le Secret du roi

…complicated by the existence of le Secret du roi—a system of private diplomacy conducted by King Louis XV. Unbeknownst to his foreign minister, Louis had established a network of agents throughout Europe with the goal of pursuing personal political objectives that were often at odds with France’s publicly stated policies.…

…acting in the service of le Secret du roi as well as the French foreign ministry, but the chief agents of le Secret in Poland had been kept unaware of his mission, lest they regard an overture to Russia as a betrayal of the anti-Russian line to which they had…

…that came into conflict with le Secret du roi, a primary purpose of which was to exclude the Russians from Poland at any cost. In Great Britain the accession of William Pitt the Elder to office as virtual prime minister in November 1756 would have a decisive effect on the…

…of secret diplomacy known as le Secret du roi. Secret French agents were stationed in major European capitals and ordered by the king to pursue political objectives that were frequently opposed to his publicly announced policies. At first Louis employed his secret diplomacy in an unsuccessful attempt to win the…