Editing Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (section)

==The Regency==
{{Main|Régence}}
Months before the death of Louis XIV, Philippe was present at the [[Persian embassy to Louis XIV]]. [[Mohammad Reza Beg]]<ref>In French sources, ''Méhémet Riza Beg''.</ref> was a high-ranking official to the Persian governor of the [[Yerevan]] province ([[Armenia]]). He had been chosen by the [[Safavid]] Persian emperor [[Sultan Husayn]] for the mission and travelled with a grand entourage, as suitable to the diplomat of a mighty empire.

The scene of the Persian ambassador's entry into Paris, 7 February 1715, was described by [[François Pidou de Saint-Olon]] (1646–1720), a nobleman who was delegated the diplomatic position of liaison officer to the Persian delegation.<ref>He had been the French ambassador in [[Morocco]], of which he published a description, ''Relation de l'empire de Maroc. Oú l'on voit la situation du pays, Les mœurs, les Coûtumes, Religion, gouvernement et Politique des Habitans...''<!-- title in 17th/18th century French, do not correct spelling/FW -->. his brother, Louis-Marie Pidou de Saint-Olon (1637–1717), became French consul in [[Ispahan]] under the terms of the commercial treaty.</ref>

===Louis XIV's will===
On 29 July 1714, upon the insistence of his [[Morganatic marriage|morganatic]] wife, the [[Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon|marquise de Maintenon]], Louis XIV elevated his legitimised children to the rank of [[Prince du Sang|Princes of the Blood]], which "entitled them to inherit the crown if the legitimate lines became extinct".<ref>Erlanger, Philippe, ''Louis XIV'', translated from the French by Stephen Cox, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1970, p. 363</ref> Thus, [[Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine|Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, ''Duke of Maine'']] and [[Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse|Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, ''Count of Toulouse'']] were officially inserted into the [[line of hereditary succession]] following all of the legitimate, acknowledged ''[[prince du Sang|princes du sang]]''.

<blockquote>Mme de Maintenon would have preferred Philip V [King of Spain] to be Regent and the duc du Maine to be Lieutenant Général and consequently in control. Fearing a revival of the war, Louis named the duc d'Orléans joint President of a Regency Council, but one that would be packed with his enemies, reaching its decisions by a majority vote that was bound to go against him. The real power would be in the hands of the duc du Maine, who was also appointed guardian of the young sovereign.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Louis XIV |last=Erlanger |first=Philippe |publisher=[[Praeger Publishers]] |year=1970 |isbn= |location=[[New York City|New York]] |pages=373 |translator-last=Cox |translator-first=Stephen}} </ref></blockquote>

On 25 August 1715, a few days before his death, Louis XIV added a [[codicil (will)|codicil]] to his [[will (law)|will]]:
<blockquote>
He sent for the Chancellor and wrote a last codicil to his will, in the presence of Mme de Maintenon. He was yielding, out of sheer fatigue, to his wife and confessor, probably with the reservation that his extraordinary action would be set aside after his death, like the will itself. Otherwise he would have been deliberately condemning his kingdom to perpetual strife, for the codicil appointed the duc du Maine commander of the civil and military Household, with Villeroy as his second-in-command. ''By this arrangement they became the sole masters of the person and residence of the King; of Paris ... and all the internal and external guard; of the entire service ... so much so that the Regent did not have even the shadow of the slightest authority and found himself at their mercy.''<ref>{{Cite book |title=Louis XIV |last=Erlanger |first=Philippe |publisher=[[Praeger Publishers]] |year=1970 |isbn= |location=[[New York City|New York]] |pages=373 |translator-last=Cox |translator-first=Stephen}} </ref>
</blockquote>

The evening of 25 August, Louis XIV had a private audience with the Duke of Orléans, his nephew and son-in-law, re-assuring him: <blockquote>
''You will find nothing in my will that should displease you. I commend the Dauphin to you, serve him as loyally as you have served me. Do your utmost to preserve his realm. If he were to die, you would be the master. [...] I have made what I believed to be the wisest and fairest arrangements for the well-being of the realm, but, since one cannot anticipate everything, if there is something to change or to reform, you will do whatever you see fit...''<ref name=autogenerated1>ib. Erlanger, p. 373.</ref></blockquote>

