He played some part in Turenne's conversion to Catholicism in 1668 and had an important rôle as intermediary between his uncle and Louis XIV.

[citation needed] Louvois, the powerful minister of Louis XIV, inspired by enmity to the house of Turenne, successfully opposed certain of his demands on the king for the benefit of members of his family, and the cardinal's disappointment vented itself in a bitter satire on his royal master.

[citation needed] The cardinal then put forth great efforts to obtain the vacant Prince-Bishopric of Liège, but could not overcome the opposition of Louvois, who secured the dignity for Clement Joseph of Bavaria.

When he eventually submitted and returned to France, he was first exiled to his Abbey of Tournus, soon given a little more freedom of movement, but forbidden to enter Paris.

[1] With similar motives in mind as for his tomb project in Cluny, i.e. as contributing factors to a grander scheme of establishing his family as sovereign princes, the cardinal employed Étienne Baluze to compose an Histoire généalogique de la maison d'Auvergne (1708, 2 vols.

After losing his appeal to uphold his rule over the Cluniac monks in 1710, Bouillon wrote a deeply insulting letter to the king and fled to Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Low Countries.