Her mother was a lady-in-waiting in service to the queen, and her father reportedly "wasted his substance on actresses and the capacious requirements of Court life".

Louise Julie was the first sister to attract the king followed by Pauline Félicité, but it was Marie Anne who was the most successful in manipulating him and becoming politically powerful.

In 1732, Marie Anne's oldest sister Louise Julie, who had succeeded their mother as lady-in-waiting to the queen, caught the attention of King Louis XV, and was permitted by her spouse to become a royal mistress.

Louise Julie was devoted to her family, and it was said that she was "a loving, sincere little creature with all the qualities of an easy dupe, and she was happy to Introduce her sisters at Court for the sole reason that it gave them pleasure".

While Louise Julie remained as the official mistress, the king fell in love with Pauline-Félicité, arranged for her to marry the marquis de Vintimille to enable her to stay at court, and gave her the castle of Choisy-le-Roi as a gift.

[2] Marie Anne was described as "magnificently beautiful", dignified and graceful, with fair hair, "a complexion so white and pure that it glowed", large blue eyes and red lips with a "childlike smile", and to her behavior as a charming wit who frequently used irony.

This she did most effectively; letters of a very passionate nature were exchanged; the lady dispatched those which she received to Richelieu, and in due course they were brought to the notice of Marie Anne de La Tournelle, who, furious at her young duke's deceitfulness, turned her attentions to the king and agreed to the suggestion of Richeliu and Soubise.

[2] Although the queen retracted her approval, Marie Anne was appointed to the position on 19 September,[3] and the next day, Cardinal Fleury refused Louise Julie's compensatory future post as dame d'atours of the dauphine.

She refused intercourse until he had proved his love by agreeing to provide her with the title of duchess, together with a settled income sufficient to enable her to maintain that dignity and safeguard herself against any reversal of fortune; a house "as sumptuous as Madame de Montespan's had been", where she would be able to entertain the king in accordance with royal standards; an assurance that any children born of the union would be provided for and legitimized; to be properly courted before consent, and the dismissal of her sister, his official mistress, from court, and she herself officially acknowledged in her place.

[2] During his courting of Marie Anne, he reportedly treated Louise Julie more and more coldly, sitting in silence through their meals, talking to her only about his hopes to seduce her sister, causing her to cry.

In a letter written soon after, Marie Anne wrote to Richelieu: "Meuse has surely told you, uncle, of the trouble which I had in getting Madame de Mailly to budge", but added that it would still be difficult to achieve something in politics as long as Cardinal Fleury lived.

[2] In preparation for her own elevation to duchess, she arranged a marriage between her favorite sister, Diane Adelaide, to the Duke of Lauraguais, and secured her a dowry and the office of designated lady-in-waiting to the future bride of the crown prince.

On 22 October 1743, letters patent were issued creating Marie Anne duchesse de Chateauroux with a duchy representing an annual income of 80,000 livres.

[2] As royal mistress, Marie Anne was the hostess in the King's private apartments where she was known to provide amusement and gaiety and introduced the custom of using nicknames.

"She had the supreme cleverness never to question Louis on affairs of State, and so the infatuated King was convinced that his pretty mistress took no interest in politics.

[2] However, her influence was opposed by Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas and his circle whose satirical rhymes started the development which resulted in the loss of respect for the king and his court among the people.

[2] When Richelieu was appointed first gentleman of the Bed Chamber the Parisians nicknamed him "the President of La Tournelle", alluding to Marie Anne's former title.

[2] Marie Anne reportedly felt threatened by her sister Flavacourt, who distanced herself from her and whom she therefore suspected of having the ambition to replace her as royal mistress.

While the queen regarded Louise Julie de Mailly as the most hurtful of all the mistresses of Louis because she was the first one, she had grown accustomed to her, and she disliked Marie Anne on a more personal level.

[3] In reality, de Flavacourt had no wish to become a royal mistress and only wanted to enjoy her position as a courtier because it gave her independence from her spouse.

Directed by Richelieu, himself dominated by Madame de Tencin[1] who allegedly originated the idea, Marie Anne was given the task to shake the king out of his passive nature and convince him to place himself at the head of his armies on the battlefield during the War of the Austrian Succession, so as to give him and France prestige.

[4] It was rumoured at the time that one of the methods by which Marie Anne kept the interest of the king was to periodically offer him a ménage à trois with her sister, Diane Adélaïde de Lauraguais.

Fearing to be at his deathbed, Louis XV was afflicted by a religious crisis and wished to renounce his adultery and mistresses and ask his wife for her forgiveness.