History's Philippe I d'Orléans

**Philippe, Duke of Orléans**, was the younger son of Louis XIII of France and his wife, Anne of Austria. His older brother was the famous "Sun King", Louis XIV. Styled *Duke of Anjou* from birth, Philippe became *Duke of Orléans* upon the death of his uncle Gaston in 1660.

During the reign of his brother he was known simply as *Monsieur*, the traditional style at the court of France for the younger brother of the king.

Although he was open about his homosexual behaviour and freely acted effeminately, he married twice and fathered several children. He was the founder of the *House of Orléans*, a cadet branch of the ruling House of Bourbon, and thus the direct ancestor of Louis Philippe I, who ruled France from 1830 until 1848 in the July Monarchy.

## Biography

### **Early Life**

Philippe was born on 21 September 1640 at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the day before his mother Anne’s 39th birthday. As the son of a ruling king, the infant Philippe held the rank of a *Fils de France* (son of France). As such, he ranked immediately behind his older brother Louis, Dauphin of France, who inherited the French throne before Philippe reached the age of three. From birth, Philippe was second in line to the throne of France and was entitled to the style of Royal Highness.

At the death of their father Louis XIII in May 1643, Philippe's older brother ascended to the throne of France as Louis XIV. Their mother Queen Anne revoked the late king's will to arrange for a power-sharing agreement with Cardinal Mazarin, who had been serving as Louis XIII's chief minister. Anne was now in full control of her children, something she had been vying for since their birth. It was not until 1660 at the death of his uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans that Philippe would be known simply as *Monsieur* or as the *Duke of Orléans*.

The child Philippe was acknowledged to be attractive and intelligent. The Duchess of Montpensier dubbed him the "*prettiest child in the world*", while his mother's friend and confidant, Madame de Motteville, later said of Philippe that he displayed a "*lively intelligence*" early on. From 1646 on Philippe spend some of his childhood at the Hôtel de Villeroy / Cremerie de Paris, house of Nicolas V de Villeroy tutor of his brother Louis XIV.

In the autumn of 1647, at age seven, Philippe caught smallpox, but recovered and convalesced at the Palais-Royal. A year later, he was taken from the care of women and, on 11 May 1648 carried out his first official ceremony when he was baptised publicly at the Palais Royal. His godparents were his uncle Gaston and aunt Queen Henrietta Maria of England. He was also educated by the maréchal du Plessis-Praslin. His education emphasized languages, history, literature, mathematics and dancing. Despite having a household of his own, his behaviour was closely watched by his mother and Mazarin, who made sure that Philippe had no meaningful financial freedom from the crown.

Later in 1658, Philippe made his most significant purchase, the Château de Saint-Cloud, a building about 10 kilometres west of Paris. On 8 October 1658, its proprietor Barthélemy Hervart organised a sumptuous feast at Saint Cloud in honour of the royal family. Some two weeks later, on 25 October, Philippe bought the estate for 240,000 livres. He immediately began to organise improvements to what was then a small villa.

### **Duke of Orléans**

When Philippe's uncle Gaston died in February 1660, the Duchy of Orléans reverted to the crown, as he had no surviving male issue. Philippe himself took on the new style of *Duke of Orléans* and Louis XIV granted Philippe the title officially on 10 May 1661 along with the subsidiary titles *Duke of Valois* and *Duke of Chartres*, all registered peerages with the Parlement de Paris. He was also granted the lordship of Montargis.

### **Sexuality**

During his childhood, Queen Anne was observed to address Philippe by such nicknames as "*my little girl*" and encouraged him to dress in feminine clothing even as a young man – a habit he would retain all his life. A contemporary would later call him the "*silliest woman who ever lived*", a reference to his effeminacy. As a young man, Philippe would dress up and attend balls and parties in female attire, for example, dressed as a shepherdess. Mindful that Gaston's treasonous habits had not only been evoked by the Fronde, but by his secret elopement with a foreign princess which had left the royal brothers estranged for years, his homosexual activity was not unwelcome, because it was seen to reduce any potential threat he may have posed to his older brother. It appears that 1658 was the key year in which Philippe's sexuality became well defined. Court gossip said that Cardinal Mazarin's own nephew Philippe Jules Mancini, the Duke of Nevers, had been the "*first to [have] corrupted*" Philippe in what was referred to as the "Italian vice" – contemporary slang for male homosexuality. He certainly did make his first contacts that year with Philippe de Lorraine, known as the *Chevalier de Lorraine*, the male lover with whom he would establish the closest emotional attachment throughout his life.

Even once married, he reportedly carried on open romantic affairs with German nobles, with no regard to either of his two wives.

### **Marriages**

Philippe would marry his first cousin, Princess Henrietta of England, youngest child of King Charles I of England and his wife Queen Henrietta Maria, who was Philippe's aunt and had taken refuge at the court of France after the birth of Princess Henrietta in 1644. They lived at the Palais Royal and at the Palais du Louvre. In 1660, after the restoration of the House of Stuart to the throne of England under her brother Charles II, Princess Henrietta returned to England to visit her sister, the Princess of Orange, who later caught smallpox and died. The French court officially asked for Henrietta's hand on behalf of Philippe on 22 November 1660 while she was in England. The couple signed their marriage contract at the Palais Royal on 30 March 1661. The ceremony took place the next day in the same building in front of select members of the court.

Known as *Henriette d'Angleterre* in France, and *Minette* to her intimates, she was known officially as *Madame* and was ever popular with the court. Court gossip later said that the king was the father of Henrietta's first child. Henrietta's very open flirting is said to have caused a jealous Philippe to retaliate by beginning to flaunt his sexuality openly in a less than accepting era.

## Portraits

Philippe *[left]* and his brother Louis *[right]* (1640s)1654