Marie Gigault de Bellefonds

Marie Gigault de Bellefonds, Marquise de Villars, (1624 – 24 June 1706), was the wife of the French ambassador and is remembered for her reports that described palace intrigue at the Spanish Court of King Charles II between 1679 and 1681, specifically attempts to promote the standing of the French King Louis XIV in Spain. and her mother was Jeanne Aux-Épaules (circa 1590–1652). She was married in 1651 to Pierre de Villars, Marquis de Villars (1623–1698) who was named an ambassador for King Louis XIV and assigned to Spain in 1679. Through their marriage, Marie Gigault became the Marquise de Villars. They had two sons, Armand (died 1712) and Claude-Louis-Hector (1653–1734) who inherited his father's title, Marquis de Villars.

Writings Also known as Marie Gigault de Bellefonds de Villars, Madame de Villars has been called an "ambassadress" to Spain because of her unparalleled access between 1679 and 1681 to the new French-born wife of Charles II, King of Spain. According to Borgognoni, As soon as the Marie Louise d'Orléans arrived in Spain, she became fast friends with Madame de Villars and her husband, the French ambassador, who translated for the couple during their wedding ceremonies as neither the King nor his new wife spoke the language of the other.

Noble ancestry On her father's side, Madame de Villars was the daughter of a governor of Valognes and Caen in Normandy, and she was descended on her mother's side from Jeanne aux Épaules to Madeleine de Dreux and the counts of Dreux, the European royal house of the Capetian dynasty in France.

Works de Villars, Marie Gigault de Bellefonds. Letters from Madame de Villars to Madame de Coulanges (1679–1681). Paris H. Plon 1868. de Villars, Marie Gigault. Letters from Mesdames de Villars, de Coulanges, and LaFayette, Ninon de L'Enclos, and Mlle Aïssé. Flight. 1.1805.