I Am Louis XIV

As soon as they ran across the square courtyard and rushed into the corridor, the maids screamed and giggled, and the queen mother's maid came leading a group of people, "Oh, it seems that we can't go to the assembly hall. It's time to go to the market." The king said that they had agreed to go to the market after a simple lunch, "My mother must have something to do with me." Generally speaking, the queen mother seldom goes back to disturb the king's games and entertainment, but if Yes, then it must be for very important things - in the early days of the regency, the king still needed to sit on a chair as a decoration and a symbol, and now officials can even directly report government affairs to the queen mother and wait for the decision of the queen mother and the regent minister, The king can do what he likes.

Before the king left, he caught a glimpse of one of his friends showing displeasure. He walked over and patted him on the shoulder: "I promise you I will give you the chessboard. Don't worry, wait until I come back."

The young man opened his mouth to say something, because he didn't want any chessboard at all, and the king didn't have such an agreement with him. He was annoyed that the queen mother and the regents always intentionally or unintentionally separated the king from political affairs. Besides, the king is only allowed to appear when foreign ministers or envoys come, and even then, the king is not "advised" to say anything-nor can he, because the king's words to other countries except German Can't understand and can't speak.

But the king stopped him with gentle eyes. The king is already twelve years old this year. In the court, children always grow up very fast. He knows that among his little friends, there may only be two or three who are loyal enough to him. The others are either grassroots, or monitoring his eyes and ears - of course, there are better sayings for the queen mother and the regent.

The king turned and left, and the young man dismissed the invitations of the others in disgust, and left the Three Crowns Palace alone.

—————

When the king entered the queen mother's reception room, he was not surprised to find that there was a group of envoys waiting for his arrival. The head of the envoys was dressed in a sapphire blue silk satin coat and a gorgeous sable fur cloak. It was studded with precious stones, the pin of the cloak was a delicate golden lily, and the huge hat was held in his hand, and he waved it in a complicated and elegant bow when he saw him, and the people behind him The same is true, compared with the more Spanish style of dress in the Swedish court-mainly black and brown-they are like a flock of tropical birds (the king has seen it in the picture book) and landed on it. In a flock of crows, the splendor is hard to look at.

Prince Conti raised himself up after getting permission with a smile. When he saw Karl XI, his first reaction was to make a comparison with their king, Louis XIV's boyhood. They... were equally angry Vigorous and clear-eyed, if anything, the king of France at that time was more like a wise scholar, while the king of Sweden was like a young warrior. Also, at the age of twelve, their king had already He has read every book in the study, even those sacred books written in Latin, and the king, it is said, is not good at reading and writing.

Karl XI swept across the group of French people, stepped forward to kiss the Queen Mother's hand, and saluted the regent ministers: "Oh, my child," the Queen Mother said, "please pay respects to these people too." Gentlemen, who have brought us great news on behalf of God and the King of France."

Karl XI had some vague guesses, but he couldn't be sure until his attendants moved a huge picture frame covered with an indescribable blue velvet like the deep sea or the night sky.

The royal blue velvet was slowly opened, just like the former Duke of Orleans. This is also the work of Louis' royal painter Charles LeBlanc. , he just doesn’t want to be too out of line—beyond the aesthetics of ordinary people will at most attract the anger and blame of his employer like Rembrandt, and if he surpasses the aesthetics of a king, then he is likely to completely lose his honor, credibility, and plummet— ——Especially now, the king's prestige is like the sun, radiating from Paris to every corner of France. He is regarded as a deviant person by the king, and it is difficult to win the appreciation of other nobles.

Knowing that the painter had such concerns, Louis naturally tried to comfort him, and he never thought that concealing things and being moody would be the proper demeanor of a king—he frankly made his likes and preferences public, of course, This will attract a whole host of sycophants, but some, some naysayers, will have to expose themselves unless they are willing to rebel against their own faith and soul - and if so, they cannot claim to be a The upright, for they have been the first to tell the lie.

