The Secret Wife of Louis XIV
She was born into ignominious circumstances 鈥� in a French prison in 1635, to a 50-year-old father whose wife was the warden鈥檚 24-year-old daughter, and who was a murderer, a national traitor, and an incorrigible con man. But despite her bleak beginning and itinerant childhood, Fran莽oise d鈥橝ubign茅 proved adept at navigating the most elite social circles of 17th-century France, eventually marrying royalty.
This real-life fairy tale is told with flair and compassion in Veronica Buckley鈥檚 The Secret Wife of Louis XIV. (Buckley鈥檚 first book was a biography of another extraordinary 17th-century figure, Queen Christina of Sweden.)
D鈥橝ubign茅 might have had a better start in life: her scandalous father, Constant, stood to inherit a vast portion of his family鈥檚 wealth, including various estates and a governorship position in western France. But Constant was no aristocrat. His father considered him a 鈥渨retch鈥� who 鈥渢ook to gaming and drinking,鈥� and he disinherited him.
For Constant and his wife, Jeanne, a daughter was 鈥渁 liability, draining the family purse for a paltry dowry to persuade some man to transfer her to his own account books.鈥�
Thus d鈥橝ubign茅 spent her childhood shipped off to different homes and caretakers, maintaining a chilly relationship with Jeanne, who bullied her daughter and was openly contemptuous. As the author notes, 鈥渃ruelty, and from a mother鈥檚 hands, is a powerful catalyst in the forming of character.鈥� Yet the girl proved resilient, intelligent, witty, kind 鈥� and, perhaps further riling her mother 鈥� exceptionally beautiful.
At age 15, penniless, d鈥橝ubign茅 found her way to Paris, where she met Paul Scarron, a middle-aged man famous for his risqu茅 poetry and for hosting one of the most sought-after literary salons, which drew the city鈥檚 cultural elite. He was also crippled and disfigured. 鈥淢y body, it鈥檚 true, is most irregular,鈥� he once said. 鈥淧regnant women aren鈥檛 even allowed to look at me.鈥� (In an odd coincidence, d鈥橝ubign茅鈥檚 father had once borrowed 1,148 livres from Scarron, and never repaid the debt.)
They married in 1651, even though Scarron 鈥渃ould do little more than scratch his back with a little stick and scribble with one crabbed hand.鈥� As a minor, however resourceful, d鈥橝ubign茅 knew that she had few options 鈥� and begging in the streets, as she once had, was not one of them. Marriage would provide security and companionship (two things she craved), and raise her status in Parisian society.
After Scarron died in 1660, d鈥橝ubign茅 was hired as a governess by her friend Madame de Montespan. She was the favored mistress of King Louis XIV, who fathered Montespan鈥檚 illegitimate children. But the women fell out when the king began lusting after the virtuous governess, having grown tired of the demanding Montespan.
At first, d鈥橝ubign茅 refused his advances, which she found distressing and 鈥渟inful,鈥� but eventually she succumbed. She bought an estate at Maintenon with her earnings, and in 1678, the king gave her the title Marquise de Maintenon. When his long-suffering wife, Queen Marie-Th茅r猫se died five years later, King Louis married d鈥橝ubign茅 in a small ceremony. She was 48; the king, still 鈥渉andsome and vigorous,鈥� was 45. They lived at the spectacular Versailles, with its 452 bedrooms, where he had also moved his entire government and court.
He was utterly devoted to his new wife and regarded her as a confidante; she, in turn, loved him fiercely. The relationship was not without its dissatisfactions, yet he remained faithful and admired her many virtues, including 鈥渟elf-control, a keen sympathy for the suffering, and a distaste for frivolity and extravagance.鈥� Although their marriage was an open secret, it could never be officially acknowledged 鈥� she was a queen with no crown 鈥� and sadly, she was well past the age of childbearing. She made her domain the education of children instead, establishing an innovative girls鈥� school that remains open today.
The king鈥檚 reign lasted 72 years, longer than any European monarch. He died in 1715, and his wife outlived him by four years. By the end of her life, she had given away most of her possessions and money.
With a narrative exceeding 400 pages, it鈥檚 impressive that this drama-filled biography never drags. Buckley demonstrates that d鈥橝ubign茅 never fully shook the trauma of her wretched youth, and showed a lifelong empathy for the poor. 鈥淭he Secret Wife鈥� is a well-written tribute to a woman whose ascent to power and wealth was achieved through sheer determination 鈥� and even more remarkably, without sacrificing the virtue of kindness.
Carmela Ciuraru is the author of several anthologies, including 鈥淧oems for America.鈥� She is writing a nonfiction book for HarperCollins.
