"IF YOUR SON MARRIES MY DAUGHTER I'LL GIVE YOU PALAIS-ROYAL"

LOUIS XIV* WANTED TO RAISE HIS BASTARD DAUGHTER'S RANK BY MARRIAGE TO THE PRINCE, BUT BORN OF A DOUBLE ADULTERY* SHE WAS A MISALLIANCE

*The "Sun King," active 1660-1715: The first 30 years of his reign are time when French classic culture took it definitive shape, and when (after 1672) France dominates Europe. 

*He and his favorite, Madame de Montespan, were both married. 

The prince's father, Philip Duke of Orleans,* refused the match...

*He was Louis's younger brother and founder of the Bourbon junior branch. The name "Philip" harks back to Philip I (11th century) and would be that of his descendants, just as those of the senior branch were "Louis," after Louis IX / Saint Louis (13th century).

Until Louis offered him Palais-Royal in exchange.

(In 1692)

Philip Duke of Orleans and Marie-Françoise de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Blois: from History and Secrets, an account of the king's legitimized children (in French)

The boy at 19 was in awe of the king and counted on his father to oppose the marriage. Their agreement took him by surprise and he accepted. His mother, who considered the match a frightful misalliance but whose opinion had not been asked, slapped him in front of the court. 

The bride said, "I don't care if he loves me so long as he marries me:" The marriage made her the second lady of the court at age 14, after her mother-in-law.

He called her "Madame Lucifer" and though they never got on, had eight children. 

Palace and gardens from then on belonged to the "Orleanists,"

a change that would contribute to guillotining Louis XVI and 

ultimately end monarchy itself.

Palais-Royal in 1739 / zoom

# # #

Philip's great-grandson, Louis-Philippe Duke of Orleans, inherited the site. 

(In 1785)

Louis-Philippe d'Orleans, Duke of Orleans by Antoine-François Callet, end 18th century /zoom

He divided the garden into rented lots, which for a noble was an extraordinary act:

• Honorable revenues came from peasant dues, administrative positions that were inherited or came from royal appointment, or gifts from the king.

• Nobles' education skipped the practical knowledge of many commoners: "By dint of clutching the handle of sword, the needle of a tapestry [...] one loses the sense of touch, does not know how to finger velvet, to separate the grain from the chaff." 

-- Attitude attributed to Leonora, Marie de Medici's servant and power behind the throne, 

in La Galigaï by Eve de Castro, 1990

• Nobles headed the State's commercial establishments, but that was due to proximity to the king* rather than business acumen.
  

*Example: The Marquis de la Faye was Louis XIV's private secretary before being appointed administrator of the Compagnie des Indes, which controlled colonial commerce. (The decor of his château shows his culture : please click and scroll down). 

  

• The ethics of their caste: personal honor, the self-control indispensable to life in the extremely codified court and service to the king (now the State) are attitudes irrelevant to business success. Generously distributing riches — faire le grand baron ("act the great lord") is a mocking reminder —  is contradictory to it.

Manners in modern France inherited from the nobility: L'appât du gain ("the lure of profit") is a negative term and money is mentioned only at the end of a business lunch. 

• Engaging in commerce meant losing privileges, such as access to the highest posts, the right to be judged by one's peers, being decapitated rather than hanged or burned, access to luxury wares forbidden to commoners... and exemption from taxes. 

• With inflation lessening the value of immutable peasant dues, most nobles lacked the capital to launch an enterprise even had they the capacity and wish to do so.

# # #

Incompatibility with the business society

 that the Revolution foreshadowed 

explains why most nobles ferociously opposed it. 

Exceptions:

Young nobles open to the new ideas and

whose inherited wealth let them adapt to capitalism,

such as the Marquis de Lafayette and the Duke of Orleans.

*    *    *

Next,

Another way in which the past stepped in:

The threat from other royals