Lovers and Threats

Louise Henriette de Bourbon Conti was married to Louis Philippe, Duc d'Orléans and the couple actually had a happy marriage - at first. But as it often was with these "convenient" marriages of the court, the passion  soon faded. While her husband showed an increasingly disturbing passion for gambling (which earned him several debts) Louise Henriette looked for love elsewhere. And she certainly found it.
At the time she was known to have had one constant lovers and several others just "passing by"..

The Comte de Melfort was rumoured to be one of them. In the memoirs of Jacques Casanova (written by Giacomo Casanova) the Comte de Melfort was mentioned as

"the favourite of the Duchess of Chartres, who had just become the Duchess of Orléans". 

It is believed that the two of them met at the Château de Saint-Cloud shortly after the birth of her first-born son in 1747. Louis Philippe was not pleased. He demanded that she gave up her lover immediately or be sent away to a convent! For all we know this seems to have ended the affair.

Louise Henriette de Bourbon Conti