Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Saint-Florentin

French politician

Most High and Most Potent Lord Louis Phélypeaux Count of Saint-Florentin & Duke of La Vrillière
Portrait by Louis-Michel van Loo

Secretary of State of the Maison du Roi
In office 1749 – 1775
Monarchs	Louis XV (to 1774) Louis XVI (from 1774)
Preceded by	Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux
Succeeded by	Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office 24 December 1770 – 6 June 1771
Monarch	Louis XV
Preceded by	Étienne François de Choiseul
Succeeded by	Emmanuel-Armand de Richelieu
Acting Secretary of State for War
In office 24 December 1770 – 4 January 1771
Monarch	Louis XV
Preceded by	Étienne François de Choiseul
Succeeded by	Louis François de Monteynard

Personal details
Born	(1705-08-18)18 August 1705 Paris, Isle-de-France, Kingdom of France
Died	27 February 1777(1777-02-27) (aged 71) Paris, Isle-de-France, Kingdom of France

Louis Phélypeaux (18 August 1705 – 27 February 1777) Count of Saint-Florentin, Marquis (1725) and Duke of La Vrillière (1770), was a French politician.

Biography

Son of Louis Phélypeaux, Marquis de La Vrillière, and Françoise de Mailly-Nesle (1688–1742), he succeeded his father as Secretary of State for Protestant Affairs, with responsibility for Huguenots. Appointed minister for the Department of the Maison du Roi by Louis XV in 1749, he held the post until 1775, setting a record for ministerial service. He was named to the Order of the Holy Spirit, where he served as chancellor. After the dismissal of Choiseul in December 1770, he served as Foreign Minister until June 1771. His use of lettres de cachet in the La Chalotais case was controversial and he resigned his ministerial posts in 1775.

In 1724 he married Amélie Ernestine de Platen (d. 1752). He had Chalgrin design the Hôtel de Saint-Florentin. This later passed to Talleyrand and to James Mayer de Rothschild, and is now part of the American Embassy, Paris.