Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle, duchesse de Châteauroux (; 5 October 1717 – 8 December 1744) was the youngest of five famous de Nesle sisters, four of whom would become mistress<nowiki/>es of King Louis XV of France. Marie Anne was the King's mistress from 1742 until 1744.

Marie Anne had four older full sisters:

  • Louise Julie de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Mailly, comtesse de Mailly (1710 - 1751),
  • Pauline Félicité de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Nesle, marquise de Vintimille (1712 - 1741),
  • Diane Adélaïde de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Montcavrel, duchesse de Lauraguais (1714 - 1769),
  • Hortense Félicité de Mailly, Mademoiselle de Chalon, marquise de Flavacourt (1715 - 1799).

The only one of the de Nesle sisters not to become a mistress of Louis XV's was the Marquise de Flavacourt. 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.

Marie Anne also had a younger half-sister, Henriette de Bourbon (1725 - 1780), Mademoiselle de Verneuil, from her mother's relationship with the duc de Bourbon, the chief minister of Louis XV from 1723 to 1726.

In her youth, Marie Anne was known as Mademoiselle de Monchy. On 19 June 1734, she married Jean Baptiste Louis, marquis de La Tournelle (1708-1740).

She was a friend of Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans, granddaughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan.

Royal Mistress

Introduction

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, with her husband's consent, become a royal mistress. Although she became the king's mistress in 1732, Louise Julie was not officially recognized as his maîtresse en titre until 1738, and did not use her new position at court to enrich herself or to interfere in politics.

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". and by the mediation of d'Argenson, Marie Anne secured the king's approval for her candidacy to this office as dame du palais. 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. That Lauraguais actually began sleeping with the king at this point is debatable.