Louis Henri de Bourbon was at one point third in line to inherit the French royal throne.
On August 18, 1692, French Prince Louis Henri de Bourbon, known at court simply as the Duke of Monsieur (Dunsieur le Duc), was born in Versailles. It belonged to the French royal dynasty of Bourbon, to its younger branch called Bourbon-Condé. Indeed, according to his mother, Louis Henri de Bourbon was the grandson of King Louis XIV of France. Namely, his mother was Louise Françoise de Bourbon, daughter of Louis XIV. and the Marquise de Montespan (the mistress with whom the king had children whom he subsequently declared lawful).
Louis XIV he took very good care of his legitimized children with the Marquis de Montespan, marriages and marriages with members of the legitimate branches of the French royal dynasty. He thus achieved that his grandchildren inherited immense wealth, although at the same time he provoked the wrath of the purists of the aristocracy (who did not consider the legitimate king’s children equal to those born in legal marriages).
Louis Henri de Bourbon was at one point third in line to inherit the French royal throne. In 1723 he became France’s first minister, ie prime minister, during the reign of his cousin King Louis XV. (great-granddaughter of the said Louis XIV. by legal line). Louis Henri de Bourbon became very rich during the growth of Mississippi shares on the Paris Stock Exchange, selling them before their value collapsed (many aristocrats became impoverished after that collapse). After leaving the post of Prime Minister, Mr. Duke lived mostly in his lavish Chantilly Castle, located in a beautiful wooded area north of Paris. Louis Henry de Bourbon passed away quite early, at the age of only 47 years.
