The balance of power between Louis XIV and his only brother, Philippe, had never been the slightest askew. Philippe was left entirely out of power and would eventually see his successful military career be halted, as well. Over the years, Philippe might have grumbled at the state of affairs, but he nevertheless understood the ways of the worlds.
Knowing full well that the instruments of power were out of his reach, the Duc d'Orléans focused his attentions on his satellite court at his various splendid residences, including the Palais-Royal and Saint-Cloud. Here, the death of his first wife, Henrietta of England, had left him without an heir to his immense fortune. After contracting his second marriage, the new Madame had quickly provided him with two sons and a daughter - both very much legitimate.
At Versailles, the king was not quite that fortunate. Marie Thérèse had given her husband six children but just one had survived childhood - the Grand Dauphin. On the other hand, the king's mistresses were far more fortunate in that department as both Louise de La Vallière and Françoise-Athénaise de Montespan had given him several living children. Living - but illegitimate.
The king did his utmost to integrate his otherwise disenfranchised children a firm foothold in the upper echelons of French nobility. First by legitimising them, then by arranging marriage after marriage to the legitimate princes and princesses of the blood. Finally, the children of Philippe had grown enough to contemplate marriage and Louis eyed an opportunity.
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| Philippe, Duc d'Orléans |
Initially, the idea had been a double marriage between the cousins. The heir to Philippe - the Duc de Chartres - was intended for Françoise Marie de Bourbon while Elisabeth-Charlotte was destined for the Duc du Maine. The attitudes of the parents were not particularly encouraging. The Duchesse d'Orléans was aghast and famously retorted to slapping her son in public for his acquiescence to the marriage before turning her back to the king himself. Philippe, too, was not pleased at the prospect but knew too well that his brother's will always carried in the end - better to agree immediately and reap the benefits of cooperation.
In the end, only one of the marriages materialised: that of the Duc de Chartres to Françoise Marie. The couple were infamously ill-matched; he would later refer to her by the moniker "Madame Lucifer" whereas Françoise herself had made her sentiments clear when she declared that she cared not whether he loved her, only that he married her.
The official reasoning was that there were no other suitable candidate for the 17-year old Chartres. The on-going war ruled out any Catholic princess, the princesses of the blood were too young - so the only possible alternative was to bestow the king's own natural daughter on his nephew. The fact that a marriage could possible wait a year or two apparently did not seem reasonable.
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| Duc de Chartres, son of Philippe |
The scene was set for family bliss (outwardly at least) which ought to have benefited the Orléans-family immensely. That was clearly the expectation of Philippe and his thought-process is not hard to follow. By bestowing his only surviving male heir on a woman who was a result of double adultery and legitimised to boot, the Duc d'Orléans was surely justified in expecting something in return. His own military career had been very promising but he had quickly become sidelined by the king. The turn had now come for his son to reap his own laurels. Consequently, the Duc de Chartres had been trained for years and by 1701 the War of the Spanish Succession had erupted.
Understandably, Chartres clearly expected to be given a prime command by his uncle/father-in-law. Yet, that was not to happen. Rather than being deployed to the front, the king kept him back to the scandal of both Philippe and Chartres. To the on-lookers, it was definitely a slap in the face and neither father nor son were prepared to overlook the snub.
Louis XIV's reasoning for denying his nephew a chance to shine was to be found in the very marriage that Philippe had reluctantly agreed to. As mentioned, the Duc and Duchesse de Chartres were anything but a happy couple, and the Duc had quickly taken an official mistress by the name of Mademoiselle de Séry. While not particularly unusual, Chartres had then taken to parading Mademoiselle de Séry for everyone to see. She was not the first one either - there had been two other ladies of dubious reputation which hardly added to the loving atmosphere at home. Naturally, the Duchesse could hardly help but seeing it as an insult - regardless of their clear dislike for each other, it was still an affront to her position.
Years of unfulfilled potential and seeing the pattern continue with his son - despite their sacrifice - brought Philippe to a rare outwards burst of rage against his brother. Meanwhile, Louis felt utterly justified in his conduct. The ground was laid for a serious clash on 8 June 1701 when the two brothers met for dinner at Marly.