With the king's clear instructions, LeBron's talent can be fully displayed. He is not the kind of person who likes to use KitKat to gain the attention of others. This is exactly what the king wants. It can be said that it is rigid) slowly transforming into gentleness and lightness. In his paintings, the colors are softer, and the postures and expressions of the characters are no longer so rigid.

It stands to reason that in portraits like this, the protagonist will always only take a slightly sideways posture, but facing the audience, and the princess may be allowed to lead a toy bed—sometimes there are dolls in it, It means that she can become a good mother in the future, but compared with the face and arms, people's eyes will inevitably fall on her skirt first, because this seems to be the main body of the princess, and those almost occupy three points of the picture One of the silks, ribbons and gems... the others are less of a concern.

But Louis—Although Louis succumbed to his ambition, he also wanted his daughter to be happy. He meant, not as a queen, but as a loved one. From the very beginning, he wrote in the letter Rejected LeBlanc's sketch, so Karl XI and the Queen Mother saw a happy and innocent little girl bathed in the sun - the background is not a certain room or a colonnade, but a fragrant Rose bushes, big pink and white roses are hidden in the dark green branches and leaves, luxurious and solemn royal blue curtains pour down from the rose bushes, until the little girl is wearing an ivory white dress In a silk satin skirt, she kneels on the golden lily that symbolizes the French royal family and the king's sun coat of arms, as if being held up by these two powerful beings at the same time, she tilts her head slightly, holding a rose in both hands Corolla, tentatively put it on the head, as if crowning oneself.

The sun shines through the lace hanging on the snow-white forearm and casts mottled shadows on the roots of her ears, making that round and cute little face even more clean and smooth like cream, like the pink that was grabbed from a rose from her. The corners of the eyes are smudged all the way to the cheeks, and the eyes are slightly lowered. The blue eyes inherited from his father look like a lake under the shadow of the trees, deep and bright while shimmering.

After a while, with the Queen Mother's admiration, people moved like a group of puppets that were suddenly removed and installed with silk threads, "How is it? My child," the Queen Mother asked with a smile Said: "This is your future wife, the eldest daughter of the King of France, Princess Elizabeth."

Of course Karl XI knew that his future wife must be a princess, or like his mother and grandmother, a powerful duke or the daughter of an elector, but as a normal teenager, he also worried that his mother would choose a wife for him. Daughters of the Habsburgs, or something like that - he didn't mean to object or protest, but he'd heard that the daughters of the Habsburgs were ugly, especially with that huge chin , it is said that they have to rest their chins on the table to bear the weight when they dine-of course, this is an overly harsh statement, but who would want to face such a face every day and night?

Princess Elizabeth's mother was actually a Habsburg princess, but her daughter, fortunately, did not inherit any shortcomings from the maternal line. Her chin was the first place that Karl XI paid attention to. It is very small, even with a Wearing baby fat, you can also see that its shape is like a delicate wine glass, "Our princess is more like her father." Prince Conti said, while covering the picture frame again with his own hands, this portrait was quickly taken away. Moving to the room of the King of Sweden also indicated the establishment of the marriage contract, but his words quickly made some people smile, because the beauty of the French King Louis is also well-known, and the beauty of the French Queen is the opposite. Being mediocre and being able to be similar to her father is also a good thing for a girl.

After this process, Karl XI resigned knowingly, and was sent off respectfully by everyone, followed by more cumbersome and important negotiations-to formally get married, for Karl XI, he had to wait until he became an adult and formally enthroned , and for Princess Elizabeth, she has to wait until she becomes an adult, that is to say, at least a few years later, and King Louis of France is willing to send an envoy at this time in order to destroy the anti-reaction that is being formed between the Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire. Law Union.

