In this biography, Christine Pevitt brings to life the man whose scandalous reputation has almost overwhelmed his many extraordinary qualities. A talented artist and musician, a brave soldier, he was by far the most gifted member of the royal family. From his earliest years he was a rebel at the Court of Versailles, flouting convention and flaunting his vices, engendering the distrust of Louis XIV and his priggish mistress, Madame de Maintenon.

He acquired a reputation as a philanderer and a rake; he was rumored to have slept with his own daughter and even to have attempted to betray his country.

Beset by conspiracies and intrigues against his reign by lesser nobles, Philippe worked diligently to restore peace and prosperity to France after the defeat of the War of the Spanish Succession. He engaged in dialogue with Great Britain, the traditional enemy of France; he encouraged colonial expansion in America, where the city of New Orleans was named for him; and he took the court away from Versailles, making Paris the soul and center of France for the first time in decades.

The eight years of his regency were intoxicated by new fashions, theater, and seduction on a grand scale. Standing at the center of intellectual and artistic ferment, Philippe was a patron of both Watteau and Voltaire, promoting freedom of expression at the dawn of the Enlightenment.