French Nobility. Louis Philippe d'Orléans, only son of Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, and his wife Johanna of Baden-Baden, was born at the Palace of Versailles. He received the title Duke of Chartres at birth. At age 15, he fell in love with his cousin Princess Henriette of France, daughter of King Louis XV and Queen Marie Leszczynska. However, the king decided against the match for political reasons, and Henriette never married. Instead, a marriage to his cousin Louise Henriette de Bourbon was arranged. His father believed that as the young bride had been raised in a convent, she would be an ideal wife. They were married on December 17, 1743 at the Palace of Versailles. However, months after the marriage, his new bride began to lead a scandalous life. His father refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of her three children. (One of them, Louis Philippe d'Orléans, who became Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, and during the revolution Philippe Égalité, was executed in 1793.) Louis Philippe served with the French in the War of the Austrian Succession, distinguishing himself. After the death of his father in 1752, he became the Duke of Orléans, as well as the head of the House of Orléans. After his wife died in 1759, Louis Philippe had several mistresses, including Étiennette Le Marquis, with whom he had three children. In 1766, he met Charlotte Jeanne Béraud de La Haye de Riou, Madame de Montesson. Her husband, the Marquise de Montesson, died in 1769. The couple had a morganatic wedding in 1773, due to the difference in their social ranks. Louis Philippe substantially augmented the already impressive wealth of the House of Orléans. He and his second wife entertained nobles, intellectuals, scientists, and playwrights in their home. Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans died at the Château de Sainte-Assise in 1785. He was interred at the Val-de-Grâce convent in Paris.