Mistresses and wives, mothers and daughters – Antonia Fraser brilliantly explores the relationships which existed between The Sun King and the women in his life. This includes not only Louis XIV’s mistresses, principally Louise de La Vallière, Athénaïs de Montespan, and the puritanical Madame de Maintenon, but also the wider story of his relationships with women in general, including his mother Anne of Austria, his two sisters-in-law who were Duchesses d’Orléans in succession, Henriette-Anne and Liselotte, his wayward illegitimate daughters, and lastly Adelaide, the beloved child-wife of his grandson.
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Reviews
A sparkling history which captures the giddy quality of the times
Fraser brilliantly dissects the intense rivalry of the ladies who indulged in 'commerce' with the king
Antonia Fraser's colourful history emphasises the conflict between private pleasure and religious dut in the life of Europe's grandest Catholic ruler
Vividly capturing 17th-century Europe's most extravagant court
Enjoyable ... Fraser brings to life the female stars circling the Sun King in an account that successfully combines erudition with gossipy stories of the kind the Versailles courtiers loved so much
Louis springs to life as fresh and as fascinating as ever