Louise Julie, Comtesse de Mailly

Louise Julie, Comtesse de Mailly (1710 - 1751) was one of the many mistresses of Louis XV of France. Louise Julie was the eldest of four sisters who served as courtesans in the French royal court.

Life as a courtesan

Her three sisters who were courtesans to French royalty were: Pauline-Félicité de Mailly (1712 - 1741), countess of Vintimille; Diane-Adélaïde de Mailly (1713 - 1760), duchess of Lauraguais; and Marie-Anne de Mailly (1717 – 1744), duchess of Châteauroux.

In 1726, Louise Julie wed her cousin, Louis Alexandre de Mailly. Shortly thereafter she caught the attention of Louis XV, and was permitted by her husband to become a royal mistress. Although she served Louis XV as a courtesan from 1732, she did not become "titular mistress" (in French, "maîtresse en titre") until 1738. Louise Julie did not use her position to enrich herself or to interfere in politics, unlike her sister Marie-Anne, a later mistress of the king.

In 1740, she received a letter from her younger sister Pauline-Félicité requesting to be invited to court. Louise Julie granted her sister's wish, but upon her arrival at court, Pauline seduced the king and became his mistress.

Louise Julie remained titular mistress, but the king was in love with Pauline and gave her the title "marquise of Vintimille" by marrying her to the marquis of Vintimille, and the castle Choisy-le-Roi as a gift. However, Pauline quickly became pregnant, and she died giving birth to a son, Louis, the count de Luc, who looked so much like the king that he was called Demi-Louis, "small Louis". She was laid at Lit-the-Parade in the town of Versailles, but during the night, a mob broke in and mutilated the body of "the king's whore".

The king and Louise Julie were both devastated by the death of Pauline and shocked by the mutilation of her body, and Louise Julie is said to have begun to wash the feet of the poor.

Louise Julie was supplanted by her sister, Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle, duchess de Châteauroux, and obliged to leave court in 1742.

ee also

* French royal mistresses

References

* E. and J. de Goncourt, "La Duchesse de Châteauroux et ses soeurs" (1879)
* Toussaint, "Anecdotes curieuses de . . . Louis XV" (2 vols., 1905)
* J. B. H. R. Capefigue, "Mesdemoiselles de Nesle et la jeunesse de Louis XV" (1864)

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