Louis Auguste De Bourbon - Madame De Montespan 's And Louis XIV's son

Louis-Auguste de Bourbon was born on March 31st 1670. He was the second child born from the relationship of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. De Montespan's first child with Louis XIV was about one year older than Louis-Auguste but he died in 1672. Louis-Auguste was his father's son. His birth took place in the greatest secrecy as he was the result of double adultery and the husband of Madame de Montespan was extremely jealous. Louis-Auguste spent the first years of his life in the care of Madame Scarron in a house in Vaux-Girard near Paris. He was to retain an intimate relationship with his governess Madame de Maintenon throughout his life, probably more so than with his own mother Madame de Montespan. Louis-Auguste was disabled. According to Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, the child had a limp. Like all children born from the relationship of Louis XIV with Madame de Montespan, Louis-Auguste was legitimized by his father in December 1673 together with his brother Louis César, the Comte de Vexin and his sister Louise Françoise, the later Mademoiselle de Nantes. In the official document of legitimation, de Montespan's name was not mentioned because it was feared that her husband might claim the children for himself. After the legalization, the children lived at court near the king and de Montespan. In 1691, over 10 years after his mother fell from grace, Louis-Auguste is said to have been the one who persuaded her to leave Versailles, after which he moved into her former apartments. According to Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, he had de Montespan's luggage packed immediately after her departure and had her furniture thrown out the window to prevent her return. Despite his difficulty in walking, Louis-Auguste took part in the Flanders campaign in 1692 under the supreme command of Monsieur le Prince, the son of the Grand Comte, and alongside François-Louis de Conti. In war, he did not always distinguish himself by the bravery expected of him. On the contrary, in 1695 he evaded the enemy at Namur and allowed them to escape to the great disappointment of the king. Nevertheless, in 1701, the king sent Louis-Auguste and his brother Louis-Alexandre de Comte de Toulouse to Flanders as lieutenant generals under the command of Bouffle. Louis-Auguste married Louise-Bénédicte, the daughter of Henri-Trois-Jules de Comte, in 1692. Madame de Montespan, his mother, was not invited to the wedding. The marriage produced seven children, three of whom reached adulthood but remained without descendants. The three children are Louis-Auguste II de Bourbon, Prince de Dombres, Louis-Charles de Bourbon, Count of Eux, and Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, Mademoiselle du Main. In 1700, Louis-Auguste acquired the Château de Sceaux, which formerly belonged to First Minister of State, Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Louis XIV officially raised Louis-Auguste, Duc de Main, and his youngest brother, the Count of Toulouse, to the rank of Princess of the Blood in July 1714. At the insistence of Louis-Auguste and Madame de Maintenon, the king also changed his will. In the event of his death, he entrusted the guardianship of his great-grandson, the infant heir to the throne, Louis XV, to his natural son Louis-Auguste and granted him and his brother, the Count of Toulouse, the right of succession in the event of the death of the legitimate line. This decision was very controversial, but it is understandable from the situation of the royal family in 1714. After a series of deaths in the direct line of succession and after Philip V of Spain's renunciation of the French throne, forced by the allies of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713, there was only one direct heir to the throne, the little Duke of Anjou, the later Louis XV. The next claimants to the throne were the Houses of Orléans and Condé. Both houses were therefore opposed from the outset to the inclusion of Louis XIV's sons with the Montespan, whom they still regarded as bastards. The king died on September 1, 1715. According to Louis' will, the Dukes of Orléans and Main should now have jointly held a regency for the minor Louis XV. The political regency was to fall to Philip II of Orléans, while his brother-in-law Louis-Auguste was to be the personal guardian of the young Louis XV, presiding over the court and exercising command over the bodyguards. But as early as September 2, Philip II of Orléans had the king's will annulled by the Parliament of Paris. While Philip began his government and appointed the later Cardinal Dubois as his foreign minister and later prime minister, the Duke de Main was politically ousted and confined to the affairs of court at the Palais des Tuileries, where Louis XV grew up. The Duke did not accept this situation and became involved in the Saint-Lamar conspiracy of 1718. As a result of the failed conspiracy, Louis-Auguste was imprisoned in the citadel of Douillon. In 1720, he was pardoned by the Regency Council and he retired to the Château de Sceaux. It was here that Louis-Auguste de Bourbon died of cancer on May 14, 1736. He was 66 years old. This concludes this week's video. I hope you'll join me next week for more French history. See you then!