Altogether at ease with the mores of the ancien regime, Fraser
(Marie Antoinette, 2001, etc.) eschews a detailed biography of
Louis XIV to focus instead on the women who shaped and were shaped
by France's most glorious ruler.He was king for 72 years, time
enough to build Versailles, wage numerous, mostly unsuccessful,
wars and accumulate a rich history with the opposite sex. Louis's
mother, Queen Anne, gave birth at 36-a then-astoundingly late stage
in life for pregnancy-lending an immediate air of the miraculous to
the future monarch. Anne established an unusually close
relationship with her son, who never entirely erased from his mind
her mixture of beauty and piety as a template of female perfection.
Louis abandoned his teenage liaison with the unsuitable Marie
Mancini to marry Spanish Infanta Maria Teresa. As Queen
Marie-Therese, she accommodated two important mistresses, Louise de
La Valliere and the Marquise de Montespan, and drew from Louis the
final tribute that she gave him no trouble except by dying. After
Marie-Therese, he secretly married Madame de Maintenon, whose
demeanor was remarkably like that of his mother. Fraser paints each
of these women in full and offers sketches of a succession of minor
mistresses, one night stands, sisters-in-law (including the
hilariously vulgar and bitchy wife of Louis's homosexual brother),
princesses and even an exiled foreign queen, all of whom engaged
the king's genuine interest. To help keep track of this large cast,
the profusion of changing titles and the dizzying succession of
bastards, the author provides a useful guide to the principal
characters. Courtiers meticulously charted the king's amorous
adventures, and Fraser excels at reproducing the hothouse
atmosphere in which the monarch's raised eyebrow might portend a
serious change in someone's fortune. Uncomfortably aware of the
Church's opposition to his notorious love life, Louis fully
indulged himself during his heyday before turning in old age to a
greater concern for his salvation.An acutely sensitive group
portrait of the women who basked in the Sun King's reflected glory.
(Kirkus Reviews)
The book centres around the Sun King and his relationship with
numerous and fascinating women. Naturally dividing into five parts
it will concentrate on the King's mother, Anne of Austria to whom
he was devoted; his first important mistress, Louise de la Valliere
who bore him several illegitimate children; Athenais Marquise de
Montespan who acted as unofficial Queen of Versailles until her
involvement in the affair of poisons and of course Marie Therese,
his wife; and Madame de Maintenon, governess to the illegitimate
royal children. The fifth part concentrates on his relations in old
age with his daughters, granddaughters and the wife of his
grandson. It will vividly bring to life the vast edifice of Louis
XIV's court - the magnificence, artistic splendour, elaborate
ritual and in some cases, absurdity and misery.
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