Hydrangea Mancini: a life like an adventure novel

If Hortensia Mancini lived in our days, then she could well have organized master classes on the topic: "How to seduce the king and bring her own husband to insanity." Her life was more interesting than any adventure novel you could think of. The Duchess left behind her memoirs, in which she wrote: "If the events that I will tell you seem too adventurous, then blame not my inclinations, but my fate."

The Duchess's most famous relative was Cardinal Giulio Mazarin. The one that is well known to us from the book of Alexander Dumas. Hydrangea was one of his favorite nieces. By the way, one of the prettiest. The cardinal tried to profitably arrange her future.
When Hortense was 13 years old, the king of England, Charles II, asked for her hands. But the cardinal decided that this was a disadvantageous party: why do we need a king in exile? Mazarin sent a refusal to the king. But the cardinal was not so far-sighted. A few months later, Karl ascended the English throne. Then Mazarini began to send him letters in which he wrote that he didn’t understand everything, that he didn’t want to refuse the king, that in fact he simply arranged a test of the man’s feelings and had long dreamed of giving Karl Hortense a dowry of several million lire. But Charles II decided to break off relations with the family of the cardinal, not even suspecting that fate would bring him to this beauty.

The three nieces of Mazarin: Maria, Olivia, Hydrangea

All the hydrangea sisters got married. And she was given as a wife to the richest bridegroom of Europe - Arman-Charles de La Porte, the Marquis de La Meier.
Arman-Charles became the owner of a large dowry of his wife and received the title of Duke Mazarin. And Hortense got a mean, jealous, mentally unbalanced spouse.

It all started with the fact that he forced her to spend a quarter of the day praying. Every midnight, the chambers turned over in search of hiding lovers. Handmaids forced to walk with broken front teeth. So they attracted the attention of men less. Milkmaids forbade milking cows. The udder of the cow caused him unpleasant associations.

One day, the Marquis de La Meier appeared to King Louis XIV and introduced himself as adviser to the archangel Gabriel. He turned to the king with these words: "Your Majesty, I was asked to convey that if you do not immediately stop adultery, the highest angelic ranks will punish you."
Louis immediately understood what was happening and answered: “Dear Arman, do not worry. I just spoke personally with Gabriel. He warned me about your visit and said that you have mental insanity.”

Armand-Charles de la Porte, Marquise de la Meyere

Madness grew, and Hortense decided to escape. She left four children born in a marriage, left the house at night and raced off on a horse to Rome.
The French king declared himself her patron and appointed her an annual salary of 24 thousand livres. The distraught spouse tried to block all financial flows.

French incomes fell, but the English ambassador Ralph Montague told her the way out. You need to move to London with Charles II and take the place of the royal favorite. The royal favorite at that time was Louise de Keroual, but Hortense decided to try her hand.
Under the pretext of a visit to her niece, the wife of the king’s younger brother, the Duke of York, Hortense went to London. She successfully coped with the task. Louise later complained to Ralph Montague: “If you, sir, knew how much pain these Carl’s daily trips to Madame cause me.”

King of England Charles II

But the duchess was not able to save what she won with such difficulty. She was so carried away by side novels that it could not go on forever.
The French woman entered into a love affair with the Countess of Sussex, Anna Lennard, started a relationship with Louis I de Grimaldi, Prince of Monaco. The king demoted her from the favorites.

After the death of Karl, Hortense opened an intellectual salon, published the first memoirs written by a woman. She left behind a bunch of debts and committed suicide on November 9, 1699. Then her crazy husband again took the first roles. Arman paid off his creditors, took his wife’s body and went on a trip to his favorite places in France. He carried her with him for a year, until his relatives forced him to bury his wife.