Pierre de Villars (1623, Paris - 20 March 1698, Paris), known by courtesy as the Marquis de Villars, was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and Councillor of State. He was the son of Claude de Villars,

mestre de camp Mestre de camp or Maître de camp (; "camp-master") was a military rank in the Ancien Régime of France, equivalent to colonel. A mestre de camp commanded a regiment and was under the authority of a Colonel General, who commanded all the regiments ...

and gentleman of the King's bedchamber, and of his wife Charlotte Louvet de Nogaret-Calvisson, and grandson of

René of Savoy René of Savoy (1473 – 31 March 1525) was a French nobleman and soldier. He was count of Villars (1497) and of Tende (1501). Known as "the Great Bastard of Savoy", he was the illegitimate son of Philip II, Duke of Savoy and Libera Portoneri - thi ...

, known as the Bastard of Savoy (''Bâtard de Savoie''), and thus (illegitimately) the great-grandson of

Philip II, Duke of Savoy Philip II (5 February 1438 – 7 November 1497), surnamed the Landless, was the Duke of Savoy for a brief reign from 1496 to 1497. Biography Philip was the granduncle of the previous duke Charles II, and the youngest surviving son of Duke L ...

. He was married to Marie Gigault de Bellefonds and they had two sons, Armand (died 1712) and Claude-Louis-Hector (1653–1734) who inherited his father's title, Marquis de Villars. Between 1679 and 1681, Villars and his wife were assigned to the royal court in Madrid to represent French King

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

to Spanish King Charles II and his new French-born wife:

Marie Louise d'Orléans Marie Louise d'Orléans (; 26 March 1662 – 12 February 1689) was Queen of Spain from 1679 to 1689 as the first wife of King Charles II. She was born ''petite-fille de France'' as the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and Princes ...

, the young and beautiful niece of Louis XIV.

References

Sources

Ferdinand Hoefer Jean Chrétien Ferdinand Hoefer (German: ''Ferdinand Höfer'', 21 April 1811, Döschnitz – 4 May 1878) was a German-French physician and lexicographer. He is now known for his many works on the history of science. Selected works *''Éléme ...

, ''Nouvelle Biographie générale'', t. 45, Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1866, p. 166-7 {{DEFAULTSORT:Villars, Pierre De 1623 births 1698 deaths 17th-century French diplomats Marquesses of Villars Conseil d'État (France) Ambassadors of France to Spain