in her room, curtailed his councils so that he could be with her, attending her baths and sitting at her bedside while she was recovering from them, and could be observed writing letters to the duc de Richelieu under her direction. As royal mistress, Marie Anne was the hostess in the King's private apartments where she was known to provide amusement and gaiety and introduced the custom of using nicknames. She herself was known as "the princess", her sister Flavacourt as "the hen", and her sister Lauraguais as the "Street of Evil Words". Her sister Lauraguais was said to be entertaining and once amused the king by producing nicknames for his guests, calling d’Argenson ”the sucking calf", Monsieur de Florentin ”the sucking pig ”, Monsieur de Maurepas ”the spinning-cat", and Cardinal de Tencin ”the ostrich". Cardinal Fleury's death on 29 January 1743 signified the beginning of her own political career as the successor of Fleury, the political adviser of Louis XV, and the de facto ruler of France. Marie Anne made the king comfortable confiding in her about political issues by giving the impression that she was indifferent to it and made him ask her advice by supporting his own ideas. "She had the supreme cleverness never to question Louis on affairs of State, and so the infatuated King was convinced that his pretty mistress took no interest in politics. The voluptuous nonchalance of her intimacy with him confirmed this opinion. The consequence was that he spoke with her of State affairs without apprehension, and even went so far as to consult her, nay, beg her, to be so kind as to give him advice. In this way she slipped into the government at the King’s request without him being aware of it." She only spoke in favor of people she knew he already liked and would be favorable to such as d'Argensson and Noailles, thereby giving him the impression that she only voiced his own views whenever she spoke of politics, and the king thereby felt comfortable saying that his mistress' opinions was his own. However, her influence was opposed by Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas and his circle whose satirical rhymes started the development which resulted in the loss of respect for the king and his court among the people. When Richelieu was appointed first gentleman of the Bed Chamber the Parisians nicknamed him "the President of La