Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defined as his 13th birthday) on 15 February 1723, the kingdom was ruled by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent of France.
Cardinal Fleury was his chief minister from 1726 until the Cardinal's death in 1743, at which time the young king took sole control of the kingdom.
Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon
At the death of the king in 1715, however, the Parlement de Paris annulled Louis XIV's will and named Maine's brother-in-law, Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, as Régent for the child king. Upset with this and the role played by the "duc d'Orléans" in reducing the status of the legitimised children of Louis XIV from the rank of "Princes du Sang" (which Louise Bénédicte had enjoyed since birth) to mere peers of France, Louise Bénédicte induced her husband to join in the Cellamare Conspiracy in the hope of transferring the regency to King Philip V of Spain, the uncle of Louis XV. The plot was named after Antonio del Giudice, Duke of Giovinazzo, "Prince of Cellamare", who was the Spanish ambassador to France.