On this day, the Duc de Luynes writes:
“The King hunted this morning. Since the Queen resolved only yesterday to follow this hunt and to take Mademoiselle and Mlle de Clermont, and since the Dauphin would also go in a calèche, Mme de Mailly feared that she would not be able to get one of the King’s calèches. Nonetheless, everything was arranged last night. The King left this morning in a gondole and took with him Mmes de Chalais, d’Antin, and de Mailly, as well as Mlle de Nesle, and they had calèches and horses for the hunt. The Queen took the younger Madame la Duchesse, Mademoiselle, and Mlle de Clermont. Mme de Chevreuse was by one window and Mme de Bouzols by the other.”
Commentary:
Queen Marie seldom follows the hunt, so her presence today is somewhat surprising. Perhaps she does not want to miss the drama.
Mme de Mailly is the King’s current mistress, you see, but she is losing her hold on him to a rival. This rival is none other than her own sister, Mlle de Nesle.
Pictured: Louise-Julie de Mailly-Nesle (1710-1751), Comtesse de Mailly.
A calèche is a light, 2-wheeled vehicle, essentially a buggy, that usually can only seat 2-4 people, one of whom has to drive it. Luynes does not say if he does, but if the not-quite-10-year-old Dauphin drives his calèche himself, we should be impressed.
Calèches have been in the royal stables since the last reign. Louis XIV resorted to a calèche in old age when he was no longer able to ride. Otherwise, it is usually ladies who drive them.
A gondole is not a boat, but an extra-large open carriage that can seat up to a dozen people. The King has a fleet of them to transport his guests to the hunt. From the reference to windows, we infer that the Queen is using one of her own carriages.
Madame la Duchesse is the wife of the Duc de Bourbon, who prefers to use that title even though he is also Prince de Condé. She is called the younger because her mother-in-law is still alive.
Pictured: Louis-Henri de Bourbon-Condé (1692-1740), 7th Prince de Condé, Duc de Bourbon, de Guise, de Bellegarde, etc., briefly Louis XV’s chief minister after the death of the Regent.
Mademoiselle and Mlle de Clermont are the Duc de Bourbon’s sisters. These siblings, as Bourbon descendants of Henri IV’s uncle, and ultimately of the Saint-King Louis IX, are princes of the Blood. Their mother, the wife of the 6th Prince de Condé, was one of Louis XIV’s daughters by Mme de Montespan.
Pictured: Louise-Françoise de Bourbon (1673-1743), daughter of Louis XIV and Mme de Montespan, wife and widow of the 6th Prince de Condé but known as Madame la Duchesse at court, then as the elder Madame la Duchesse, painted in her youth by Troy.
The translation from the French is my own, as it always is unless I credit someone else. If you have questions that I have not addressed in the commentary, please ask in the comments.
Ah yes…here’s de Nesle again…
de Mailly has a faintly masculine air despite the trappings of the picture. Or, at least, she does to me.