CHATEAUROUX, MARIE ANNE DE MAILLY NESLE, DUCHESSE DE , mistress of Louis XV. of France, was the fourth daughter of Louis, marquis de Nesle. In 1740, upon the death of her husband, the marquis de la Tournelle, she supplanted her sister, Madame de Mailly, as titular mistress in 1742. Directed by the duc de Richelieu, she tried to arouse the king, dragging him off to the armies, and negotiated the alliance with Frederick II. of Prussia in 1744. Her political role, how ever, has been exaggerated.
See Ed. and J. de Goncourt, La Duchesse de Chdteauroux et ses soeurs (new ed. 1889) ; Histoire de Madame de Chateauroux tiree des memoires de in Duthesse de Brancas (1919) .