Dubois, GUILLAUME

Dubois, GUILLAUME, Cardinal, born 6th September 1656, was the son of an apothecary, and became tutor to the young Duc de Chartres. Although of an ugly exterior, he contrived, by his mixture of wit and hypocrisy, to win the esteem of the boy's mother and the confidence of his pupil. His public career commenced after the marriage of his pupil, in 1692, with Mademoiselle Blois, a natural but legitimised daughter of Louis XIV. He was attached to the French embassy at the court of London, where he formed some important political connections. On his return he became private secretary to his old pupil; and when the latter (now Duke of Orleans) became regent in 1715, Dubois became virtually the most powerful man in France. In 1717 he succeeded in forming the Triple Alliance between England, Holland, and France, which, with the accession of the emperor in 1718, became the Quadruple Alliance. He was appointed foreign minister and Archbishop of Cambrai; in 1721 he obtained the cardinal's hat, and in the following year he became prime-minister of France, with unbounded authority. He died 10th August 1723, a victim to hard work and the wildest debauchery.