She lived in his parents' house, the Château de Mursay, and received a Calvinist upbringing until the age of seven.
In 1680 he sailed to the Caribbean Sea as captain of Les Jeux (36) in the fleet of Jean II d'Estrées.
On his return in March 1681, he learned, to his fury, that his children had been converted to Catholicism under influence of Madame de Maintenon.
In the War of the Grand Alliance, he commanded a squadron in the Battle of Beachy Head where he finished off nine or ten beached Dutch ships.
Villette's ship Le Fier caught fire, and had 100 killed and wounded, but was finally saved.