On this day, there is news concerning an important position in the household of the Duc d’Orléans:
“The King granted Monsieur’s request, which he had made a long time ago, to approve the appointment of the Marquis d’Effiat as governor to M de Chartres. However, Madame did not at all wish to consent to it, and declared that she would never see the Marquis d’Effiat if he accepted this position. The Marquis d’Effiat, seeing how opposed Madame was to it, begged Monsieur to dispense him from taking this position, and told the King that he was grateful for the honour His Majesty had done him in approving it, but that he was refusing a position that he could not accept without displeasing Madame.”
Commentary:
The Duc de Chartres is the only son of Monsieur and Madame. He just turned fifteen on 2 August. He is Louis XIV’s only nephew.
The heir to the dukedom of Orléans is customarily titled Duc de Chartres. Paying subscribers and Grandes Entrées may consult Who’s Who: Orléans for details.
Pictured: Philippe de France (1674-1723), Duc de Chartres, later 2nd Duc d’Orléans, in 1686. Credit — By Nicolas de Largillière - http://www.reproarte.com/picture/Nicolas+de_Largilli%c3%a8re/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11072903
The Marquis d’Effiat is one of Monsieur’s longtime cronies, second only to the Chevalier de Lorraine in his affection. He has the reputation of being a pederast, perhaps what we would now call a pedophile. Please read Madame’s forthcoming letter of 26 August on the subject to understand the depth of her objection and appreciate the importance of her victory in this matter.
The translation from the French is my own. Images that are not my own are in the public domain; I only explicitly credit them when the uploader has made it a condition of sharing his/her work via Wikimedia Commons. Words in italics in the body of the post or bold italics in verbatim translations and image captions are in the Glossary; the royal family and other Bourbons are in the Who’s Who; information about the sources is in the Bibliography; all of these are in the Resources section and freely available to paid subscribers and Grandes Entrées. If you have questions, please ask in the comments.
Oh boy!