Marie Anne de Mailly

Early life, family and marriage

Marie Anne was born the youngest daughter of Louis de Mailly, Marquis de Nesle et de Mailly, Prince d'Orange (1689 - 1767), and Armande Félice de La Porte Mazarin (1691 - 1729) who had married in 1709. Her mother was the daughter of Paul Jules de La Porte, duc Mazarin et de La Meilleraye (1666 - 1731), the son of the famous adventuress, Hortense Mancini, the niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Her mother was a lady-in-waiting in service to the queen, and her father reportedly "wasted his substance on actresses and the capacious requirements of Court life".

Marie Anne had four older full sisters:

Louise Julie de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Mailly, comtesse de Mailly (1710 - 1751),

Pauline Félicité de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Nesle, marquise de Vintimille (1712 - 1741),

Diane Adélaïde de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Montcavrel, duchesse de Lauraguais (1714 - 1769),

Hortense Félicité de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Chalon, marquise de Flavacourt (1715 - 1799).

The only one of the de Nesle sisters not to become a mistress of Louis XV's was the Marquise de Flavacourt. Louise Julie was the first sister to attract the king followed by Pauline Félicité, but it was Marie Anne who was the most successful in manipulating him and becoming politically powerful.

Marie Anne also had a younger half-sister, Henriette de Bourbon (1725 - 1780), Mademoiselle de Verneuil, from her mother's relationship with the duc de Bourbon, the chief minister of Louis XV from 1723 to 1726.

In her youth, Marie Anne was known as Mademoiselle de Monchy. On 19 June 1734, she married Jean Baptiste Louis, marquis de La Tournelle (1708-1740).

She was a friend of Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans, granddaughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan.

Royal Mistress

Introduction

In 1732, Marie Anne's oldest sister Louise Julie, who had succeeded their mother as lady-in-waiting to the queen, caught the attention of King Louis XV, and, with her husband's consent, become a royal mistress. Although she became the king's mistress in 1732, Louise Julie was not officially recognized as his maîtresse en titre until 1738, and did not use her new position at court to enrich herself or to interfere in politics.

Louise Julie was devoted to her family, and it was said that she was "a loving, sincere little creature with all the qualities of an easy dupe, and she was happy to Introduce her sisters at Court for the sole reason that it gave them pleasure". She invited all her sisters to court on different occasions and helped them to establish themselves socially. In 1739, Louise Julie received a letter from her younger sister Pauline-Félicité requesting to be invited to court. Louise Julie granted her sister's wish, but upon her arrival at court, Pauline-Félicité seduced the king and became his mistress.

While Louise Julie remained as the official mistress, the king fell in love with Pauline-Félicité, arranged for her to marry the marquis de Vintimille to enable her to stay at court, and gave her the castle of Choisy-le-Roi as a gift. Madame de Vintimille quickly became pregnant by the king, and died giving birth to his illegitimate son, Louis, the duc de Luc, who looked so much like the king that he was called Demi-Louis ('Small Louis').

Madame de Vintimille's remains stood in Lit de parade in the town of Versailles, when during the night, a mob broke in and mutilated the body of "the king's whore". The king and Madame de Mailly were both devastated by the death of Madame de Vintimille and shocked by the mutilation of her body. It was said that in her despair, Louise Julie performed a Catholic rite of penitence by washing the feet of the poor.

After this, the recently widowed Marie Anne de Mailly, asked Louise Julie for an invitation to court, and successfully established herself socially, becoming a great success based on her beauty and charm. Marie Anne was described as "magnificently beautiful", dignified and graceful, with fair hair, "a complexion so white and pure that it glowed", large blue eyes and red lips with a "childlike smile", and charming wit frequently based on irony.

