Members of the Court | Saint-Cyr staff | Louise and her entourage | Charlotte and her entourage | Hortense and her entourage | Isabeau and her entourage | Éléonore and her entourage | Henriette and her entourage | Olympe and her entourage | Gertrude and her entourage | Adélaïde and her entourage | Jeanne and her entourage | Victoire and her entourage | Gabrielle and her entourage | Diane and her entourage
The characters who appear in Book 2, Le Secret de Louisenote
Louise de Maisonblanche
The main character of Le Secret de Louise, a talented singer and musician looking for her birth parents.
- Bastard Angst: The motivator of her story.
- Childhood Home Rediscovery: In Book 14 she returns to her wetnurse's house, where she was fostered from birth to age 7.
- Compelling Voice: Louise is a wonderful singer, which gets her noticed by Madame de Maintenon, Monsieur Nivers, King Louis, and Queen Mary of Modena. In the end, she uses it as a Chekhov's Gun to persuade the King to release her mother from prison.
- Composite Character: Between her historical self (daughter of King Louis and Claude des Œillets, married Bertrand de Prez) and her daughters Charlotte-Angélique and Louise-Catherine (who were educated at Saint-Cyr).
- Daddy's Girl: Her greatest wish in life is to please her father with her singing. She is ecstatic on the few instances when he gets personal with her.
- Disappeared Dad: Downplayed. He was always looking after her from afar, making sure she needed nothing and even giving her small attentions every once in a while, but she never knew it was him. After The Reveal, they have a friendly, if distant, relationship.
- Elegant Classical Musician: She sings and plays the violin.
- English Rose: French Lily, in this case. She is sweet, delicate, soft-spoken, talented, with light blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin.
- Gene Hunting: She is inquiring to find her birth mother.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She is a sweet, kind, caring girl, with luminous blond hair.
- Heroic Bastard: She's an illegitimate child, but a sweet and determined girl.
- Heroic BSoD: She does not take well to learning that her mother is a convicted criminal.
- Historical Domain Character: Downplayed. There indeed existed a Louise de Maisonblanche, illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV and Claude des Œillets, who married a knight by the name of Bertrand de Prez. That is as much as they share; the real girl never even stepped foot in Saint-Cyr.
- Humble Hero: The narrators usually use the first couple of pages of their own books to talk about themselves, but she instead talks about Jeanne, Hortense, Isabeau and Charlotte.
- I Have Brothers: Subverted. It was her foster brother who taught her not to fight or chop woodfire, but to sing.
- Lady-In-Waiting: To the exiled queen of England, Mary of Modena.
- Missing Mom: She has memories of her mother as a young child, visiting her at her wetnurse's, but one day the woman stopped coming altogether. Louise's main quest in Book 2 is to find her.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: She is the one who steps in for Hortense to persuade the King to release Simon.
- Parental Substitute: Madame de Maintenon.
- Prone to Tears: She cries in at least half her scenes.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She very clearly has her father's eyes. Truth in Television, as historically, she was said to look so much like him that she could barely show herself at court.
- Walking Spoiler: It is difficult to say anything about her without spoiling the reveal at the end of Book 1: she is the King's daughter.
- Wedding Episode: Her wedding is the central event of Book 14.
- Willfully Weak: Subverted. At Saint-Cyr, Louise was always told to bring her voice down a few notches, as she was simply too good a singer compared to the others, which made her stand out. All she wanted was to sing her heart out and improve, which she finally gets to do at the English court.
Bertrand de Prez
A young knight in the service of the Duke of Maine.
- Age Lift: The real Bertrand de Prez was four years younger than Louise, which would make him twelve in Book 2. Here, he is of an age with her, if not slightly older.
- Lovable Coward: Downplayed. When he and Louise are caught by the guards of Saint-Germain, he runs away, leaving her in an awkward posture. Due to his family committing treason during the Fronde, his position, freedom and very life depend on him keeping an impeccable behavior. He does put himself in harm's way to get intel on Louise's mother at several points.
- Historical Domain Character
- Lady and Knight: He invokes this with Louise, and is an actual knight to boot.
- Wedding Episode: His wedding to Louise is the central event of Book 14.
Elise de Langeron
Louise's friend within the Queen's household.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Louise describes her as fleshy and buxom.
- Lady-In-Waiting: To the Queen of England.
- Likes Older Men: While King James's bastard sons are of an age with her, she notably fawns over John Abell.
- Only Friend: She and Louise bond quickly over being the only two Frenchwomen in the Queen's household.
Claude des Œillets
A former member of the court and Louise's birth mother.
- Broken Bird: She used to be a naive young girl who loved the King and worshipped Madame de Montespan. After both let her take the fall for her employer, however, she has spent a decade in prison, not knowing whether her daughter was even alive.
- Mommy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning You: For the first few years of Louise's life, she needed to keep her hidden from Madame de Montespan and the court. After that, she was sent to prison.
- Fall Guy: She took the fall for Madame de Montespan when the latter became involved in the Affair of the Poisons scandal.
- Historical Domain Character
- Rags to Riches: She was born to a couple of comedians, but thanks to Madame de Montespan hiring her when no one else would, Louise remembers her as a beautiful, elegant and perfumed woman.
- Riches to Rags: Since her imprisonment, she barely has the means to dress herself of eat properly.
- Younger Than They Look: Due to her years of wrongful imprisonment, she has a full head of grey hair in her forties.
Louis-Auguste du Maine
Joseph
Louise's milk brother
- The Ghost: He only appears in mentions in Book 2, and finally in person in Book 14.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: He is one of seven children, plus his foster sister Louise.
John Abell
Louise's singing teacher
- Historical Domain Character
- Stern Teacher: He is mostly benevolent to his student Louise, but does hit on her fingers when she messes up during a recital.
François Couperin
A young composer at the courts of Versailles and Saint-Germain
- Elegant Classical Musician: He's a singer and a composer at the French and English courts.
- Did Not Get the Girl: His feelings for Louise are unrequited.
- Historical Domain Character
- Nice Guy: Despite Louise rejecting his feelings, he does not hold it against her and helps her free her mother.
- Young Future Famous People: While already an established composer, he still has to become the master of the late baroque that he grew to be.
Signora Monicelli
The head of Queen Mary's household.
- Grumpy Old Woman: She is very protective of Queen Mary and while she begrudgingly accept the presence of Englishwomen in the queen's household, she makes it clear she hates the French girls.
- Frame-Up: While she doesn't frame Louise for treason herself, she definitely takes advantage of the misunderstanding to paint a terrible portrait of her to Queen Mary.
- Lady-In-Waiting: The head of Queen Mary's household since she left Italy.
Mary of Modena
The exiled queen of England, who now resides at Saint-Germain.
- The Good Queen: A Reasonable Authority Figure who immediately makes Louise comfortable in her household.
- Historical Domain Character
- Noble Fugitive: Had to flee England with her court because of the Glorious Revolution.
- Outliving One's Offspring: She has lost several children, notably her daughter Isabel. This is why she becomes so fond of Louise, as they would be the same age if the princess was still alive.
- Parental Substitute: She takes Louise under her wing and protects her and her reputation in several instances.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: According to Louise, King James is not in the least as majestic as Louis XIV, while she describes Queen Mary as an "Italian madona".
James II
The exiled king of England, who now resides at Saint-Germain.
- Historical Domain Character: See his page.
- Noble Fugitive: Had to flee England with his court because of the Glorious Revolution.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: According to Louise, King James is not in the least as majestic as Louis XIV, while she describes Queen Mary as an "Italian madona".
