The Hidden Queen Of King Louis XIV, A True Cinderella Story

This is an incredible story of a woman who was born in the most unfortunate circumstances, yet whose fabulous destiny was to become the dearly beloved mistress/companion of Louis XIV and his hidden queen of France!

This is a cinderella fairy tale that is rich in romanticism and the triumph of goodness.   How a young woman’s life, in all of its twists and turns, was finally rewarded for her gift of kindness and tolerance.

Françoise d’Aubigné was born in a prison, on 27 November, 1635, in the rather drab town of Niort, near the Atlantic coast in central France.   Her father, who came from a well known Huguenot protestant family in the area,  was imprisoned for murder and her mother was the jailer’s daughter.

Upon her father’s release,  the family went to live in Martinique, a part of the French Antilles islands in the Caribbean, where they lived in near poverty for six years. After she returned to France with her mother, known to be harsh, she learned that her father had died and soon after lost her mother.

Little Françoise was placed in the care of her loving paternal aunt, where she was doted upon and cared for as never before.  Though she was baptised in her mother’s Roman Catholic faith, she was brought up Protestant, till her catholic godmother placed her in a convent against her will.

It was there, in part due to a very kind Sister Celeste, that Françoise, embraced her baptismal Catholic faith.  Transferred to a convent in Paris, her godmother, started introducing her to the Parisian salons, where she was nicknamed the “belle Indienne”, in reference to her time living in Martinique.

There she met the literary and artistic greats of Parisian society, along with some of the  nobility and  courtesans of the royal court.  One of these artists, was Paul Scarron, a renown poet, that took a liking to the young Françoise.

Taking advantage of her young age, her penniless position, and being fragelized by the loss of her parents, he proposed that he would fund her reentrance to a convent or offer her a proposal of marriage.

At the mere age of 16, Françoise married this man who was 25 years older than she and was extremely handicapped, confined to a wheelchair.  For the next eight years, she was his nurse and kind companion to this man, who probably brought her a paternal presence she had been denied.

She developed quite a coterie of friends and admirers, and maintained a good reputation. One of these , was Anne d’Autriche, the mother of king Louis XIV, who admired her faith filled piety.

In 1660, Paul Scarron died, but unfortunately did not leave her anything but his debts..  Once again penniless, her fairy god mother , Anne d’ Autriche, out of compassion of this young  24 year old woman, arranged with her son that Françoise be given a monthly stipend.

Several years later, her destiny took anther fortuitous turn that would eventually lead her into the arms of her beloved king.   She had been befriended in the past  by Madame de Montespan,  the long time mistress of Louis XIV, who would also play a pivotal role in her destiny.

Françoise was invited by Mme de Montespan  to take over the position of nursemaid and nanny of her seven illegitimate children by the king.   They were housed in a large house in Paris, and it was there, that Françoise met Louis XIV, around 1669, who was said to be fond and attentive to his many children.

The king was extremely taken by her sincere sweetness, maternalism  and concern over his children, noticing how she loved them freely as if they were her own.   She was said to have initially rebuffed any romantic advances towards her out of respect of his marriage to his queen and her own morals.

Françoise had a completely different personality from the king’s mistress Mme de Montespan, who was given towards sharp, biting, or sarcastic remarks that bordered on cruelty and constant fits of anger.

Louis XIV was noted to linger on in conversation with Françoise on many occasions who he found likewise intelligence and to possess much wisdom.  Knowing her love for her former island residence of Martinique, he enabled her to have a tobacco plantation there.

With the monies she received in selling her tobacco farm, she was able to buy a château near Chartres in the town of Maintenon.  In due time, she was given by the king, the title of Madame de Maintenon.

Françoise continued to be very involved with the care of the kings children and they often stayed with her at Chateau de Maintenon.  Not surprisingly the relationship between Mme de Montespan and Françoise eventually became increasingly strained and filled with jealously.

Eventually Mme de Montespan started to lose favour of the king as  Françoise continued to gain even more time and influence over him. Chronically unfaithful , Louis XIV became involved with yet another woman, who died giving birth to another of his many illegitimate children.

Concerned about the welfare of these children, historians say it was pius Françoise who convinced Louis XIV to legitimise all of children born out-of-wedlock. She was also credited with encouraging him to be more attentive and kind to his queen Maria Theresa, who he had for many year neglected, other than to provide heirs to the throne.

When Maria Therese died, many in the court had proposed that he seek another royal marriage, but Louis, perhaps by this time concerned about his chronic sins of the flesh refused.  Several months later on October 10, 1683, he married Françoise d’Aubigné in a secret ceremony in the royal chapel, seen in the photo.

The ceremony took place at midnight and the exchange of vows was only witnessed by several high ranking clergy.  Their marriage was “morganatic”, meaning that it could not be officially announced as a royal marriage due to his spouse’s very common origins.

Louis XIV though, made no secret of the marriage to the court and often conducted royal affairs within close vicinity of his secret queen, often asking her opinion and advice.  He was said to have lived the rest of his life in a more sedate  manner, though he still had occasional extramarital affairs.

During her unofficial reign, Françoise encouraged the kIng to invest more into the French Caribbean islands, which successfully started to grow sugar cane, and then rum making, which today, is one of their major exports.

Louis XIV was a difficult man to love, who besides remaining unfaithful , was at times critical of his second wife’s origins and first marriage.  Françoise was often disliked by the rest of the royal family and was unfairly criticized and blamed by some members of the court.

Her greatest achievement was setting up a school for impoverished young girls, near Versailles, which occupied much of her time.   Three days before Louis XIV died in 1715, she left Versailles, perhaps wearied by the immense tolerance of his lifestyle, and conflicts she had to put up with in the court.

After his death, she divided her time between her flourishing school and her beautiful Chateau Maintenon, seen in several photos that I took two weeks ago.  She much preferred her home there to the very lavish and extravagant royal quarters that she had shared with the king at Versailles.

The château is surrounded with a moat and in back there is a large manicured garden full of various flowers and perfumed roses in front of a large lake that leads to the aqueduct.  Her bedroom was lovely and feminine that housed a three portal house for her doggies and the beautifully decorated piano in her music room.

The energy I felt at Chateau Maintenon must have been imbibed with her kindness and there was a quiet sweetness and intimacy in the air. This is in contrast to the glamorous and immense splendour of Versailles , that seemed rather impersonal, when I revisited the palace  this weekend.

Françoise died on april 15, 1719 and was buried at the school she founded, that was later turned into a military academy during the revolution, now called Saint Cyr.  Childless, she left all of her inheritance to her niece seen in a photo above, whose descendants still maintain the chateau.  Though, she was never able to be buried next to her beloved king, her coffin, as well as all of the members of the royal family suffered the same fate of desecration by revolutionaries.

Her fairytale destiny took her into the heart of the most majestic royal palace in the world, and to the heart of Louis XIV, who loved her more than any other woman.  I am sure that was more important to her that any bejeweled crown, because for Françoise, it was her heart that reigned supreme with her king.