Is there any evidence that Philippe, duke of Orleans, brother to Louis XIV, was a homosexual?
Monsieur’s favorites, invariably handsome young men, dominated contemporary and historical commentary about his role at court, particularly one man who shared his princely rank and much of his life: Philip of Lorraine-Armagnac was three years younger than Philip of OrlĂ©ans. Handsome, brutal and devoid of scruples, he was the great love of “Monsieur’s” life. He was also the worst enemy of Monsieur’s two wives… As greedy as a vulture, this cadet of the French branch of the house of Lorraine had, by the end of the 1650s, hooked Monsieur as though harpooning a whale. The young prince loved him with a passion that worried Madame Henrietta and the court bishop, Cosnac, but the King understood that, thanks to the attractive face and sharp mind of the good-looking cavalier, he would have his way with his brother.[1] Under these circumstances it is no surprise that Monsieur’s first marriage was unhappy. In January 1670 his wife prevailed upon the King to imprison the chevalier, first near Lyo