Louise Françoise, Princess of Condé
Louise Françoise, Duchess of Bourbon was the eldest surviving legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise de Montespan. She was said to have been named after her godmother, Louise de La Vallière, the woman her mother had replaced as the king's mistress. Before her marriage, she was known at court as Mademoiselle de Nantes.
Portrait by Pierre Gobert, ca. 1692
Portrait completed in 1690 showing the flattering style of Francois de Troy
Older half-sister Marie Anne de Bourbon
Younger sister Françoise Marie de Bourbon (left) and Louise Françoise (right)
Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan
Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise of Montespan, commonly known as Madame de Montespan, was a French noblewoman and the most celebrated royal mistress of King Louis XIV. During their romantic relationship, which lasted from the late 1660s to the late 1670s, she was sometimes referred to as the "true Queen of France" due to the pervasiveness of her influence at court.
Portrait of Françoise-Athénaïs, c. 1660, when Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente
Henrietta Anne of England, to whom Madame de Montespan was a lady-in-waiting
Madame de Montespan and four of her children: Mademoiselle de Nantes; Count of Vexin; Mademoiselle de Tours; Duke of Maine
Madame de Montespan by unknown artist, c. 1675
