Louise-Françoise de Bourbon was born on 1 June 1673, in Tournai, France. She was the daughter of Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marchioness of Montespan (5 October 1641 - 27 May 1707) and Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre (5 September 1638 - 1 September 1715). Her maternal grandparents were Diane de Grandseigne and Gabriel de Rochechouart, Duc de Mortemart, Prince de Tonnay-Charente. Her paternal grandparents were Anne of Austria, Queen Consort of France and Navarre (22 September 1601 - 20 January 1666) and Louis XIII, King of France and Navarre (27 September 1601 - 14 May 1643). Louise-Françoise had six full siblings: Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1669-1672), Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, Duc du Maine (1670-1736), Louis César de Bourbon, Comte de Vexin (1672-1683), Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Tours (1674-1681), Françoise-Marie de Bourbon (1677-1749) and Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse (1678-1737). Her father, Louis XIV married Maria Theresa of Spain (10 September 1638 - 30 July 1683) on 9 June 1660. She was the daughter of Elisabeth of France, Queen Consort of Spain (22 November 1602 - 6 October 1644) and Felipe IV, King of Spain and Portugal (8 April 1605 - 17 September 1665). The King had these children with his Queen Consort: Louis de France (1 November 1661 - 14 April 1711), Anne-Élisabeth de France (18 November 1662 - 30 December 1662), Marie-Anne de France (16 November 1664 - 26 December 1664), Marie-Thérèse de France (2 January 1667 - 1 March 1672), Philippe-Charles de France, Duc d'Anjou (5 August 1668 - 10 July 1671) and Louis-François de France, Duc d'Anjou (14 June 1672 - 4 November 1672). Her mother, Françoise married Louis-Henri de Pardaillan de Gondrin, Marquess of Montespan (1640-1701) in February 1663, in the Chapel at the Église Saint-Eustache, in Paris. With her husband, the Marquis de Montespan, she had two legitimate children: Marie-Christine de Pardaillan de Gondrin (1663-1675) and Louis Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin, Marquis d'Antin (1665-1736). Her father, Louis XIV, also had another mistress, Louise Françoise de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière, Duchesse de La Vallière et Vaujours (6 August 1644 - 7 June 1710). The children she gave birth to by the King included: Charles de Bourbon (1663-1665), Philippe de Bourbon (1665-1666), Marie Anne de Bourbon (1666-1739) and Louis de Bourbon, Count d'Vermandois (1667-1683). Nicknamed Poupotte by her parents, she was named after her godmother, Louise de La Vallière. Louis XIV legitimised the illegitimate children of his mistress on 19 December 1673. Her brother, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, received the title Duc du Maine, Louis-César de Bourbon, became the Comte de Vexin, while Louise-Françoise received the title of Mademoiselle de Nantes. Louise-Françoise grew up with her siblings in the care of Françoise Scarron, in Paris. According to the Memoirs of Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon (1675-1755), "...her face was formed by the most tender loves and her nature made to dally with them. She possessed the art of placing everyone at their ease; there was nothing about her which did not tend naturally to please, with a grace unparalleled, even in her slightest actions. She made captive even those who had the most cause to fear her, and those who had the best of reasons to hate her required often to recall the fact to resist her charms. Sportive, gay, and merry, she passed her youth in frivolity and in pleasures of all kinds, and, whenever the opportunity presented itself, they extended even to debauchery." Louise-Françoise married Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon (10 November 1668 - 4 March 1710) on 25 May 1685. He was the son of Anne Henriette Julie of Bavaria (13 March 1648 - 23 February 1723) and Henry Jules, Duke of Enghien (- 1 April 1709). Louise-Françoise and Louis had nine children.
The Children of Louise-Françoise de Bourbon and Louis de Bourbon:
Marie Anne Gabrielle Éléonore de Bourbon (22 December 1690 - 30 August 1760)
Louis Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, Prince of Condé (18 August 1692 - 27 January 1740)
Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, Princess of Conti (22 November 1693 - 27 May 1775)
Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, Princess of Conti (22 November 1693 - 27 May 1775)
Louise Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Charolais (23 June 1695 - 8 April 1758)
Marie Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Clermont (16 October 1697 - 11 August 1741)
Charles de Bourbon, Count of Charolais (19 June 1700 - 23 July 1760)
Henriette Louise Marie Françoise Gabrielle de Bourbon (15 January 1703 - 19 September 1772)
Élisabeth Thérèse Alexandrine de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Sens (15 September 1705 - 15 April 1765)
Louis de Bourbon, Count of Clermont (15 June 1709 - 16 June 1771)
In 1691, her mother officially left Court. Louise-Françoise visited her at the convent of the Filles de Saint-Joseph, in the rue Saint-Dominique, in Paris. Her sister, Françoise-Marie married Philippe Charles on 18 February 1692, in the Chapel of the Château de Versailles. Around 1695, she began a romantic affair with François Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conti. Her mother, Françoise-Athénaïs died on 27 May 1707. Her father-in-law, Henry Jules died on 1 April 1709. He was succeeded by her husband, Louis to the title of Prince of Condé. Her husband, Louis died on 4 March 1710, at the Château de Versailles. Her daughter, Marie-Anne-Gabrielle-Éléonore became an abbess. Her daughter, Louise Élisabeth, married the Prince of Conti in 1713, in a double wedding ceremony in which her son, Louis Henri de Bourbon, married Marie Anne de Bourbon. In 1722, construction on the Palais Bourbon, in Paris started. Her older half-sister, Marie Anne de Bourbon, lived in the Hôtel de Conti, opposite the Louvre, on the Quai de Conti. Her older brother, the Duc d'Maine, lived in the Hôtel du Maine, near the Louvre, and her younger sister, the Duchesse d'Orléans, lived at the Palais Royal, in Paris. Her youngest brother, the Count d'Toulouse, lived in the Hôtel de Toulouse. In the 1720s, Louise-Françoise became the mistress of the Marquis de Lassay. To be closer to her, he built the Hôtel de Lassay next to the Palais Bourbon, in Paris. Louise-Françoise de Bourbon died aged 70, on 16 June 1743, at the Palais Bourbon.
Excerpt and Source: The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint-Simon on the reign of Louis XIV, and the Regency by Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon.
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