Rising to prominence early in the reign of Charles IX, he gravitated towards the king's brother Anjou, the future Henri III, serving with him on his council after the duke's appointment as lieutenant-general of the kingdom in 1567.

He and his wife Françoise de la Marck acted as power brokers in the replacement of the bishop of Paris the following year.

Upon receipt of news that Anjou's brother had died, Villequier was among those urging the king to return to claim the French throne as quickly as possible, and played a key role in Henri's flight back to France.

As reward for his service, he was made 'first gentleman of the chamber' a position he would share with the incumbent Retz favourite of the king's mother Catherine de Medici.

In 1577 Villequier, furious at his wife's alleged affair and plan to poison him, would murder her in their chambers at Poitiers, being pardoned by the king for his crime.

Villequier, learning of his pregnant wife's alleged infidelity with a man named Barbizi, and the presence in her safe of vials of poison supplied by a Florentine doctor, stabbed her to death in their bed and then pursued a servant who jumped out the window to escape his wrath.

[7] The same year the Spanish ambassador wrote disparagingly back to his court that the 'godless Mignon' Villequier had taught Henri the 'vice that nature detests', i.e.

[1] A great enthusiast for gambling, Villequier won a gold chain worth 2000 écus, gifted to the ambassador Alluye by the duke of Savoy during a game of cards in 1562.

[10] That same year he was among the gentleman who interviewed Anjou the king's brother about the attempt by Jacques, Duke of Nemours to kidnap him and spirit the prince to the more reliably Catholic surrounds of Lorraine.

Catherine de Medici in considering who to replace the duke with was keen to avoid an independent magnate holding such a sway over the royal military.

[12] While he had started the expedition to Poland ascendent in Anjou's favour he began to find himself supplanted by the rise of Bellegarde who dominated the king's attentions in the country.

In his capacity as first gentleman of the chamber, Henri would gift Villequier the furniture that had once belonged to Louise de Savoie the king's great-grandmother.

[7] After the death of several of Henri's earliest favourites, Du Guast and Saint-Sulpice, Villequier assumed a central position in the king's attentions.

[7] In 1579 the office of governor of the Île de France and the subsidiary governorship of Paris became vacant with the death of the duke of Montmorency.

[7] In May 1580 Villequier received appointment as governor of the Île de France and Paris, he would hold this post until 13 May 1587 when it was ceded in favour of François d'O.

[17] While having a reputation as a fairly irreligious man, after hearing a sermon in 1581, the Papal nuncio reported that Villequier appeared moved, and was inclined towards yielding the two abbey's that he held, which had not been acquired in a canonically correct fashion.

That same year Retz surrendered his position as first gentleman of the chamber to make way for Anne de Joyeuse who the king wished to place in the role.