Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise de Montespan (5 October 1640 – 27 May 1707) was the chief mistress of King Louis XIV of France, with whom she had seven children.
Biography[]
Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart was born in Lussac-les-Chateaux on 5 October 1640 to an ancient noble family (the sister of Admiral Louis Victor de Rochechouart de Mortemart, and she was a lady-in-waiting to Maria Theresa of Spain at the Palace of Versailles when she met King Louis XIV of France in 1667. She used her wit and charm to try and ingratiate herself with the King, whose chief mistress at the time was Louise de La Valliere. She seduced the king by obligingly dropping her towel when she spotted Louis spying on her while she showered, and she became the most celebrated of Louis' mistresses. Her reign as chief mistress lasted from 1667 until her alleged involvement in the Affair of the Poisons in the late 1670s and early 1680s, and, while she was in retirement, she donated to hospitals and charities. She died in Bourbon-l'Archambault in 1707 at the age of 66.