Louis XV had been betrothed in 1721 to his first cousin, Marianne Victoria of Bourbon, daughter of Philip V of Spain and his second wife Elizabeth Farnese.

The eleven-year-old king had found no interest in the arrival in Paris of his future wife, the three-year-old Spanish infanta, who only bored him.

The young king and the court had in June 1722 returned to Versailles, where they will stay until the end of the reign.

Louis XV had in October of the same year been officially crowned in Reims Cathedral.

The king, as he turns thirteen on February 15, 1723, is declared of majority by the Parlement of Paris, thus ending the Régence.

The king leaves the Duke of Orléans in charge of state affairs.

Cardinal Dubois, close confident of the regent, had made prime minister in 1722, but on the the death of Dubois in August 1723, Orléans becomes first minister; however, he himself dies in December of the same year.

Following the advice of his aged tutor, André-Hercule de Fleury, Louis appoints his cousin Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, Prince of Condé, to replace the late Orléans.

Louis grants fresh privileges to the Mississippi Company, which had reorganized and opened for business in 1722.

Among these are the monopoly of sale of tobacco and coffee, and the right to organize national lotteries.

It can again tap the capital markets and raise capital by issue of shares and bonds.

The ministry of the Duke of Bourbon has been marked by several monetary manipulations, the creation of new taxes such as the fiftieth (cinquantième) in 1725, the persecution of Protestants in 1726, and the high price of grain, all of which have created troubles and economic depression.

The king, who is now sixteen, has since his marriage shown a new health and authority noticed by everyone at court.

The extremely unpopular Duke is preparing a war against Spain and Austria, but Louis makes him recall Fleury, who on July 11, 1726, takes affairs into his own hands and secures the exile from court of Bourbon and of his mistress Madame de Prie, who had earlier sought the exile of Fleury.

He continues to refuse the formal title of first minister, but his elevation to cardinal, in 1726, confirms his precedence over any others.

Fleury is the right man for the moment; naturally cool and imperturbable in his demeanor, frugal and prudent, he carries these qualities into the administration.

With the help of the controller-general of finances Michel Robert Le Peletier des Forte, Fleury almost immediately stabilizes the currency and secures French credit by initiating regular payment of interest on the national debt.