Louise Françoise, Princess of Condé

Louise Françoise, Princess of Condé, born on June first, sixteen seventy-three, was the eldest surviving legitimised daughter of the illustrious Louis XIV of France and his prominent mistress, Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise de Montespan. Her name was inspired by her godmother, Louise de La Vallière, the former mistress whom her mother had succeeded. Before her marriage, she was known at court as Mademoiselle de Nantes.

At the tender age of eleven, Louise Françoise entered into matrimony, earning the title Madame la Duchesse, a designation she retained even after becoming a widow. Through her marriage, she held the esteemed titles of Duchess of Bourbon and Princess of Condé. A significant figure in the cabale de Meudon, she was closely associated with her half-brother, Louis, Grand Dauphin, and sought to exert her political influence during her son Louis Henri's tenure as Prime Minister of France, though her efforts were largely unfruitful.

Renowned for her beauty, Louise Françoise's life was marked by a series of romantic entanglements and scandals throughout her father's reign. In her later years, she channeled her wealth, which she had significantly increased through investments with John Law, into the construction of the Palais Bourbon in Paris, which now serves as the seat of the National Assembly.