As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was born a prince du sang and styled as Monsieur le Duc.

He was a short, ugly, debauched, and brutal man not only "repulsive in appearance", but "cursed with so violent a temper that it was positively dangerous to contradict him".

Trained as a soldier, in 1673 he was made official commander of the Rhine front, but in name only, as he lacked the military ability of his father.

He eventually married the German princess Anne Henriette of Bavaria in the chapel of the Palais du Louvre in Paris in December 1663.

The bride was the daughter of Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern and the political hostess Anna Gonzaga.