I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 268 Portrait of Carlos II

People who are not from this era are bound to be confused by the marriage between the king, the prince and the princess at this time. The king or the wife of the prince will choose between the princess and the county master. People can understand, but the ministers and nobles will be quite consistent. think their king or his heirs can't get too close to their wives, the problem is, at the same time they want the resentful couple to have enough children - especially boys, even though the country doesn't have Salik law .

But if you can read the documents of the time carefully, you can know that the ministers, nobles and kings of the time did this not only because of the various benefits that the queen or the crown princess must bring - a dowry, a territory or a covenant , and there is also the right of inheritance that they must exist because of their blood, even in a country that recognizes Salik law, or when the princess and the princess are married, they have already stated that they have given up the right to inherit the throne. As long as the timing is right and the strength is sufficient, for the crown, The vast territory represented by the scepter and the orb of the cross and the population and assets that come with it, even a king can lie, pester, or be a rogue without changing his face - and a marquis or earl's daughter doesn't have that. attractive.

But on the contrary, there is never an eternal relationship between countries and countries. Maybe they are allies today and enemies tomorrow. Therefore, a queen is always a foreigner who needs to be alert and guarded in the court. People look forward to her The heir of the kingdom is conceived in the stomach as soon as possible, but if the king shows his love and closeness to her, then the queen dowager and the officials will be disturbed, because they are worried that the queen will interfere in the state affairs by virtue of her influence on the king. , making the king consider the interests of her home country more than the interests of her own.

So, at this point, you should probably understand why I say that for Louis XIV, the best choice was to marry Marie Orleans, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Orleans, to Carlos II of Spain - In fact, if the eldest princess Elizabeth had not been promised to the Swedish king Karl XI, the Spanish should be asking for the eldest princess - although Spain has inevitably fallen into weakness, it is still the most powerful Habsburg after all of an arm.

Due to Louis XIV's insistence, the princess, the princess, and the crown prince were all educated together. No, it should be said that the education of the two girls was even earlier than that of the crown prince, because before the attack on the Netherlands, the princess's education The marriage was set, and education was also put on the agenda. As her closest partner, the Grand Princess is also fortunate to have teachers and courses that ordinary noble girls can’t reach—who are their teachers? It's Colbert, it's the Prince of Conti, it's Michel (father of the Marquis of Lois, Minister of War)... wait, they're not learning, they're learning as much as they can from their previous experience - according to the king's It is required that they must let the princess and the princess understand their identities, what they must do, and what they will do in the future, and even tell them how to treat their husbands from the standpoint of a man.

These courses are conducted in secret, no one knows except the queen mother, the queen and the Duchess of Orleans, and the parties involved - for this, the king used Elarius, which is the king's kindness to the girls, but also cruelty , because they didn't even have a carefree childhood.

Therefore, the Grand County Master knows very well that if her uncle finally agrees to the proposal of the Spanish envoy, it is understandable. Once she becomes the wife of Carlos II (she can't help shaking when she thinks of this), if she just An ordinary daughter of a duke would probably happily look forward to becoming the queen of Spain, but she knew that, just like a prince, the ministers explained and analyzed the situation of the monarchs in detail to them, Carlos II. As a branch of the Habsburgs, the King of Spain, of course, was highlighted, and she knew that Carlos II was a deformed fool.

But it is such a deformed fool that the marriage contract between them will be beneficial to France - I said before that the Spanish envoys should have mentioned the marriage earlier, they did not do so, on the one hand, because Flanders had already On the one hand, the war was also due to the obstruction of the regent Don Juan - because the queen has the right to assist the king in handling state affairs, and even once she becomes the queen mother, she can be listed as the regent, just like Louis XIV's Queen Anne, Queen Hedwig of Karl XI and Queen Maria of Carlos II.

However, although Don Juan's obstruction was successful once, after such a glorious victory in France, the voice of choosing a French queen for Carlos II became stronger and stronger, and Patinho's departure and return reflected the The tug-of-war between the two was finally won by the ministers.

  The grand princess trembled in his father's arms, while trying to say to himself, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, just marry a fool, even if he... he's not that good-looking, how can there be anything in the world? She received the support of the people, and should make sacrifices for France, and, because Carlos II was a fool, as long as she married, she could manage to get a part of the king's rights... If she bears an heir, then the Spanish The king has the blood of Bourbon.

"Father, father..." She hugged the Duke of Orleans's arm tightly and called softly: "How much I love you, father, I don't want to leave you... Please don't leave me... Father, I love you... don't go, don't leave..."

The Duke of Orleans laughed when he heard his daughter's babbling words. He let his daughter hug him and sat on the edge of the bed in an awkward position: "I won't leave you, ma'am," he looked at the meeting in a certain way. Frightened, he thought that the Duke of Orleans had been replaced by the devil and said in a gentle tone: "I won't leave, and I won't leave if someone beats me. I'll stay with you tonight until you don't need me anymore."

   "How come I don't need you?"

"Because only flowers leave the branches," said the Duke of Orleans, who could not help remembering the joking mention of the Queen Mother, Louis declaring that he would keep the eldest Elizabeth until she was twenty before marrying her to Sweden. , Everyone present laughed, only the Duke of Orleans did not, because he remembered his great county lord, the great county lord would not stay with him for a long time, and how could he be willing to take his own What about the daughter? His first impression of the Grand Princess was a swaddling baby in the cradle, which was a baby that reminded him of milk pudding, white, soft and sweet: "You are my rose, you are my lily Flower," said the Duke, "I will never leave you unless you want to leave me."

