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 (Secret du Roi in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

), established in 1745. It actually outlived its creator and some of its agents were involved in bringing France (and its allies) 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

Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti

Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was a French nobleman, who was the Prince of Conti from 1727 to his death, following his father Louis Armand II. His mother was Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, a natural granddaughter of Louis XIV...

 to the Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 Throne, as he could not involve France in this while in the middle of the War of Austrian Succession. The secret network originally employed 32 people, led by Charles-Francois de Broglie

Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec

Charles François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec , second son of François-Marie de Broglie, 1st duc de Broglie, was a French soldier and diplomat from a distinguished French military family....

 and then by Jean-Pierre Tercier. Famous agents included Chevalier d'Eon

Chevalier d'Eon

Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont , usually known as the Chevalier d'Éon, was a French diplomat, spy, soldier and Freemason whose first 49 years were spent as a man, and whose last 33 years were spent as a woman...

, Pierre de Beaumarchais, Charles Théveneau de Morande

Charles Theveneau de Morande

Charles Théveneau de Morande was a gutter journalist, blackmailer and French spy who lived in London in the 18th century.-Links and references:* Simon Burrows, from Johns Hopkins University Press....

, and Louis de Noailles

Louis, 4th duc de Noailles

Louis de Noailles, 4th Duke of Noailles was a French peer and Marshal of France. He married Catherine de Cossé-Brissac, on 25 February 1737...

.

A precursor to the Secret du Roi was in charge of the 1741 palace revolution in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 that brought to the throne Empress Elizabeth. It included courtier Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie

Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie

Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie was a French diplomat who engineered the coup d'etat that brought Elizaveta Petrovna to the Russian throne in 1741...

 and Elizabeth's personal physician Jean Armand de Lestocq

Jean Armand de Lestocq

Count Jean Armand de L'Estocq was a French adventurer who wielded immense influence on the foreign policy of Russia during the early reign of Empress Elizabeth.Coming from a noble family of Champagne, as a youth he was committed to prison for a petty offense...

.