Struggle with Louise Julie de Mailly

Louise Julie de Mailly was known to be so in love with the king that she "could do nothing without asking his advice" and never involved herself with state affairs. This made her acceptable to Cardinal Fleury, a supporter of pacifist policies, but a disappointment to court nobility who wanted the king's mistress to have influence in favor of warfare, which the nobles regarded as necessary for national dignity and glory. The militant aristocrats included duc de Richelieu, and Charles, Prince of Soubise, who both supported the idea of introducing a new mistress to the king in order to oppose the influence of Cardinal Fleury and his pacifist policies. They supported France's engagement in military actions and viewed Louise Julie's sister Marie Anne de Mailly, marquise de La Tournelle, as a suitable candidate for this purpose.

At a masked ball on Shrove Tuesday, 1742, Richelieu led Marie Anne up to the king and introduced them. She herself, however, at first rejected the royal advances. She already had a lover, the young duc d'Agénois, and was not inclined to give him up for the king's sake. As a result, Louis conspired with Richelieu, who was d'Agénois's uncle, to rid himself of the young suitor. Richelieu was quite anxious to do anything to bring about a liaison between the king and Marie Anne de La Tournelle because he knew Louise Julie de Mailly did not view him in a kindly light. The result was that Louis, in imitation of the biblical David, sent his rival to fight the Austrians in Italy. Here, more fortunate than the husband of Bathsheba, the duc d'Agénois was only wounded and returned to the court in glory.

Louis was in despair, but Richelieu, was not one to lightly accept defeat. He sent his nephew to Languedoc, where a woman had been instructed to seduce him. This she did most effectively; letters of a very passionate nature were exchanged; the lady dispatched those which she received to Richelieu, and in due course they were brought to the notice of Marie Anne de La Tournelle, who, furious at her young duke's deceitfulness, turned her attentions to the king and agreed to the suggestion of Richeliu and Soubise.

The fall of Louise Julie de Mailly was orchestrated by means of depriving her of her official office as lady-in-waiting, which was her formal justification for participating in court life and without which she would not formally be allowed to live at court. On 13 September 1742, Amable-Gabrielle de Villars, previously a dame du palais, was promoted to dame d'atour, and there was thereby a vacancy among the ladies-in-waiting of the queen. The recently deceased Françoise de Mazarin, a personal friend of the queen, had shortly before her death wished for a post for her favorite step-granddaughter Marie Anne de Mailly, in order to embarrass Louise Julie de Mailly, whom she detested, and the queen herself asked for the vacant place to be given to Marie Anne de Mailly, and by the mediation of d'Argenson, Marie Anne secured the king's approval for her candidacy to this office as dame du palais. In parallel, Marie Anne persuaded Louise Julie to write to Cardinal Fleury and resign her own post as dame de palais in favor of their sister Flavacourt by convincing her that the king wished to favor her sisters for the sake of Louise Julie. She agreed, though she resigned on condition that she be compensated with the post of dame d'atours at the court of the next dauphine.

Royal Mistress

Despite having achieved the banishment of her predecessor and the king's agreement to her demands, Marie Anne de Mailly reportedly refused to fulfill the sexual union with Louis XV several times from November until 19 December 1742, after which she "ostentatiously showed herself at the opera so that Louis'

choice might be approved", and installed herself in the royal favorite's apartment three days after.

In preparation for her own elevation to duchess, she arranged a marriage between her favorite sister, Diane Adelaide, to the Duke of Lauraguais, and secured her a dowry and the office of designated lady-in-waiting to the future bride of the crown prince. On 22 October 1743, letters patent were issued creating Marie Anne duchesse de Chateauroux with a duchy representing an annual income of 80,000 livres.

The king "asked for nothing more than a place among those who formed her little court", was in despair when she refused to attend his dinners, begged her to be allowed to join the suppers in her room, curtailed his councils so that he could be with her, attending her baths and sitting at her bedside while she was recovering from them, and could be observed writing letters to the duc de Richelieu under her direction.

As royal mistress, Marie Anne was the hostess in the King's private apartments where she was known to provide amusement and gaiety and introduced the custom of using nicknames. She herself was known as "the princess", her sister Flavacourt as "the hen", and her sister Lauraguais as the "Street of Evil Words". Her sister Lauraguais was said to be entertaining and once amused the king by producing nicknames for his guests, calling d’Argenson ”the sucking calf", Monsieur de Florentin ”the sucking pig ”, Monsieur de Maurepas ”the spinning-cat", and Cardinal de Tencin

”the ostrich".

