Random Biggest Scandals From Court Of Louis XIV (10 items)

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  (#1) Louis XIV Lost His Virginity To A Woman Called One-Eyed Kate

  When Louis XIV was 15 years old, his mother began her search for the woman who would introduce the young king to the act of procreation. It was incredibly important for Louis to produce "an heir and a spare," as they say, to ensure the continuation of the royal line. However, historical consultant and author Aurora von Goeth described just how hard the queen had to work to find the perfect woman to deflower her son:

  The chosen woman must lack ambitions to raise herself above her current rank, she must be discreet, she must be experienced, but not too much, she must be clean and without any diseases, she must be charming, but not to a level of being too enchanting, after all the whole act will be quite bewitching already.

  In the end, the queen settled on one of her own ladies-in-waiting, Catherine Henriette Bellier, also known as One-Eyed Catherine (or Kate). Not only was she missing an eye, but she was also known for being "ugly as ugly can be." However, she followed the queen's instructions and reportedly did an outstanding job at taking Louis's virginity after he returned to his room one day to find her lying on his bed wearing almost nothing.

  The queen rewarded Catherine handsomely for her efforts - she received 2,000 livres, two townhouses, the title of baroness, and the Hôtel de Beauvais. In fact, the hotel still stands today with the only surviving image of Catherine carved into the wall of the courtyard.
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  (#2) The Queen Possibly Cheated On Her Husband With An African Dwarf

  The details surrounding the origin of Sister Louise Marie Thérèse are very cloudy. What historians do know, though, is she lived as a nun in Moret and rumor said she had royal heritage. However, most don't agree on exactly who her parents were.

  One theory says a Black baby was born to Queen Marie Thérèse, but the child wasn't actually of African heritage. Some historians believe the baby may have been born with dark blue or purplish skin because it had been deprived of oxygen, and that it died soon after being born.

  However, the more salacious version of the story claims an illegitimate child was born to either Queen Marie Thérèse or King Louis XIV. Marie Thérèse was known to have had a jester who was an African dwarf, while Louis XIV had access to "exotic" women from Africa. Either of them could have been Louise Marie Thérèse's parent, but the truth behind her heritage has been lost to history.
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  (#3) The Duchesse d'Orleans Had An Affair With Her Husband's Bisexual Lover

  Guy Armand de Gramont, the Comte de Guiche, was known as one of the most handsome men in Louis XIV's court. Better known as Armand, the comte was bisexual and easily drew attention from both male and female partners. Armand and his sister were members of the household of the Duc and Duchesse d'Orleans, Philippe and Henriette (the king's brother and sister-in-law).

  Armand and Philippe had a close relationship, though it was reportedly not a balanced one. Philippe cared deeply for his lover and friend, but Armand was more interested in chasing Philippe's power and money. Armand showed the duke very little respect, even kicking him during a masked ball.

  The greatest disrespect Armand showed to Philippe was sleeping with his wife, Henriette. It was at Philippe's request that Henriette and Armand began getting to know each other better, but they took things much further than intended. They kept their affair hidden, but barely. In fact, there was one incident that involved Philippe coming upstairs to Henriette's rooms unexpectedly, at which point Armand hid behind a door while a valet tried to cover for the lovers by making a scene. In the chaos, Armand was able to slip away unseen.
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  (#4) Louis XIV Had A Top-Secret Second Wedding

  After his first wife, Marie Thérèse d'Autriche, died suddenly in 1683, Louis XIV was not in a hurry to remarry. He had produced an heir and successfully kept the lineage alive, and had little interest in the available European princesses. However, there was one woman who had his attention - Françoise d'Aubigné.

  She was known at the time as the Marquise de Maintenon and had been born into poverty. Her first marriage was to a poet named Paul Scarron, and she became a widow at a young age. She worked in Versailles as a nanny to the illegitimate children of the palace. As she became closer and closer with the king, he supposedly fell in love with her.

  But the Marquise de Maintenon was religious; she did not feel comfortable living with Louis XIV out of wedlock. Although there is no concrete proof of the wedding, historians and authors like Aurora von Goeth insist that evidence found in memoirs proves the king secretly married her. There were few witnesses, and it was all kept as quiet as possible due to her lower status.

  The marriage was a morganatic one, meaning nothing really changed for the Marquise de Maintenon. She did not gain any titles or rights to the monarchy, but she did have a place by Louis's side and apartments close to his from that time onward.
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  (#5) Louise De La Vallière Broke Etiquette And Raced The Queen's Carriage

  The War of Devolution began in 1667, and Louis XIV led the charge as city after city fell to his armies. While he was back in Paris, he was very much missed by his mistress of the moment, Louise de La Vallière.

  At the time, she was pregnant with their fourth child, and he was the only real love she had ever known. Determined to prove her love and impress him, Louise decided to join the rest of the court in traveling to meet up with the king - despite having been told to stay behind.

  As Louise's carriage drew close to the queen's, she made the fateful decision to break etiquette and ordered her driver to overtake the queen. Marie Thérèse was not in any way amused by Louise's actions - in fact, she was so shocked that she vomited on her ladies' skirts. When the caravan stopped, Marie Thérèse's frosty attitude made it clear to Louise she should have stayed home.

