PHILIPPE D'ORLEANS, THE LIBERTINE REGENT

Exceptional destinies

An episode from the series SECRETS OF HISTORY - PORTRAITS

Synopsis

Grandson of Louis XIII, nephew of Louis XIV, and cousin of the future Louis XV, the regent Philippe d'Orléans was much more than the idle, superficial, and depraved ruler he was made to be.

He was a surprisingly modern and pragmatic prince who transformed the court into a political, intellectual, and artistic laboratory.

History has not been kind to Philippe d'Orléans, presenting him as shy, versatile, a coward, a liar, deceitful, ambitious, a poisoner, jaded, skeptical, mean, a binger, drunk, a sex addict, and incestuous.