Louis Of Bourbon - Louis XIV's DISGRACED son

Louis de Bourbon was born on October 2, 1667 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He was the last child born from the relationship between Louis XIV and Louise de la Vallière. Only Louis and his sister Marie-Anne, who was exactly one year older, survived their childhood. When Louis was born, his mother had already lost her position as maîtresse en titre, as Madame de Montespan had driven her from the king's side. The king, who by now had lost all interest in his former favourite, did not pay any attention to his son at first, even though he was the second-born male descendant of Louis and only legalized the child two years later. To this end, he revived the extinct title of Comte de Vermandois and appointed the young boy Admiral of France. In this way, he removed the power of the nobility over the navy and retained power himself. In 1670, the repenting Louise de la Vallière turned to religion and in 1674, de la Vallière entered the Carmelite convent in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques in Paris, where she took the name of Sir Louise de la Miséricorde. Louis de Bourbon now went to live with his uncle, Philippe d'Orléans, at the Palais-Royal, whereupon the boy's aunt, Elizabeth-Charlotte of the Palatinate, was appointed to be Louis' guardian. Although la Palatine strongly opposed the king's romances and disliked his illegitimate children, she grew very attached to the gentle and young Louis. The Duc d'Orléans was widely regarded as a libertine and a homosexual. At his uncle's court, the young Louis met his uncle's lover, Philippe de Chevalier de Lorraine. De Chevalier and his entourage are said to have seduced the young Louis and through de Chevalier, the young and naïve count, who was only 13 years old at the time, was persuaded to join a homosexual group of young aristocrats who called themselves la Sainte Congrégation des Glorieux Pédérastes, which translates into the Holy Brotherhood of the Glorious Pederasts, to which François-Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Compty, also belonged. Louis XIV initially tolerated the brotherhood because he hoped it would prevent political intrigues. However, he could not bear the fact that the son of his blood, even if he was a bastard, was openly homosexual. The young count was therefore flogged under the eyes of his father and forced to denounce his friends. Furthermore, Louis XIV banished his son from court. Louis de Bourbon was initially exiled to Normandy. The following year, the young count's guardian, La Palatine, in an attempt to reconcile father and son, persuaded the king to allow the boy a chance to return to grace by sending the young count as a soldier to Flanders, which was under French occupation at the time. De Vermandois was sent to the besieged Courtret and fell ill there. Despite his illness, desperate to regain his father's love, he fought on and he died on November 18, 1683, aged only 16. Louis was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Vast in Arras. The line of the Counts of Vermandois, which had been created for him, became extinct as Louis had no offspring and his title of Admiral de France was transferred to the five-year-old Louis-Alexandre, Comte de Toulouse, the king's youngest son from his marriage to the Marquise de Montespan. His sister, Marie-Anne, and his aunt, La Palatine, were very sad about Louis' death, but his father is said not to have shed a single tear. As for his mother, who had become Sir Louis de la Miséricorde, she refused to cry, declaring that it would be too much to mourn a son whose birth she should have mourned instead.