Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth
Louise Renée de Penancoët de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth was a mistress of Charles II of England. She was also made Duchesse d'Aubigny in the peerage of France.
Portrait by Sir Peter Lely, c. 1671
Chateau de Kérouaille, near Brest, property of Louise; she was born there in 1649
Louise de Kéroualle with an enslaved African child presenting precious coral and pearls to the duchess to emphasise her wealth and social standing, painting by Pierre Mignard
A 1683 painting of Louise de Kéroualle by Simon Du Bois
Duke of Aubigny is a title that was created in the Peerage of France in 1684. It was granted by King Louis XIV of France to Louise de Kérouaille, the last mistress of King Charles II of England, and to descend to Charles's illegitimate issue by her, namely to the descendants of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox (1672–1723) of Goodwood House in Sussex. Louis XIV also granted her the Château de la Verrerie, a former secondary seat of the Stewart Seigneurs d'Aubigny, Franco-Scottish cousins of the Stewart monarchs, seated from 1422 to 1672 at the Château d'Aubigny in the parish and manor of Aubigny-sur-Nère in the ancient province of Berry in France.
Charles Gordon-Lennox, 10th Duke of Richmond and Duke of Aubigny, by Allan Warren