Even the Queen Mother of Sweden has to say that the king of France is really generous, especially when he also promised that he will divide a territory from the Flanders region as a dowry for the princess - just look at the map Well, Sweden seems to be vast and has many ports, but these ports are all in the Baltic Sea. Sweden is surrounded by Norway on the top and Denmark on the bottom. The only outlet to the sea is the Skagerrak Strait, and this strait, It is also being controlled by Norway and Denmark at the same time. Sweden became independent from Denmark more than a hundred years ago, but Norway still belongs to Denmark, so it is equivalent to being firmly imprisoned by Denmark.

But the Flanders region is under the Netherlands. It can be said that even if the marriage contract is reached and Princess Elizabeth brings this territory into Sweden, it will still be an enclave, but for Sweden, they will have another country that is not threatened by Denmark. of the sea.

This also shook the Queen Mother of Sweden, and was used by her to persuade the other ministers of regent—among the five ministers of regent, the only person who is loyal and talented enough may be Grand Marshal Carl Gustav Wrangel, the problem Yes, the commander-in-chief of the Swedish army is loyal to the queen mother rather than the king. The other ministers are not only good at fighting for power and profit, but also exploiting the people, and they are almost all Anglophiles.

The current relationship between Britain and France is really mysterious. Their governments are hostile to each other, but their king has a very deep friendship. However, the regent of Sweden, of course, prefers the British government.

So from the very beginning, Sweden was willing to join the anti-French alliance, but the sincerity, or bait, shown by King Louis XIV of France was too tempting. Even if someone opposed it, it would be difficult to get the corresponding bargaining chip , so they can only say that the King of France may not be able to conquer Flanders, but the Queen Mother of Sweden laughed when he said this, and so did others. Everyone can see that the Spaniards can only hide in the Brussels and Mons are fighting against 50,000 people with 8,000 people. Even if there are strong fortresses, so what? The power of French artillery has been shown in front of every spy in Lille, and Sweden is no exception, and although the envoys of the Holy Roman Empire are eloquent, they can't explain why Leopold I Unwilling to send troops to aid their relatives...

They certainly wouldn't know that Leopold I was paying the price for his greed, but that's almost where it was deadliest - about a week after Assumption Day (August 15), the one-time Queen of Sweden, Ms. Christina agreed to become a nun in a convent in Florence, and everything in the secular world has nothing to do with it. At the same time, the portrait of King Karl XI of Sweden was also sent to Paris. Each Princess Elizabeth must draw a personal portrait and send it to the other country. This practice was regarded as a mandatory procedure at the time, similar to the mutual notification of each other's situation.

The portrait of Karl XI was erected in front of the Queen Mother and Queen of France, and beside them was Princess Elizabeth. Although she knew it was inevitable, Queen Teresa couldn't help but clenched her hands. Health——After the correct boy, she was slightly relieved, no matter what, it is better than Carlos II of Spain—Although the portraits will be beautified, the painters at that time will not be degraded to look like people of later generations That directly changed a face, not to mention, some Habsburg members would regard this deformity as a symbol of noble blood, and they would be very proud, let alone cover it up, they would rather completely remove it show it.

"But," Queen Teresa looked at the letter from the king to herself and the queen mother with some confusion: "What does this mean?"

Queen Anne gave the queen a meaningful look. She is so lucky that she married such a good husband. In many cases, it was Louis who accommodated her, not the other way around, so she didn't know that she would eat less. After a lot of suffering, an outsider, a foreign queen, came to a strange place, it was like facing a war alone, but if he could gain the trust of his husband, that is, the king, he would get twice the result with half the effort.

The information they got was that in terms of calculation, writing and reading, and in foreign languages, King Karl XI of Sweden was almost blank. Can the Queen do the same? They are even better, more outstanding, and more trustworthy than those people. When the king tells the queen everything and seeks her help, will it be difficult for the queen to gain a foothold in the court or even the court?

"The princess's education courses are about to be arranged," said Queen Mother Anne.