Spain to wed her first cousin, Philippe. There, François married a Spanish duke. He was wounded in battle, in a way which made it impossible for him to father children. Still, the duchess gave birth to two baby boys. The youngest was baptized Louis, supposedly after his royal father. There were rumors that this baby was actually the child of Princess Adelaide, born of an incestuous relationship with her own father, but there is no real evidence that this is true. During the revolution, François was with Princess Adelaide when she escaped to Rome. Marie-Anne du Colon had an unhappy marriage with the duke, and an affair with the Prince de Condy. He thought her charms might be put to better use in seducing the king. Marie was the second serious contender to unseat Madame du Pompadour, but she was promptly ousted, and no one else dared to challenge the reigning Matrice Antitre. Marie-Anne also had affairs with King Christian VI of Denmark, King Gustav III of Sweden, and Tsar Peter III of Russia while they were in town tasting the delights of Paris. During the reign of terror, Marie-Anne posed as a servant to escape the guillotine. When things settled down, she returned to her chateau and resumed her life of luxury until the age of 85. Brigitte O'Murphy was the elder sister of Marie-Louise. She was not as beautiful, but the king had a thing for sisters. After two years, she was laid off with a generous pension and moved in with her sister. Marguerite Catherine Henault was the daughter of a Paris tobacco merchant. Her beauty gained the notice of the king's valet, who recruited her to live at Stag Park. Another mistress, Lucie-Madeleine d'Eston, was there at the same time, and the two women took turns entertaining his majesty while the other was pregnant. They each gave birth to two babies, who were promptly taken away to convents. After three years, the king grew bored of Marguerite and Lucie, and sent them both away with pensions. Anne-Copierre de Raumont got her horoscope drawn by Casanova. He predicted that she would be the lover of a king. Her sister was a courtesan and connected her to Louis' valet. When the king met her, he had to have her, but she refused to move in with his other mistresses at Stag Park. Anne played hard to get until she got her own house. She gave birth to a son whom the king recognized, unlike many of his other illegitimate children. But five years into the affair, Anne was implicated in a political scandal. The king broke up with her, but gave her the largest pension of any of his unofficial mistresses. Anne wed a marquis, escaped the revolution, and died a millionaire. Louise Jeanne Thiersolon de Le Colloterie was the daughter of a royal guard. She was just 11 when Louis' valet began training her to be an ideal mistress for the king. When she was 16, she was finally introduced to Louis. She threw his gifts in his face and screamed that she hated him, but she had no choice in the matter. Louise gave birth to a son. She was persuaded to try and entrap the king into legitimizing her child. But stubborn Louis was outraged and sent her to the Bastille. She was released and sent packing with a modest pension. Louise Jeanne was often in debt and reliant on lovers to support her. She died of cancer at 32. Lecivious Louis XV's list of lovers was in fact much longer than this. He had numerous one-night stands with court ladies, palace servants, opera singers and actresses, three of whom are known to history only by nicknames, Rose Blanche, White Rose, Belle Nuit, Beautiful Night, and La Poudre, Modesty. The man who had once been wracked with guilt over kissing another woman now simply stopped going to confession so he wouldn't be badgered about his serial adultery. Beatrix de Choiseul may not have actually slept with the king, but she sure tried. She was the daughter of a marquis, the wife of a duke, and very concerned about maintaining the social order. When Madame du Pompadour died, Beatrix schemed to replace her at the king's side. Beatrix was so forward in her attempts to seduce the king that he was alarmed and avoided her. He instead turned his attention to Antoinette de Jouy. She managed her way into Louis' bed, and he was apparently on the verge of granting her the title, but she ran into her rival on the grand staircase. Furious, Beatrix took Anne by the chin and exclaimed, Well, little one, how are your affairs progressing? The scene so scandalized the court that Louis stopped seeing Anne. Beatrix refused to give up her suit, especially when commoner Madame du Berry moved in. She led other noblewomen, including the king's daughters and Marie Antoinette, in haughtily refusing to acknowledge the king's new favorite. Louis eventually got fed up and exiled Beatrix from court. During the revolution, she refused to leave her chateau and acted haughtily towards the tribunal. She was guillotined at 64. Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Berry, was born to an unmarried seamstress who did sex work to get by. She had an affair with a wealthy businessman, and mother and child moved into the home of his mistress. The mother worked in the kitchen, while the charming little girl became a pet to the lady of the house. Whenever guests came to call, little Jeanne was dressed up and paraded out to sing and dance. She was educated at a convent, but when she was 15, her mother was thrown out of her lover's home. Jeanne sold trinkets on the street to survive, until she got a job as an assistant to a hairdresser. He became infatuated with the stunning teenager and moved her into his luxurious apartment, but when his mother came to visit, she cast Jeanne out. She was next hired as a companion to an elderly widow. Madame received a slurry of calls from society gentlemen and her sons, but when she realized that they were all there to seduce Jeanne, she threw the girl out. Next, she was hired as a shop assistant to the top fashion house in Paris. She attracted wealthy clients who overwhelmed her with gifts and offers to make her a kept woman. She was invited to a society party, where she met Jean Baptiste du Berry, a pimp to nobility. He launched her career as a courtesan amongst the highest echelon of society. For five years, Jeanne built an impressive list of clients, one of whom took her to Versailles, where she made the acquaintance of the greatest John in the land. The 58-year-old king was leaving the deathbed of his long-suffering wife, Queen Marie. As he walked morosely through the hall of mirrors, he was struck by a beautiful pair of violet eyes. Rather than bow, Jeanne boldly smiled back. His majesty inquired of his valet who the stunning woman was. Faster than you could say Matrice Antitra, Jeanne was in the king's bed. Louis apparently told a friend that she had introduced him to pleasures he had never known before. Jeanne was the only one who could cheer the king up after the death of his wife and five of his children. She was married to a respectable groom, given a fake noble birth certificate, elevated to Comtesse du Berry, and moved into luxurious royal apartments. But many courtiers refused to acknowledge the social climbing mistress. Louis finally had to bribe a noblewoman to sponsor Jeanne's official introduction and gently threaten his granddaughter-in-law Marie Antoinette to speak to her. Jeanne's biggest enemy was Beatrix de Choiseul. When she realized that she couldn't seduce the king herself, she brought in Albertine Elizabeth Pater, the wife of a Dutch baron. Louis did go to bed with Albertine, but Jeanne revealed the plot to the king, who dismissed Albertine and her allies, and returned his full attention to Jeanne. Albertine was later arrested by the revolutionary government for helping French émigrés, but she escaped the guillotine and lived to 75. Unlike Pompadour, Jeanne had no interest in politics. She was focused on enjoying the luxurious life she had worked so hard for. She dressed in the finest clothes and had her own hairdresser. Despite the money and jewels the king lavished upon her, she was perpetually in Jeanne and Louis had six happy years together, but while he was with her at Petit Trianon, he fell ill with smallpox. Jeanne sat vigil at his bedside for days. With concern for his immortal soul, Louis asked her to leave. Jeanne bid Louis farewell and left the room calmly, but she fainted and spent the night weeping. The next day, Louis asked for her, but when he was informed that she had left, he burst into tears. Louis XV died at the age of 64. His 19-year-old grandson, Louis XVI, imprisoned Jeanne in a convent. But over time, the royals forgot their resentment, and she was able to return to the luxurious château the king had gifted her. She buried 100 million dollars worth of jewels in the garden and had affairs with two men. While she was enjoying a happy retirement, France was falling apart. The dazzling diamond necklace Louis had ordered for her caused the affair of the necklace, which ruined Marie Antoinette's already precarious reputation. The French Revolution broke out in 1789, the royals were arrested, and the monarchy abolished. The former royal mistress had largely been forgotten, and she might have lived out her life unnoticed. But her château was ransacked and her jewels stolen. Jeanne was determined to get her property back, but her efforts drew the attention of the revolutionary government. During the reign of terror, a mob hurled the severed head of her lover into her window. She was arrested and sentenced to death. Most aristocrats saw it as their duty to go to their deaths with quiet dignity. But Jeanne, who had clawed her way out of poverty, fought tooth and nail. Frantic with terror, she struggled against the guards, and screamed, I don't want to die. Once she was strapped to the guillotine, her last words were, one more moment, I beg you. But the blade dropped. Jeanne du Barry was 50 years old. She was buried in the Madeleine Cemetery, with many other victims of the revolution, including King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. In the next episode, we'll meet Louis XV's ten royal children, including twin sisters, one of whom meddled her way to an Italian crown, the Dauphin, from whom tuberculosis stole his chance to be king, and the four unmarried madames, who remained at Versailles as beloved aunts to Louis XVI and menaces to his wife, Marie Antoinette. Don't want to wait to see the next episode? Patrons get exclusive early access to all of my multi-part series. If you would like to join my Patreon and help me make more fascinating videos, click on the link in the description. Thank you for watching.