  But Louise wasn't about to back down. When the court moved on and could see the king in the distance, she once again had her driver race past the queen's carriage. The two coaches raced hard to reach the king first, with Louise as the winner. But instead of receiving an affectionate greeting from her lover, she heard him say only, "What, madame? Before the queen?" before he turned away.
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  (#6) The Affair Of The Poisons Brought Down Many Members Of The Royal Court

  In 1678 rumors flew that a member of Louis XIV's court was going to poison him. The accusation opened up a deep well of secrets and magic as dozens of members of the court were found to have used potions or spells on the king. At that time, Paris had a thriving underworld of magicians and sorcerers who sold their wares to the ambitious members of the court.

  It was mainly ambition that drove them - Louis XIV could give them power, wealth, and social status at his discretion, so the people in his inner circle had plenty of reasons to compete for his favor and attention. One of the most anxious to secure her status as the king's primary mistress was Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan. People believed Madame de Montespan was a customer of the most notorious sorceress in Paris, known as La Voisin. Allegedly, she laced the king's food with love potions and aphrodisiacs she purchased from this magical underworld - on more than one occasion.

  In 1679 Louis XIV essentially criminalized magic and potion making. In an event known afterward as "The Affair of the Poisons," he formed a special tribunal that investigated 400 people over three years, sending 36 people to their death and 34 into exile.
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  (#7) La Grande Mademoiselle Fought Hard To Marry The Duc De Lauzun - And Deeply Regretted It

  Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchesse de Montpensier, was better known as La Grande Mademoiselle. She was a cousin of Louis XIV, and although she received many marriage offers (even one from Louis XIV himself), by her 40s she had become an old maid of the court.

  However, one day a man finally caught her eye - it was the somewhat unattractive, charming yet rude Antoine Nompar de Caumont. He is better known today by the title he received later in life, Duc de Lauzun. Although Mademoiselle fell head-over-heels for him, he unfortunately didn't feel the same way. She did everything in her power to make him love her, and eventually he just gave in and agreed to marry her.

  But the engagement was short-lived and ended on what would have been the couple's wedding day. Once other members of the court realized Mademoiselle was marrying a man who was essentially a nobody (and far beneath her), the king withdrew his permission.

  Soon afterward, Lauzun found himself in prison because of various altercations with members of the court. After 10 years of begging the king to release the man she loved, Mademoiselle agreed to sacrifice some of her fortune to free him. Reportedly they did finally get married, but their relationship was volatile and ended with Lauzun permanently kicked out of their home.
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  (#8) The King Had A Widely Known Affair With His Sister-In-Law

  The marriage between Henriette Anne of England and the king's brother, Philippe, the Duc d'Orléans, at first appeared genuinely loving and relatively stable; however, the facade quickly crumbled as both parties began having affairs. Henriette, known at court as Madame, was very close with Louis XIV and served as a diplomat for France's dealings with England. Rumor had it she was also very close with him in a sexual way.

  There were plenty of rumors flying around Versailles regarding the intimate relationship between Henriette and Louis XIV, fueled by their many private rendezvous. And the idea that Henriette was sleeping with her husband's brother only added to the scandalous nature of the affair.
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  (#9) Nicolas Fouquet Became The Richest Man In France Before Going To Prison For Stealing From The King

  Born into a wealthy family in 1615, Nicolas Fouquet was 17th-century France's version of Icarus. He was the son of a self-made nobleman and spent his life continuously moving up the political and social ladder. But by 1661, his time was up.

  For decades, Fouquet held high-ranking positions that allowed him to funnel away money that otherwise would have gone directly to the king. He quickly became the richest man in France, his wealth even surpassing that of Louis XIV. However, his lavish displays of wealth were his undoing, and the extravagant party he threw in August 1661 proved to Louis XIV that Fouquet had become too wealthy for his own good.

  The king had Fouquet arrested and brought to trial for embezzlement. Three years later, he was found guilty, but managed to escape the usual death sentence. He instead faced banishment from France, but Louis XIV worried what a man with such powerful information could do in a foreign land. In the end, Fouquet went to the Pignerol prison until his death on March 23, 1680.
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  (#10) Some Members Of The Court Believed The Duchesse d'Orleans Was Poisoned

  Historians believe King Louis XIV's sister-in-law, Henriette Anne of England, Duchesse d'Orleans, most likely died from natural causes. In the months leading up to her sudden and unexpected death, Madame complained of pains in her side and was generally in poor health.

  After returning from a diplomatic trip to England and traveling with Monsieur to Saint-Cloud, her health quickly worsened. She regularly drank chicory water, and on June 29, 1670, she asked her husband to bring her a glass. Upon drinking it, she almost instantly cried out in pain and claimed she had been poisoned. Suffering from an intense pain in her side, she was taken to her room where she died before the next morning.

  While lying in agony, Madame reportedly insisted multiple times she had been poisoned. However, the remainder of the chicory water was given to the hounds, and none suffered any side effects. Despite the lack of evidence, a rumor quickly spread that it was Madame's husband, Philippe, who had killed her. A second rumor began soon after, claiming Philippe's lover, the Chevalier de Lorraine, had actually poisoned Madame. He presumably had acted out of revenge, since Madame was partially responsible for him having spent time in the worst prison in France.

  In the end, an autopsy of Madame by well-respected surgeons revealed colic, gastroenteritis, and signs of gangrene on her organs - all natural causes.

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