Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

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Philippe II d'Orléans, duc d'Orléans
Philippe II d'Orléans before La Régence
Born	August 2, 1674(1674-08-02) Château de Saint-Cloud, Saint-Cloud, France
Died	December 23, 1723 (aged 49) Palais Royal, Paris, France
Spouse	Françoise-Marie de Bourbon,
Children	1 Mademoiselle de Valois 2 Marie Louise Elisabeth d'Orléans 3 Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans 4 Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans 5 Louis d'Orléans, duc d'Orléans 6 Louise Elisabeth d'Orléans 7 Philippine Elisabeth d'Orléans 8 Louise Diane d'Orléans.
Parents	Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine

Philippe II d'Orléans, duc d'Orléans August 2, 1674 – December 23, 1723), (1674–1701), a duc d'Orléans (1701–1723). He was the regent of France for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, an era known as the Regency or La Régence.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Military service 3 Marriage and children 3.1 Illegitimate children 3.2 Gallery of Children 4 La Régence 4.1 Cellamare Conspiracy 4.2 End of Regency 4.3 Death 5 Legacy 6 Ancestors 7 Biographies 8 References 8.1 Notes 9 Titles

[edit] Early life

He was born in Saint-Cloud, the only son of Philippe de France, duc d' Orléans and his second wife Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine (1652–1722). He was the nephew of King Louis XIV of France.

As a grandson of King Louis XIII, he was a petit-fils de France. During his youth, he was referred to as Philippe Charles, duc de Chartres in order to differentiate him from his similarly named father.

[edit] Military service

He had his first experience of arms at the siege of Mons in 1691. He fought with distinction at the Steenkerque, at the Neerwinden and at the Namur (1692–1695). During the next few years, being without employment, he studied natural science.

He was next given a command in Italy (1706) and in Spain (1707–1708) where he gained some important successes, but he cherished lofty ambitions and was suspected of wishing to take the place of Philip V on the throne of Spain.^{[citation needed]}

Louis XIV was angry at these pretensions, and for a long time held him in disfavour.^{[citation needed]} In his will, however, he appointed him president of the council of regency of the young king Louis XV (1715).

[edit] Marriage and children

On 9 January 1692, he married Françoise-Marie de Bourbon (1677–1749), known at court as Mademoiselle de Blois, his first cousin and the legitimised youngest daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. Although strongly opposed by his mother, who disliked the king's illegitimate children, he was pressured into the marriage by the king. The couple, even though mismatched had many children:

Name	Birth	Death	Married	Notes
Mademoiselle de Valois	17 December 1693	17 October 1694	-	Died in infancy
Marie Louise Elisabeth	20 August 1695	21 July 1719	Charles, Duke of Berry	Had issue
Louise Adélaïde	13 August 1698	10 February 1743	-	A nun, took the name of Sister Sainte-Bathilde in 1717 and held it until the next year. Became the Abbess of Chelles in 1719 until her death. Also was the Abbess of Val-de-Grâce, a church that had been built by her maternal great-grandmother Anne of Austria. She was known as Madame d'Orléans while at Chelles from 1719 till 1734 and died of smallpox at the Convent of Madeleine de Traisnel in Paris.[1]
Charlotte Aglaé	20 October 1700	19 January 1761	Francis III, Duke of Modena	-
Louis, Duke of Orléans	4 August 1703	4 February 1752	Margravine Augusta of Baden-Baden	Became the Duke of Orléans on the death of his father in 1723, grandfather of Philippe Égalité
Louise Elisabeth	11 December 1709	16 June 1742	Louis I of Spain	No issue
Philippine Elisabeth	18 December 1714	21 May 1734	-	Was engaged to the future Charles III of Spain
Louise Diane	27 June 1716	26 September 1736	Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti	Mother of Louis François II, last Prince of Conti

[edit] Illegitimate children

Philippe also had several illegitimate children with various women, three of whom he acknowledged.

By Florence Pellerin:

• Charles de Saint-Albin (1698-1764)

By Marie Louise Le Bel de La Boissière:

• Jean Philippe d'Orléans (1702-1748)

By Christine Charlotte Desmares:

• Angélique de Froissy (1702-1785)

[edit] Gallery of Children

His father Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans	His mother la Princesse Palatine	The duchesse de Berry	abbesse de Chelles
The duchesse de Modène	The duc d'Orléans	The Queen of Spain	The princesse de Conti

[edit] La Régence

Philippe II d'Orléans
Regent of France
In office September 1, 1715 – December 23, 1723
Monarch	Louis XV
Preceded by	Guillaume Dubois
Succeeded by	Louis Henri de Bourbon, prince de Condé

On the death of Louis XIV (September 1, 1715), the late king's five-year-old great-grandson was crowned King Louis XV of France. The duc d'Orléans went to the parliament, had the will annulled, and himself invested with absolute power, and the then forty-one-year-old Philippe became regent.

The regent had great qualities, both brilliant and solid, which were spoilt by an excessive taste for pleasure. His dissolute manners found many imitators, and the Regency was one of the most corrupt periods in French history.

Philippe was a professed atheist who boasted to read the satirical works of François Rabelais inside a Bible binding during mass, and liked to hold orgies even on religious high holidays. He acted in plays of Molière and Racine, composed an opera, and was a gifted painter and engraver. Despite his atheism, Philippe favoured the Jansenists against the decrees of the Pope.

