Secret du Roi
For a period of over twenty years, King Louis XV split his diplomacy into official and secret channels. The secret channels became collectively known as the King's Secret, established in 1722. It actually outlived its creator and some of its agents were involved in bringing France into the American War of Independence although it was technically dissolved upon Louis's death in 1774.
Louis XV's secret diplomacy was born from the secret candidacy of the Prince de Conti to the Polish throne, as he could not involve France in that while he was in the middle of the War of Austrian Succession. The secret network originally employed 32 people, led initially by Cardinal Fleury and then by Charles-François de Broglie and Jean-Pierre Tercier. Famous agents included the Chevalier d'Éon, Pierre de Beaumarchais, Charles Théveneau de Morande and Louis de Noailles.
A precursor to the Secret du Roi was in charge of the 1741 palace revolution in Russia that brought to the throne Empress Elizabeth. It included courtier Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie and Elizabeth's personal physician Jean Armand de Lestocq.
