Philippe II, Duc d'Orléans (1674-1723), was regent of France during the minority of Louis XV. He failed in his efforts to reverse the tendency toward absolutism by restoring the power of the nobles.

Philippe II d'Orléans was the son of Philippe I d'Orléans, the second son of Louis XIII. Philippe began a successful military career at the age of 18 during the War of the League of Augsburg. In 1692 he married Mademoiselle de Blois, an illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV. In 1708, after a brilliant campaign in Spain, he was recalled because of suspicions that he was conspiring to replace Philip V, Louis XIV's grandson, on the Spanish throne. Such suspicions, as well as his dissolute life, caused Louis XIV to bar Philippe from the position of regent, one that according to tradition he should have held. However, after the death of Louis XIV...