The reign of Athenais de Montespan as maitresse en titre to Louis XIV corresponds with the most glorious period of the grand siecle. Athenais was "the true Queen of France", the symbol of the apotheosis of French culture in the seventeenth century.
As a lover, she risked the disgrace of double adultery to conduct an affair which scandalised Europe; as a patron, she supported many of the leaders of a cultural renaissance; as a mother, she is the ancestor of most of the royal houses of Europe.
Lisa Hilton's superb new biography chronicles the life of this most extraordinary of historical figures. She describes Athenais's unhappy marriage to a provincial noble, and how she used her beauty and wit to seduce the King. Athenais transformed Louis from a shy, gauche monarch into the polished Sun King of legend.
His court, too, became guided by his lover's hand: Athenais was famous for the brilliance of her fetes and the extravagance of her gambling. She organised plays by Moliere, ballets by Lully and was universally admired, courted and feared.
