Isabelle de Ludres

Isabelle de Ludres, anonymous portrait, portrayed as Saint Mary Magdelene

Marie-Elisabeth de Ludres, known as Isabelle de Ludres, chanoinesse de Poussay (1647 in Ludres – 28 January 1726 in Nancy), was a French noble (marquise), lady-in-waiting, canoness (chanoinesse), and royal mistress of Louis XIV of France in 1675-76.

Daughter of Jean de Ludres and Claude de Salles and introduced at the court of Lorraine in Poussay. In 1662, she was engaged to Duke Charles IV of Lorraine, who had been banned by the Pope for deserting his spouse Nicolette of Lorraine for Beatrice de Cousance, but the engagement was broken when he married Marie Louise d'Aspremont (1651–1693) in 1664. She became a lady-in-waiting to the French queen Maria Theresa of Spain in 1670 and to Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate in 1673. In 1675, she became involved in a relationship with Louis XIV. Louis wished the relationship to be secret and had no plans to make her official favorite, and when she openly declared that she was going to replace Madame de Montespan the relationship was ended by Louis. Ludres left the court in 1678 and moved to a convent in Paris. She eventually accepted a royal pension and move back to Lorraine. She was made marquise in 1720.

See also

• French royal mistresses