Louise Renée de Penancoët de Kérouaille entered the household of Henrietta Anne Stuart and came to England in 1670. After Henrietta's death she remained at the English court and became a mistress of Charles II.
Their son, Charles Lennox, was created Duke of Richmond, while Louise received the English title Duchess of Portsmouth and the French title Duchess of Aubigny. As Charles II’s influential French mistress, Louise occupied a prominent position in Restoration court politics and Anglo-French relations. Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth was born in Kérouaille, Brittany and died in Paris.
Andrew Taylor’s The Shadows of London shows the young Louise de Kérouaille being manoeuvred towards Charles II while Marwood’s murder investigation reaches into Whitehall, so her emerging position as the king’s French favourite carries diplomatic as well as personal significance. Linda Porter’s Mistresses examines Louise historically alongside Charles II’s other mistresses, tracing how royal intimacy brought wealth, titles, political access and hostility at a Restoration court where foreign policy and private favour were closely connected.
