Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon (1675–1755)

Louis de Rouvroy was educated in part by the Jesuits, then joined the Musketeers in 1692. He inherited the title of duc de Saint-Simon on the death of his elderly father in 1693. Saint-Simon was obsessed with small details of etiquette and ceremonial precedence and it's said that for his lawsuits over these issues, as well as for opposition to royal policy, that King Louis XIV took a dislike to him. Saint-Simon also hated the illegitimate children of the king, who were legitimated and ennobled, on the grounds that they were given precedence over peers such as himself. After Louis XIV's death, the duke came back into favor with the Regent, Philippe II, Duc d’Orléans, who appointed Saint-Simon to his council and sent him on a diplomatic mission to Spain in 1721. A couple of years later, however, the Regent died, and Saint-Simon retired from court. Saint-Simon was intensely interested in all the activities at the French court, and he paid informers ranging from dukes to servants to give him the extraordinary private information that he recorded and handed down in his memoirs. These documents are invaluable to historians of the period.