Louis XIV is quite the opposite of his father; much like his grandfather, he has a fondness for women. His brother Gaston, on the other hand, prefers boys.
The stage is set as Michel de Decker leads us into the king’s private chambers, through his adventures, and the illegitimate children, some of whom were legitimized.
His marriage to Marie Thérèse of Austria, a political union requiring a dispensation from the Pope as both young people were double cousins, was rather a constraint for him. What if his wife had been Marie Mancini? But history is not rewritten with “if.”
Even at war, where he excels, Louis brought along his mistresses, his favorites, leaving the queen to languish. This adulterous king would only reform at the end of his life with his second marriage to Madame de Maintenon, less known by her birth name Françoise d’Aubigné. Between these two marriages, how many flings and affairs left their mark on history?
Michel de Decker narrates the reign of this king through his loves. A saucy chronicle from the youth awakened to love by a one-eyed woman to the man who became the greatest monarch of his time, facing the Habsburgs and England, the two hereditary enemies of France.
A valuable book for better understanding the grand history, in which women were often at the origin of some of the most important chapters.
Thierry Jan