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| Françoise Marie |
Initially, Louis reproached his brother for his nephew's "scandalous" behaviour towards his beloved daughter, Françoise. It is likely that Louis had expected the conversation to go as usual - a bit back and forth but eventually he would come out on top. However, Philippe was in no mood to humour his elder brother and immediately retorted that Chartres had done nothing which the king had not done himself to his long-suffering wife, Marie Thérèse. Apparently, Philippe pointed out that Louis had not exactly been discreet in his affairs so the argument that flaunting one's mistress was ground for public punishment was absurd. Amongst the things which Philippe allegedly threw in the king's face was the disrespect shown to Marie Thérèse when she was obliged to share the coach with both Mesdames de La Vallière and de Montespan - an incident which had caused people to gather to look at "the three queens".
One can only imagine the shock of Louis who had become increasingly focused on his religious persona after the ascent of Madame de Maintenon. Having his former behaviour thrown back at him was likely neither welcome nor even comparable to the aging king. However, if Louis had expected the reprimand to be a brief - and singular - charge from his brother, he was sorely mistaken.
Years of pent up frustrations were bubbling up to the surface. Whilst unspoken at this particular meeting, Philippe had had to suffer much at the hands of his brother - and Louis undoubtedly felt the same way. One thing was being utterly kept from any influence but the passing over entirely of Philippe - and his son - when it came to the candidature for the throne of Spain was insufferable. Given that Louis had secured his line (the devastating year of 1712 was still a decade away) it was incomprehensible to Philippe that he was not even considered when the crown of Spain became vacant. Louis XIV had chosen his second-oldest grandson, the Duc d'Anjou, as his official candidate and even presented him to the court as the king of Spain. Philippe was - once again - passed over and left wondering where his claim had gone. After all, his own claim to the Spanish crown was equally as strong as the Duc d'Anjou's, stronger even, if one considers that Philippe was the elder.
Philippe had clearly not forgotten the promises made when he agreed to let Chartres marry Françoise - promises that Louis had not kept entirely. Whilst the official ownership of the Palais-Royal had indeed changed hands and the Chevalier de Lorraine had received a handsome pay-off and a knighthood of the Saint-Esprit, there was something vital missing from the bride's dowry: a key role for the Duc de Chartres in the coming war.
Added to that was the payment in full of the immense dowry promised. Considering the circumstances, Louis had seen fit to double to dowry he had given to his other daughter which raised the sum to 2.000.000 livres. Yet, the dowry itself had only been paid in full five years after the marriage upon the end of the Nine Years' War. One might argue that Madame was the greatest loser in the game - she had "lost" her son to the one thing she dreaded the most: an illegitimate princess. Adding to the injury was that fact that the marriage was largely promoted by her arch-enemy, Madame de Maintenon. She could not even rejoice at the financial gains as they were all given to either Philippe or the Chevalier de Lorraine. Madame herself saw not a sou.
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| Louis XIV in 1701 |
The problem was that although Louis loved his children, he was not blind either. He knew full well that the mésalliance between a legitimised person (even a king's daughter) and a legitimate prince of the blood was a massive concession on his brother's part. According to Hugh Stokes, the king retorted with a thinly veiled threat: the drain on the treasury caused by the new war meant that retrenchments in the royal pensions were inevitable. In other words - watch it or I'll cut you off.
This latest attack on the king's lack of fulfilling his own part was interrupted by the announcement of dinner. For a brief period, the brothers cooled down while dining but tempers were still raw when they parted after the food was cleared away. Whether anything of note was said between them is known only to them yet Philippe had clearly not obtained his goal of greater recognition for his son. During the whole of the dinner - witness, of course, by spectators - the king was noted to be his usual stoic self while Philippe was so obviously livid that some suggested he be bled immediately. Upon his departure, he was noticeably still furious.
That same evening, Philippe collapsed from a massive stroke which eventually proved to be his death. He died the next day at noon.
