Note 122 — Chapter XIX · “L’ÉTAT, C’EST MOI”

[Madame’s husband, Philip duke of Orleans, who had assumed that title on the death of Gaston in 1660, was a man of licentious habits, and although he distinguished himself in war, as we shall see, his effeminacy was of a most marked type. There is no doubt that Monsieur was most indifferent to his wife, and many historians, including Michelet,l believe that Louis XIV was the father of her children. Of these, two daughters arrived at maturity—Marie Louise, who married Charles II of Spain, and Anne Marie, who married Victor Amadeus of Savoy, afterwards king of Sardinia. Madame died 1670, under circumstances which will be related in the next chapter, and which were open to the suspicion of poison. The following year Monsieur married the princess palatine—Charlotte Elizabeth. She was the mother of the duke of Orleans, regent of the realm, and died in 1722.]