The princess didn't say a word, but buried her face in her father's arm. Her father's words were so soft, but her heart became firmer. Although she was still a little jealous of the princess, Elizabeth, she also had a problem. The best father in the world is better than she imagined. If the king wants her to marry to Spain, she will immediately agree to it. She will never embarrass her father, or even oppose the king's decision and make the king angry with him. .

  ———

The portrait was finally presented at the banquet a week later. Although Juan Patinho worked for the Duke of Don Juan, he was also loyal to the king. He was also worried because the situation of Carlos II was already known. The king of France may not agree to the marriage, or ask for a high return - so instead of rashly going straight to the king and handing over the marriage proposal, he managed to spread the word in Versailles and Paris, Louis Fourteen may also have Louis XIV's considerations, but Spain is indeed the best marriage partner for ministers, otherwise Louis XIV would not have a Spanish mother and wife.

Moreover, according to tradition, the wife of Carlos II should be the eldest princess of Louis XIV. When they could not ask for it, they took a step back and asked for the grand princess of the Duke of Orleans, which also made many French people proud, as if again A victory over Spain. In this way, even if Louis XIV had other ideas, his ministers and nobles would work hard to facilitate the marriage.

Patinho's plan was half-successful, there were rumors in the court, and some people even thought that they should find a Spanish teacher for the grand princess. Although the grand princess and the princess had learned Spanish before, but as a queen , you must be proficient in the Spanish language, and there are various etiquettes in the Spanish court - the French court was very unruly when Louis XIII, until the Spanish Princess Anne, the current Queen Mother, brought the Spanish court etiquette. Entering here, we have all the rules and requirements we see now. It is conceivable that the requirements of etiquette and demeanor in the Spanish court will only be stricter.

Louis XIV held a golden-red nectarine and lowered his eyes. He saw his younger brother, the Duke of Orleans, clenching his fists tightly. Came to her side and took her arm, Charles XI looked at the eldest princess worriedly, the Queen Mother looked unpredictable, and the Queen hugged the Duchess of Orleans by the shoulders - in fact, Louis XIV's treatment of the court. They already knew of Patinho's plans, but Patinho's behavior was something they couldn't stop or hinder. To put it simply, as long as the Spaniards are willing to propose, if the princess Elizabeth has not been engaged, then The king may not be able to convince his subjects either.

Patinho's eyes swept across the crowd and stopped for a while on Mary, the grand princess. Compared with Carlos II, even if the latter was his king, he had to say that the two stood together, like It is the ratio of angels to demons. The king and brother of France are both handsome and godlike figures, and their children also inherit their beauty. The eldest princess is not to mention, although the lord of the county is still a ten-year-old child, But I can see how moving it will be in the future - her eyes and hair are dark, and her skin is white and almost transparent, maybe because she was still sick a while ago, she looked like that. She was so thin that people who saw her could not help but cross their chests, asking God to bless her.

   But as an envoy, the most important thing is to complete your mission. As for personal morality and empathy, how can you defeat your loyalty to the country and the king? Patinho could only promise in his heart that if the grand county master became the queen of Spain, he would also devote his loyalty to her before she did harm to Spain for France.

Louis XIV walked down slowly, still holding the peach, but his eyes never took his eyes off the portrait—the portrait that shook the French court, even if it was said to have shaken the French court, was of the ten-year-old Card. Carlos II, it can be seen that the artist who painted this portrait is not only skilled, delicate, but also extremely intelligent. In this portrait, Carlos II seems to have no problem - although the characters in the portrait are not the same. It's not pretty, and it's even more dwarfed in front of Louis, but it looks like a little unhappy king - Carlos II in the portrait is wearing a black velvet coat, white leggings, black Shoes, a necklace hanging from his chest, a long sword on his waist, one hand pressing on the small table beside him, and the other holding silk or a letter, the reason why he looks a little unhappy, we all know that when people are angry, The corners of the mouth will droop and the chin will be retracted unconsciously. This is the case with Carlos II in the picture. The artist makes the person in the painting freeze on this expression, and can logically draw his terrifying big chin just slightly bulging. a little.

Carlos II's bulging eyes due to frequent epileptic seizures were also covered up because of drooping eyelashes. The painter deliberately depicted his fluffy and lush hair, high nose, and handsome eyebrows - saying If it's too much, some people may think that Carlos II is a good man with the majesty of a king.

Louis XIV knew that portraits, especially those of nobles and kings, would be glorified in this age, but like this one, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was deliberately deceitful—if his spies hadn't sent the real Carlos II In the portrait of the world, Louis XIV probably could not have imagined that the Spaniards were so shameless - on the portrait of the spy, Carlos II did not have a face that could be called a human!

But the king only took a few steps and passed those who surrounded him, even the Prince of Condé, or Colbert, or other important officials and nobles, all showing approval and joy, of course, to them In general, this marriage was quite worthwhile, not because they could be so indifferent to it, but because a girl's weight was too light for a country.

Some readers have asked if Jiuyu has a book group. Well, when I was a saint, some readers spontaneously formed a few groups for me, and I would occasionally go up to chat with them, which was very pleasant, but the problem is... Because I was very busy in 2019, I didn't go up for a while, so... I couldn't go up. Now I'm trying to get it back, and I don't know if I can get it back...

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   (end of this chapter)