A liberal and imaginative man, he was however, often weak, inconsistent and vacillating. Nonetheless, as regent, he changed the manners of the ruler and his nobles from the hypocrisy of Louis XIV to complete candor. He was against censorship and ordered the reprinting of books banned during the reign of his uncle. Reversing his uncle's policies again, Philippe formed an alliance with England, Austria, and the Netherlands, and fought a successful war against Spain that established the conditions of a European peace.

At first he decreased taxation and dismissed 25,000 soldiers. But the inquisitorial measures which he had begun against the financiers led to disturbances. He countenanced the risky operations of the banker John Law, whose bankruptcy led to a disastrous crisis in the public and private affairs of France.

On June 6, 1717, under the influence of Law and the duc de Saint-Simon, the Regent persuaded the Regency Council to purchase from Thomas Pitt for £135,000 the world's then largest known diamond, a 141 carat (28.2 g) cushion brilliant, for the crown jewels of France. The diamond was known from then on as le Régent.

[edit] Cellamare Conspiracy

There existed a party of malcontents who wished to transfer the regency from Orleans to his cousin, the young king's uncle, King Philip V of Spain. A conspiracy was formed, under the inspiration of Cardinal Alberoni, the first minister of Spain, which was directed in France by the Prince of Cellamare, the Spanish ambassador, with the complicity of his wife's older brother, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine, and his ambitious wife, Anne-Louise-Bénédicte, duchesse du Maine. In 1718, the Cellamare conspiracy was discovered and defeated.

Guillaume Dubois, formerly tutor to the duke of Orleans, and now his chief minister, caused war to be declared against Spain, with the support of the emperor, and of England and the Netherlands (Quadruple Alliance).

After some successes of the French marshal, the Duke of Berwick, in Spain, and of the imperial troops in Sicily, Philip V made peace with the regent (1720).

[edit] End of Regency

On the majority of the king, which was declared on February 15, 1723, the duc d'Orléans officially gave up the royal power, becoming first minister to the king, and remained in that office till his death on December 23, 1723.

[edit] Death

After the end of his regency of France, his protegée, Louis XV moved the court back to the Palace of Versailles. He died at the Palais Royal in Paris and was buried in the town of his birth, Saint-Cloud.

[edit] Legacy

• He was a great collector of art, and his collection of paintings, mostly sold in London after the French Revolution, was one of the finest ever assembled.

• Philippe promoted education, making the Sorbonne tuition free and opening the Royal Library to the public (1720). He is however most remembered for the debauchery he brought to Versailles, and for the John Law banking scandal.

• The city of New Orleans, in Louisiana, U.S., is named after him.

[edit] Ancestors

v • d • e Ancestors of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

16. Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme               8. Henry IV of France                       17. Jeanne III of Navarre               4. Louis XIII of France                             18. Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany               9. Marie de' Medici                       19. Johanna of Austria               2. Philippe I, Duke of Orléans                                   20. Philip II of Spain               10. Philip III of Spain                       21. Anna of Austria               5. Anne of Austria                             22. Charles II of Austria               11. Margaret of Austria                       23. Maria Anna of Bavaria               1. Philippe II, Duke of Orléans                                         24. Frederick IV, Elector Palatine               12. Frederick V, Elector Palatine                       25. Louise Juliana of Nassau               6. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine                             26. James I of England               13. Elizabeth Stuart                       27. Anne of Denmark               3. Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine                                   28. Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel               14. William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel                       29. Agnes of Solms-Laubach               7. Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel                             30. Philip Louis II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg               15. Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg                       31. Catharina Belgica of Nassau

[edit] Biographies

• The Regent of the Roues by Andrew C.P. Haggard - 1905 London: Hutchinson & Co. (In English)
• The Scandalous Regent by W.H. Lewis - 1961 London: Andre Deutsch (In English)
• Phillippe, Duke of Orleans: Regent of France by J.H. Shennan - 1979 London: Thames and Hudson (In English)
• Le Regent 1674-1723 by Jean Meyer - 1985 Paris: Editions Ramsay (In French)
• Le Regent by Jean-Christian Petitfils - 1986 Paris: Libraire Artheme-Fayard (In French)
• Philippe, Duc D'Orleans: Regent of France by Christine Pevitt - 1997 London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (In English)

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

[edit] Titles

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans House of Orléans Born: February 15 1674 Died: December 23 1723
Regnal titles
Preceded by Philippe de France	duc de Chartres 1674–1703	Succeeded by Louis I d'Orléans
Preceded by Philippe de France	duc d'Anjou 1701–1723	Succeeded by Louis I d'Orléans
Preceded by Philippe de France	duc de Montpensier 1701–1723	Succeeded by Louis I d'Orléans
Preceded by Philippe de France	duc de Nemours 1701–1723	Succeeded by Louis I d'Orléans
Preceded by Philippe de France	duc d'Orléans 1701–1723	Succeeded by Louis I d'Orléans
Preceded by Philippe de France	prince de Joinville 1701–1723	Succeeded by Louis I d'Orléans
Royal titles
Preceded by Henri III Jules de Bourbon-Condé, prince de Condé	Monsieur le Prince 1709–1723	Succeeded by Louis I d'Orléans
Political offices
Preceded by Cardinal Guillaume Dubois	Prime Minister of France 1723	Succeeded by Louis Henri, Prince de Condé