{{Children of Philippe, Duke of Orléans}}

Louis XIV died at Versailles on 1 September 1715, and was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV. On 2 September, the Duke of Orléans went to meet the ''parlementaires'' in the ''Grand-Chambre du Parlement'' in Paris in order to have Louis XIV's will annulled and his previous right to the regency restored. After a break that followed a much-heated session, the ''Parlement'' abrogated the recent codicil to Louis XIV's will and confirmed the Duke of Orléans as regent of France.<ref>ib. Dufresne, pp. 123-126.</ref>

On 30 December 1715, the regent decided to bring the young Louis XV from the [[Château de Vincennes]] to the [[Tuileries Palace]] in Paris<ref>Antoine, Michel, ''Louis XV'', Librairie Arthème Fayard, Paris, 1989, p. 43.</ref> where he lived until his return to Versailles in June 1722. The regent governed from his Parisian residence, the ''Palais-Royal''.

Philippe disapproved of the hypocrisy of Louis XIV's reign and opposed [[censorship]], ordering the reprinting of books banned during the reign of his uncle. Reversing his uncle's policies again, Philippe formed an alliance with Great Britain, Austria, and the Netherlands, and fought a successful war against Spain that established the conditions of a European peace. During this time he opened up diplomatic channels with Russia which resulted in a state visit by Tsar [[Peter I of Russia|Peter the Great]].

He acted in plays of [[Molière]] and [[Jean Racine|Racine]], composed an [[opera]], and was a gifted painter and [[engraver]]. Philippe favoured [[Jansenism]] which, despite [[Pope|papal]] condemnation, was accepted by the French bishops, and he revoked Louis XIV's compliance with the bull ''[[Unigenitus]]''.

At first, he decreased taxation and dismissed 25,000 soldiers. But the inquisitorial measures which he had begun against the financiers led to disturbances, notably in the province of [[Brittany]] where a rebellion known as the [[Pontcallec conspiracy]] unfolded. He countenanced the risky operations of the banker [[John Law (economist)|John Law]], whose [[bankruptcy]] led to the [[Mississippi Scheme|Mississippi bubble]], a disastrous crisis for the public and private affairs of France. It was an early example of the bursting of an economic bubble.<ref>Subject of the first section of Charles Mackay's "[[Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds]]", which is available from http://gutenberg.org</ref>

On 6 June 1717, under the influence of Law and the [[Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon|duc de Saint-Simon]], the Regent persuaded the Regency Council to purchase from [[Thomas Pitt]] for £135,000 the world's largest known diamond, a 141&nbsp;carat (28.2&nbsp;g) cushion brilliant, for the [[French Crown Jewels|crown jewels of France]]. The diamond was known from then on as ''[[Regent Diamond|Le Régent]]''.

===Cellamare conspiracy===
{{main|Cellamare conspiracy}}
[[File:Hyacinthe Rigaud 009.jpg|thumb|[[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]] as a child, by [[Hyacinthe Rigaud]] (1715)]]
There existed a party of malcontents who wished to transfer the regency from Orléans to his cousin, the young king's uncle, King [[Philip V of Spain]]. A conspiracy was formed, under the inspiration of [[Giulio Alberoni|Cardinal Alberoni]], the first minister of Spain. It was directed in France by the Prince of Cellamare, the Spanish ambassador, with the complicity of the Duchess of Orléans' older brother, the duc du Maine, and [[Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon]], the latter's wife. In 1718, the Cellamare conspiracy was discovered and its participants exiled. Two years later its aims were revived in the Pontcallec conspiracy, four leaders of which were executed.

[[Guillaume Dubois]], formerly tutor to the Duke of Orléans, and now his [[List of Prime Ministers of France|chief minister]], caused war to be declared against Spain, with the support of Austria, England and the Netherlands ([[War of the Quadruple Alliance|Quadruple Alliance]]). After some successes of the [[Marshal of France|French marshal]], the [[James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick-upon-Tweed|Duke of Berwick]], in Spain, and of the imperial troops in [[Sicily]], Philip V made peace with the regent (1720).

From the beginning of 1721, [[Philip V of Spain]], and the Duke of Orléans had been negotiating the project of three Franco-Spanish marriages in order to cement tense relations between Spain and France. The young Louis XV of France would marry the three-year-old [[Mariana Victoria of Spain|Infanta Mariana Victoria]] who would thus become Queen of France; the [[Louis of Spain|Infante Luis]] would marry the fourth surviving daughter of Philippe, [[Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans]]; and the [[Charles III of Spain|Infante Charles]] would be engaged to the pretty [[Philippine Élisabeth d'Orléans]] who was the fifth surviving daughter of Philippe. Only one of these marriages actually ever occurred.

