As a young girl she was placed in the household of the Duchess of
        Orleans. However, she resented being a Maid of Honour to an
        Englishwoman as she regarded herself as noble, which she was, though
        she belonged to an impoverished Breton family.
            In 1670 the Duchess went to Dover to meet her brother, the English
        King Charles II. This meeting resulted not only in the Treaty of
        Dover, which was signed on 22 May 1670, but also in the infatuation of
        Charles with Louise de Kerouaille who had come to England as an
        attendant to the Duchess.
            The king wanted Louise to remain in England but his sister
        Henrietta insisted on taking her back to France. However, Henrietta
        died suddenly only a few weeks later and Louis XIV at once sent Louise
        back to England. Charles II brought her from Calais to England on a
        royal yacht and soon she was established at the English Court.
            Louis XIV had sent her both as a spy and a means of turning
        Charles II into an ally. After some feigned reluctance she went to
        Euston Hall, and here she was visited by Charles II who then turned
        her into his mistress. Exactly nine months later, on 29 July 1672, she
        gave birth to a son, Charles Lennox.
            Louise was gentle but also sly and intriguing, aware of her
        position and importance. In 1673 she was created Duchess of Portsmouth
        while in 1675 her son was made Duke of Richmond. Of all Charles II's
        mistresses she was the only one involved with politics, commanding
        respect and cooperation from statesman and ambassadors. She
        encountered the needling of the Duchess of Cleveland and Nell Gwyn,
        the hatred of the English people and Charles II's philandering, but
        still for many years she was virtually Queen of England.
             In December 1674 the news was received of the execution of the
        Chevalier de Rohan. He had fallen into disgrace at the French Court,
        was financially ruined and, it was discovered, was in treasonable
        negotiations with the Dutch. As a result he was beheaded on 27
        November 1674. This news made Louise go into mourning to indicate she
        was a near relative of this scion of one of France's most important
        families.
            The following day Nell Gwyn also appeared in deepest black and was
        asked, in the hearing of Louise, for whom she had assumed these
        habiliments of woe. "Why!" she said, "have you not heard of my loss in
        the death of the Cham of Tartary?" And when asked how she was related
        to the Cham of Tartary she replied: "Exactly the same relation that
        the Chevalier de Rohan was to the Duchess of Portsmouth." However,
        Louise was a third cousin of Louis de Rohan, Chevalier de Rohan
        (1635-1674), as well as a descendant of both the English King Henry
        III and the French King Louis X, of which Louise was probably unaware.
            In extravagance she outdid the Duchess of Cleveland, but the
        Duchess was vulgar where Louise was refined. However, she was still
        dissatisfied as she wanted a French title, a 'real' honour. Charles II
        had to ask Louis XIV who proved to be reluctant. Louis XIV gave her
        the territory of the duchy of Aubigny but this didn't come with the
        title she really wanted. It took several years before Louis XIV gave
        in and, in January 1684, she was created Duchesse d'Aubigny.
            In the last years of Charles II's life she was in alliance with
        James and Lawrence Hyde dealing with the secrets of State. When the
        Duke of York wanted a husband for his daughter Anne, he consulted
        Louise and she had the French King Louis XIV first approve of George
        of Denmark.
            On his deathbed Charles II recommended Louise to his brother and
        concluded with: "Let not poor Nellie starve." Soon afterwards he died
        and an hour later the new king went to visit Louise to assure her of
        his protection and friendship. Nevertheless, she decided to return to
        France, but then a year later returned to England where she stayed
        until July 1688. When James II lost his crown, Louise lost her English
        pension. Her son returned to live in England in 1692 and also returned
        to the Anglican religion.
            From 1692 onwards Louise devoted herself to the care of her estate
        of Aubigny. However, her love of gambling brought her financial
        difficulties to the point that Louis XIV had to intervene for her in
        1699. As a result she had her French pension increased and in 1721
        was paid 600,000 livres "in consideration of the great services she
        had rendered France". In 1715 she again went to England but failed to
        get the hoped-for annuity from King George I.
            Louise, Duchess of Portsmouth, outlived her contemporaries and
        died in Paris on 14 November 1714 aged eighty-five. She had survived
        Charles II by forty-nine years and their son by eleven.

Source: Leo van de Pas