Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes

Charles d'Albert, Duke of Luynes (5 August 1578 – Longueville, 15 December 1621), was a favourite of Louis XIII, by whom he was made a Peer of France and Constable of France before dying at the height of his influence.

Biography

He was the first son of Honoré d'Albert (d. 1592), seigneur de Luynes, who was in the service of the three last Valois kings and of Henry IV of France.

Charles was brought up at court and attended the dauphin, later Louis XIII; whose lover he may have become. The king shared his fondness for hunting and rapidly advanced him in favour. In 1615 he was appointed commander of the Louvre Palace and counsellor, and the following year Grand Falconer of France. He used his influence over the king in the court intrigues against the queen-mother Marie de' Medici and her favourite Concini. It was Luynes who, with Vitry, captain of the guard, arranged the plot that ended in Concini's assassination (1617) and secured all the latter's possessions in Italy and France.