Cardinal Fleury's death on 29 January 1743 signified the beginning of her own political career as the successor of Fleury, the political adviser of Louis XV, and the de facto ruler of France.

Marie Anne made the king comfortable confiding in her about political issues by giving the impression that she was indifferent to it and made him ask her advice by supporting his own ideas. "She had the supreme cleverness never to question Louis on affairs of State, and so the infatuated King was convinced that his pretty mistress took no interest in politics. The voluptuous nonchalance of her intimacy with him confirmed this opinion. The consequence was that he spoke with her of State affairs without apprehension, and even went so far as to consult her, nay, beg her, to be so kind as to give him advice. In this way she slipped into the government at the King’s request without him being aware of it."

War of the Austrian Succession

When her influence over state affairs was secured, the War-Party of Richelieu demanded progress in their military warfare ambitions. Directed by Richelieu, himself dominated by Madame de Tencin who allegedly originated the idea, Marie Anne was given the task to shake the king out of his passive nature and convince him to place himself at the head of his armies on the battlefield during the War of the Austrian Succession, so as to give him and France prestige. The task was to have appealed to Marie Anne's pride, ambition, and wish to become a heroine. She worked to stimulate the king's pride and sense of responsibility, exclaiming that he owed it to himself to become a great king. Louis XV, exhausted by her reproaches, reportedly cried, "You are killing me", upon which she replied, "Sire, a King must come to life again". He was ultimately persuaded to agree when she stated that the glory of a victory would win the adoration of the people and the downfall of his enemies. In April 1744, Louis XV appointed her future Superintendent of the Household to the future Dauphine, took command of his army, and left for the front at the Austrian Netherlands. It was reportedly Marie Anne who convinced Louis XV to make an alliance between France and Frederick II of Prussia during the War of the Austrian Succession, and she received in person the thanks of Frederick of Prussia.

She visited Louis XV when he was with his army at Dunkerque and again in Metz. When Marie Anne visited the king in Metz near the front she was accompanied by Diane Adélaïde. Besides being an amiable companion, Marie Anne did not consider her simple sister much of a rival. It was rumoured at the time that one of the methods by which Marie Anne kept the interest of the king was to periodically offer him a ménage à trois with her sister, Diane Adélaïde de Lauraguais. That Lauraguais actually began sleeping with the king at this point is debatable. Nevertheless, the widespread rumors made the two sisters' visit to the king in Metz a national scandal. During the notorious visit of the sisters in Metz, the king suddenly fell gravely ill on 8 August. Fearing to be at his deathbed, Louis XV was afflicted by a religious crisis; he confessed to François de Fitz-James and announced his wish to renounce his adultery and mistresses and ask his wife for her forgiveness. The queen was called to Metz, and Marie Anne and Diane Adélaïde ordered to leave. During their journey back to Paris the sisters were taunted by mobs who threatened to lynch them and their coach was attacked with stones.

Death

Louis XV recovered from his illness and upon his return from the battlefield made a triumphal entry into Paris. Missing Marie Anne, he visited her in secret on 14 November. On the 25th, minister Maurepas was obliged to recall Marie Anne to Versailles where she was restored in her former position as royal mistress. Her return to court was described as a triumph and there were fears that she would exact revenge upon her enemies. However, she had barely arrived at court before she fell sick with convulsive pains and cramp attacks. She died on 8 December 1744, convinced on her deathbed that she had been poisoned. She was swiftly buried without ceremony in the church of St Sulpice in Paris in 13 December.

After her death, the king for a short time consoled himself with her sister, Diane Adélaïde de Lauraguais. A few months later in 1745, however, the king already had a new mistress, Madame de Pompadour.

Depiction in fiction

Marie Anne is one of the central characters in Sally Christie's The Sisters of Versailles (Simon&Schuster 2015), a novel about Louis XV and the notorious Mailly-Nesle sisters.

Marie Anne is also the mistress on the King's arm depicted in Season 2, Episode 2 of Outlander.