King Louis XIII ordered the construction of a hunting lodge in 1624. Several years later, he acquired the surrounding land and began to enlarge the building. Under his son’s reign, the small hunting lodge
Today the Palace contains 2,300 rooms spread over 63,154 square meters (679,784 square feet). The gallery of history also provides an occasion to discover anecdotes about the Palace’s life — like some panels of the “Chinese chamber” of Queen Marie Le...
In 1667 Louis XIV launched theWar of Devolution—the first in a series of military conflicts that characterized his aggressive approach to foreign policy—by invading the Spanish Netherlands, which he claimed as his wife’s inheritance. Under pressure from the English, the Swedes and especially the...
Sensing imminent death in the spring of 1643, King Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order for his four-year-old son Louis XIV. Not trusting the judgement of his Spanish wife Queen Anne, who would normally have become the sole regent of France, the king decreed that a regency cou...
Madame Montespan in the King’s affection. After the death of Queen Marie-Thérèse in 1683, King Louis XIV married Madame de Maintenon in a private ceremony conducted by the Archbishop of Paris. Because the marriage was morganatic, she was never publicly acknowledged as his wife or as Queen....
Charles’ mother, Henrietta, was the sister of King Louis XIII of France. Charles II’s father was beheaded in 1649. Charles I was the only English monarch to be executed by his own people. Charles II was the thirdStuartKing of England. ...
Louis XIII was king of France from 1610 to 1643. Under his reign, France became a leading European power.
of france and his taste-making florentine wife marie de’ medici (and sister to louis xiii), as his queen. henrietta maria promised her godfather, pope urban viii, that she would bring up her children as catholics, unwittingly sowing the seeds for the rise of oliver cromwell, the fall of...
The children were raised byMadame Scarron, the Marquise de Maintenon, who would later become King Louis XIV’s second wife. In 1673, Françoise-Athénaïs’ children were legitimized by the King, although Françoise-Athénaïs’s name was not listed, as sh...
Louis XIII, King of France (see below) Elisabeth, Queen of Spain(wife of King Felipe IV of Spain, had issue) Christine, Duchess of Savoy(wife of Vittorio Amedeo I, Duke of Savoy, had issue) Gaston, Duke of Orléans Henrietta Maria, Queen of England(wife of King Charles I of England,...