1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Châteauroux, Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle

CHÂTEAUROUX, MARIE ANNE DE MAILLY-NESLE, Duchesse de (1717–1744), mistress of Louis XV. of France, was the fourth daughter of Louis, marquis de Nesle, a descendant of a niece of Mazarin. In 1740, upon the death of her husband, the marquis de la Tournelle, she attracted the attention of Louis XV.; and by the aid of the duc de Richelieu, who, dominated by Madame de Tencin, hoped to rule both the king and the state, she supplanted her sister, Madame de Mailly, as titular mistress in 1742. Directed by Richelieu, she tried to arouse the king, dragging him off to the armies, and negotiated the alliance with Frederick II. of Prussia, in 1744. Her political rôle, however, has been exaggerated. Her triumph after the passing disgrace provoked by the king’s illness at Metz did not last long, for she died on the 8th of December 1744.

See Ed. and J. de Goncourt, La Duchesse de Châteauroux et ses sœurs (Paris, 1879).