The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud had been the final home of Eleanor of Aquitaine. She, her husband Henry II of England and their son Richard the Lionheart and his brother’s wife were buried there. The abbess were normally the daughters of kings or famous aristocrats. The first Bourbon King Henri IV’s aunt was abbess there as well as his own illegitimate daughter. One of Louis XIV’s favourite women, the sister of Mme de Montespan was the abbess at the time Louis XV was born. Mme de Montespan’s niece was the abbess when Louis XV’s daughters arrived at Fontevraud.
The last abbess of Fontevraud before the French Revolution was Mme de Montespan’s great great granddaughter—not related to Louis XIV. She was the granddaughter of Mme de Montespan’s legitimate son.
