Editing Louis XV (section)

===Third mistress===
====Madame du Barry====
[[File:madame du barry.jpg|[[Madame du Barry]], by [[François-Hubert Drouais]] ({{Circa|1770}})|thumb]]
After the death of the Madame de Pompadour, several women in the court sought to replace her, including [[Béatrix de Choiseul-Stainville|the Duchess of Gramont]], the sister of the Duke of Choiseul, the King's chief minister. However, the King's favor turned to [[Madame du Barry|Jeanne Bécu, the comtesse du Barry]]. She was thirty-three years younger than the King. She was the illegitimate daughter of Anne Bécu, a seamstress.<ref>Haslip (1992). {{page needed | date=April 2023}}</ref> She was raised by the Dames de Sacre-Coeur, and had various jobs as a shop assistant and designer of dresses before she became the mistress of Jean du Barry, the brother of a count. She began to hold a salon, which attracted writers and aristocrats. Since Jean du Barry was already married, to give her legitimacy he arranged for her to become engaged to his brother, Comte Guillaume du Barry, a retired soldier. They were married on 1 September 1768, and then, without consummating the marriage, Guillaume retired to his home in Languedoc.<ref name="Antoine 886">Antoine (1989), pp. 886–887.</ref> Through her acquaintances with the nobility, she was invited to Versailles, where the King saw her and was immediately attracted to her. He invited her to [[Palace of Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]], and then asked her to live in the Palace of Versailles. Her appearance at the Court scandalized the Duke de Choiseul, but pleased the enemies of the Duke within the Court.

For du Barry to be presented at Court, she had to be formally presented by a member of the nobility. The elderly Contesse de Béarn was persuaded to make the presentation for a large fee, and she was presented on 22 April 1769. None of the ladies of the Court attended, and Choiseul himself, to show his displeasure, hosted a large reception the following day, which all the Court, except du Barry, attended.<ref name="Antoine 886"/>

The King soon installed her in the Palace of Versailles, and in 1771 gave her the new Pavillon de Louveciennes. Choiseul sowed a strong dislike for du Barry, as did [[Marie Antoinette]], who arrived in Versailles and married the Dauphin on 16 May 1770. She described the Comtesse as "the most stupid and impertinent creature imaginable". However, the King kept du Barry close to him until the final days before his death, when he sent her away before he made confession. The presence of du Barry at the court scandalized the high members of the aristocracy. Outside the Court, the opponents of the King in the Parlements used her presence to ridicule and attack the King. She was the target of dozens of scandalous pamphlets accusing her of every possible immoral act.<ref name="Antoine 886"/> Decades later, during the [[Reign of Terror]] of the French Revolution, the Comtesse was targeted by the [[Jacobins]] as a symbol of the hated old regime; she was guillotined on 8 December 1793.<ref name="Guéganic 2008, p. 62"/>