The extravagant 18th-century king of Poland and patron of the arts brought to life in a vivacious new biography

History has been unkind to Augustus the Strong. Not exactly a household name even in historically minded households, the 18th-century elector of Saxony and sovereign of Poland is remembered, if at all, as a minor king of bling.

And it’s true, he was known for living it up. As an impressionable teenager on the Grand Tour, he divided his time between balls, banquets and brothels. Versailles so impressed him that he made it his life’s mission to cosplay as Louis XIV. Accordingly, a cut-price version of the French palace was hastily assembled outside Dresden; these days, Moritzburg Castle is regarded, depending on taste, either as an exemplar of high baroque or a kitschy McMansion. Then there’s the trysting palace of Pillnitz, erected to facilitate his assignations with the countess of Cosel. He once spent a quarter of Saxony’s annual budget on the bejewelled outfit he wore to his son’s wedding bash. Clothes and buildings were one thing, women another. There, he had a less discriminating eye: he was rumoured to have fathered 354 illegitimate children, though his no-nonsense biographer Tim Blanning will allow only eight.