[[File:Portrait of Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans (Rigaud, 1713).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate|Elizabeth Charlotte]], Philippe's mother to whom he would always be close, by Rigaud (1722)]]

In March 1721, the Infanta Mariana Victoria arrived in Paris amid much joy. Known as ''l'infante Reine'' (Queen-Infanta) while in France, she was placed in the care of the old [[Marie Anne de Bourbon|Dowager Princess of Conti]], Philippe's sister in law, and lived in the [[Tuileries Palace]].

In November 1721, at the age of twelve, Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans was married by proxy in Paris,<ref name="Nouvelle biographie générale">''Nouvelle biographie générale''</ref> Louise Élisabeth and her younger sister left for [[Madrid]]. Despite a cold reception from the Spanish royal family, especially by [[Elisabeth of Parma]], the stepmother of her husband, she married Louis of Spain on 20 January 1722 at Lerma. Her dowry was of 4&nbsp;million [[French livres|livres]]. The last of this triple alliance was Philippine Élisabeth who never married Charles; the marriage, though never officially carried out was annulled; the French sent back Mariana Victoria and in retaliation, Louise Élisabeth and Philippine Élisabeth were sent back to France. Franco-Spanish relations only recovered in 1743 when Louis XV's son [[Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765)|Louis de France]] married Mariana Victoria's sister [[Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain]].

On 15 June 1722, Louis XV and the court left the Tuileries Palace for the [[Palace of Versailles]] where the young king wanted to reside. The decision had been taken by the Duke of Orléans who, after the fall of Law's System, was feeling the loss of his personal popularity in Paris.<ref>Antoine, p. 102.</ref> Philippe took the apartments of his cousin the late Dauphin on the first floor of the Palace; the King's apartments were above his.

On 25 October of that year, the twelve-year-old Louis XV was anointed King of France in the cathedral of [[Notre-Dame de Reims]]. At the end of the ceremony, he threw himself in the arms of Orléans.<ref>Dufresne, p. 170.</ref>

In December 1722, the Regent lost his mother to whom he had always been close; the Dowager Duchess of Orléans died at Saint-Cloud at the age of seventy, with her son at her side, but he did not attend her funeral service because he had been called away on official business.<ref name=Pevitt/>{{rp|[https://archive.org/details/philippeducdorle00pevi/page/306 306]}} Philippe was greatly affected by his mother's death.

On the [[adulthood|majority]] of the king, which was declared on 15 February 1723, the Duke stepped down as regent. At the death of Cardinal Dubois on 10 August of that year, the young king offered the Duke the position of [[prime minister]], and he remained in that office until his death a few months later.

The regent died in Versailles on 2 December 1723 in the arms of his mistress the duchesse de Falari. Louis XV mourned him greatly. The Duke of Bourbon took on the role of Prime Minister of France.

On 3 December, the Duke of Orléans' body was taken to Saint-Cloud where funeral ceremonies began the following day. His heart was taken to the ''[[Val de Grâce]]'' church in Paris and his body to the Basilica of Saint Denis, (about 10&nbsp;km north of Paris), the [[necropolis]] of the French kings and their family.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sS82AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA305 |pages=93–94 |title=Mʹemoirs complets et authentiques du duc de Saint-Simon sur le siècle du Louis XIV et la rʹegence|last=Chéruel|first=Adolphe|year=1858}}</ref>

The heart of the Duke of Orléans is now at the [[Chapelle royale de Dreux|Chapelle Royale de Dreux]], the necropolis of all the members of the Orléans family, built in 1816 by his descendant [[Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon]], Duchess of Orléans, wife of [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe Égalité]]. The chapel was completed as the Orléans family royal Chapel during the reign of his great-great-grandson [[Louis-Philippe I, King of the French]].

The Cellamare conspiracy is the subject of one of [[Alexandre Dumas]]' novels, ''The Conspirators'' (''Le Chevalier d'Harmental'').

===Legacy===
*The duke assembled the [[Orléans Collection]], one of the finest collections of paintings ever made by a non-monarch, which was mostly sold in London after the [[French Revolution]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
*He promoted education, making the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] tuition-free and opening the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|Royal Library]] to the public (1720).{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
*The city of [[New Orleans]], in [[Louisiana]], [[United States|U.S.]], was named after him.<ref>{{Cite web|title=French History in New Orleans|url=https://www.neworleans.com/things-to-do/multicultural/cultures/french/|access-date=2020-10-28|website=www.neworleans.com}}</ref>