Louis Alexandre de Bourbon was the son of the Duc de Penthièvre and became known as the Prince de Lamballe during his short life-time. Born as the heir of one of the greatest fortunes in France, the young man quickly discovered that he had the world at his feet. His wealth procured him anything he wanted and his rank protected him from any dire consequences of his actions - despite, of course, to his health.
Already as a young man, his father worriedly watched Louis Alexandre fall into bad society. He had always been a restless person - even as a child. As an adolescent, he would often steal out of his father's château going no-one-knew-where. A story goes that his father even had him followed but when the "spy" was noticed by Louis Alexandre, he threatened to beat him unless he convinced the worried Duc de Penthièvre that all was well. Naturally, with such a high-profile youth going astray, rumours began swirling - one had it that the prince had married a peasant girl he had encountered on his wanderings.
It was with this concern that he chose a suitable bride for his 19-year old son: Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, who became Princesse de Lamballe in 1767. The young lady - known primarily for her close relationship with Marie Antoinette and her grisly death - was a picture book image of piety and sweetness.
Initially, the plan worked. For weeks, the Prince de Lamballe settled to a life with his pretty, young wife but soon became unbearably bored. To the great scandal of the court, he eloped with Mademoiselle de La Chassaigne. The mademoiselle was employed as a dancer and singer in the opera and gleefully enjoyed the lavishness of her aristocratic lover. Meanwhile, his wife was left to deal with the humiliation on her own.
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| Louis Alexandre |
Mademoiselle de La Chassaigne was certainly not the only young lady of dubious repute with whom the prince was intimate. She fell pregnant which prompted the Duc de Penthièvre to send her abroad - apparently, the prince de Lamballe did not care enough to go after her. Yet, if his dutiful wife had hoped for a reunion, she was disappointed. Shortly after the departure of Mademoiselle de La Chassaigne, another woman made her appearance. Whereas La Chassaigne had been sweet but simple, Mademoiselle de La Forêt was not quite as pliable. She understood the benefits of having a very rich lover and he knew that to keep her, he was to shower her with jewels. Such gifts were expensive and his own debts were mounting.
While aristocratic men have been giving their mistresses jewels for centuries, few dared to follow in the Prince de Lamballe's footsteps. If Mademoiselle de La Fôret had wondered at the exquisite quality of her new diamonds, she need only have looked to her lover's wife. Upon her marriage, the Princesse de Lamballe had been given some simply outstanding pieces of jewellery - now they adorned the prince's mistress.
Jewels of such quality were bound to be reported missing. While the Prince de Lamballe did not hesitate to inform his wife of what he had done, he was less forthcoming with his father. The Duc de Penthièvre initiated an investigation which promptly led to Mademoiselle de La Fret fleeing - with the diamonds. It was not until she discovered that she, too, was pregnant with the prince's child, that she returned. Outraged, the Duc de Penthièvre promised to take care of the child but she was never to see his son again.
He is also known to have also taken Mademoiselle La Cour as his mistress; she was his reigning favourite when he died. By then, his personal debts were out of control, helped along by excessive gambling.
While he was the heir to a vast fortune, he did not yet possess it. So, with his unlimited spending and expensive tastes, he soon ran into debt. That was not uncommon for noblemen - rather the norm than otherwise - but he went so far as to sell his wife's diamonds to get the creditors off his back. The utter lack of remorse for his actions is clearly shown in Louis Alexandre's behaviour. Merely weeks after the scandal of Mademoiselle de La Fôret, he disappeared - twice. Both times, his father's agents found him in "undesirable" company. Such company was not curable by simply removing the prince from his surroundings; a good deal of them were aristocrats themselves, including the Duc de Chartres.
His lifestyle quickly exhausted him and drove his health over the edge. Besides the early signs of syphilis, he had also had a terrible fall from his horse while hunting. The injury was bad enough to require surgery so he was sent to the countryside to recuperate. In May 1768, he was back at his estate of Louveciennes but terribly ill. His syphilis was now wreaking havoc on his body and mind. Worn out by a lifetime of excess, Louis Alexandre died on 6 May at the age of just 20. Quite tellingly, he had been nursed personally by his wife in whose arms he died.
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