Conclusion of Louis XIII

After one of his visits to the convent to converse with Sister Angelique, a storm rose that made it impossible for him to go to Versailles or Saint Maur. His bedroom at the Louvre was not prepared for him, but Guitaut, Captain of the Guard, spoke up with his usual boldness and suggested that the Queen would have suitable lodging and even supper for him. Louis XIII rejected this idea to wait out the storm...The storm became more violent and the captain again offered his suggestion, but the king said that the queen supped and went to bed too late for him, but the captain insisted so that the king finally relented. Guitaut went to the Queen to tell her that the king would be coming and to be prepared for him.

"They supped together. The king spent the night with the queen, and nine months later, the Queen (Anne of Austria) gave birth to the future SunKing, Louis XIV.

This story is told by a French historian, Father Griffet, with such simple directness that it almost disarms one's suspicions.

Believe it or not, the king and queen two years later conceive another child, Philip.

On May 14, 1643, Louis XIII has been bled too many times, taken too many enemas, and too many drugs from what seems to me to be an incompetent physician. The king bitterly accused him ( Dr. Bouvard) of being the cause of his too early demise. He was only 41.

The king's last wish was to see his son come to his majority were he to live so that he could retire to the hunting lodge at the Versailles. There, he would be able to save his own soul and contemplate salvation while his son could replace him on the throne.

I suspect that last wish may be why the Sun King devised his chateau to be built at the site of his father's favorite escape: the hunting lodge.

Louis XIV is the exact opposite of his father as he had no fear of women whatsoever and appears to be like his grandfather, Henry IV, who had a harem of women. Like grandfather, like grandson.

Louis XIII may have found a more likely successor in his second son, Philip, who had interests in both men and women. I believe that Philip resembles his father quite closely in many ways.

Where Louis XIII suffered a terribly anguished life, his son, Louis XIV, had the capacity to celebrate life much differently and much more enjoyably. It is a strange contrast to consider.