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- BIOGRAPHY
His uncle, Cardinal Mazarin, had once planned to make Philippe his heir. However, in time he proved such a disappointment to the Cardinal that, when the youngest and the last of the Mancinis finally arrived from Rome, all hope was concentrated on the boy, Alfonso. Unfortunately, at school when all the boys had been playing together taking turns in being tossed in a blanket, when it was Alfonso's turn someone dropped a corner of the blanket, perhaps not altogether accidentally, so that Alfonso fell to the floor, broke his head, and died. Then only Philippe was left.
Philippe had not improved and, during one Holy Week with a group of young noblemen, had left Paris to escape the boredom of the solemnities and, in their house party, merrily baptised a suckling pig on Maundy Thursday then ate it as carp on Good Friday. They thought it hilarious but the Cardinal was shocked and sent Philippe in disgrace to a lonely Alsation fortress.
Rumour then had it that Cardinal Mazarin had encouraged Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, Louis XIV's brother, in his effeminacy and that Philippe Mancini, Duc de Nevers, in all likelihood had been the first to seduce the Royal Duke. The Duc de Nevers lived a carefree life, avoiding all duties and refusing all responsibilities. When he stepped into his coach, the coachman never knew whether they would go to shop at the market or be on their way to Rome; then on arrival in Rome, would order their immediate return to Paris.
On Rome's Corso he owned a palace where his devoted courtiers were for the most part young French gentleman. One lengthy stay he blamed in a verse on his two sisters:
'I pass my days in great delight,
With wise Marie, or Hortense bright.' His sister Marie had been the first love of Louis XIV who, when he dutifully married his Spanish Infanta, had allowed her to marry an Italian prince, Don Lorenzo Colonna, Principe di Paliano. This prince had married her reluctantly, as he regarded her as Louis XIV's cast off mistress until, when they were married, he found her still to be a virgin.
In 1670 Louis XIV had to find a husband for the niece of his mistress, Madame the Montespan, who wanted a titled and very rich husband for her niece, Diane Damas de Thianges. Louis XIV decided upon the Duc de Nevers. According to Madame de Sévigné: 'This Monsieur de Nevers, so difficult to pin down, this so extraordinary Monsieur de Nevers, who slips out of your hands when you least expect it, is to be married at last.'
He was reluctant to leave Rome but, accompanied by his sister Hortense, they eventually set out for Paris. It took them six months to cover the distance as they would stop for hunting, or dancing or feasting. Neither were in a hurry, Philippe having to marry and Hortense to meet a husband she had abandoned. Nevertheless Philippe obediently married Diane and they became the parents of four children.
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