The court of Louis XV

The work offers a series of compact biographical portraits of prominent women at the royal court during the eighteenth-century reign, arranged chronologically to follow shifts in favor and influence. Individual chapters profile queens, favorites, and princesses, tracing their personal backgrounds, rivalries, intrigues, patronage of the arts and letters, involvement in court politics and diplomacy, and responses to crises such as assassination attempts and wartime pressures. It emphasizes character studies over grand narrative, reconstructing salon life, theatrical and cultural patronage, and the private and public roles these women played in shaping the court's moral and political climate.