People who are not of this era will inevitably be confused by the marriage of kings, princes and princesses at this time, and it is understandable that the king or the prince's wife will choose between princess and princess, but the ministers and nobles will be quite unanimous that their king or his heir should not be too close to his wife, and the problem is that at the same time they want the resentful couple to have enough children—especially boys, even if the country does not have Salic laws.

But if you read the documents of the time, you will 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—dowry, land, or a covenant—but also because of the inheritance that they must have because of their blood, even in the country that recognized the Salik law, or when the princess or the lord of the county married, they had already declared that they had renounced the right to inherit the throne, as long as the time was right and the power was sufficient, for the crown, The vast territory represented by the Scepter and the Orb of the Cross and the people and assets that came with it made even a king lie, pester, or act as a scoundrel without changing his face - and a marquis or count's daughter did not have this appeal.

But on the other hand, there is never an eternal friend or foe relationship between countries, maybe today they are still allies, tomorrow they will become enemies, so a queen in the court will always be a foreigner who needs to be guarded against and wary of, people expect her to give birth to an heir to the kingdom as soon as possible, but if the king shows his affection and closeness to her, then the queen mother and officials will be restless, because they are afraid that the queen will use her influence on the king to interfere in the affairs of the country, so that the king thinks more about the interests of her home country than the interests of her own country。

So, having said that, you should probably understand why I say that the best option for Louis XIV was to marry Marie Orleans, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Orleans, to Carlos II of Spain – in fact, if it were not for the fact that Princess Elizabeth had already been promised to King Karl XI of Sweden, the Spaniards would have asked for the Celestial Princess – and although Spain had inevitably fallen into weakness, it was still the strongest arm of the Habsburgs.

Due to Louis XIV's insistence, the Grand Princess, the Celestial Princess, and the Dauphin were all educated together, no, it should be said that the education of the two girls was even earlier than that of the Dauphin, because before the attack on the Netherlands, the marriage of the Grand Princess was decided, and education was also put on the agenda, and as her closest companion, the Grand Marshire was also fortunate to have teachers and courses that ordinary noblewomen could not achieve - who were their teachers? Colbert, Prince Conti, Michel (father of the Marquis de Loiss, Minister of War)...... And so on, they were not learning, but they were learning as much as they could from what they had learned - according to the king's demands, they had to make the princess and the lord understand who they were, what they had to do, and what they were going to do in the future, and even, from a man's point of view, how they should treat their husbands.

These lessons were carried out in secret, and no one knew about them except the Queen Mother, the Queen and the Duchess of Orleans, and the people involved—for which the king had used Elarius, a mercy to the girls, but also cruelty, for they did not even have a carefree childhood.

Therefore, the lord knew very well that if his uncle finally agreed to the proposal of the Spanish envoy, it would be understandable, once she became the wife of Carlos II (she couldn't help but tremble at the thought of this), if she was just an ordinary duke's daughter, she would probably look forward to becoming the queen of Spain with joy, but she knew that, just like the crown prince, the ministers explained and analyzed the situation of the monarchs of various countries to them in detail, 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 was such a deformed fool that the marriage contract between them would be beneficial to France—as it had been said before, the Spanish envoys should have mentioned the marriage earlier, but they did not do so, partly because Flanders were already at war at that time, and partly because of the obstruction of the regent Don Juan— Because the queen has the right to assist the king in state affairs, and even once she becomes the queen mother, she can be ranked among the regents, like Queen Anne of Louis XIV, Queen Hedwig of Karl XI, and Queen Maria of Carlos II.

But Don Juan's obstruction succeeded once, but after such a brilliant victory in France, the call for a French queen for Carlos II grew stronger, and Patinho's return showed that the tug-of-war between the two was finally won by the ministers.

The lord of the great county trembled in his father's arms, and tried to say to himself, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, just marry a fool, even if he ...... He was not so good-looking, but how could there be anything in the world? she should have made sacrifices for France when she accepted the support of the people, and because Carlos II was a fool, she could manage to obtain some of the king's rights as soon as she married...... If she had given birth to an heir, then the king of Spain would have Bourbon blood.

"Father, father......" she cried out softly, clasping the arm of the Duke of Orleans, "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......"

Hearing his daughter's whispering words, the Duke of Orleans laughed, and he let his daughter hold him, and sat on the edge of the bed in an awkward position: "I will not leave you, ma'am," he said in a gentle tone that would have been shocked by the eyes of others, thinking that the Duke of Orleans had been replaced by the devil, "I will not leave, and I will not leave when others beat me, and I will stay with you tonight until you no longer need me." ”

"How could I not need you?"

"Because only the flowers will leave the branches," said the Duke of Orleans, and at this time he could not help but remember that the Queen Mother had mentioned it with a smile, and Louis declared that he would keep Princess Elizabeth the Eldest until she was twenty years old before marrying her to Sweden, and everyone present laughed, but the Duke of Orleans did not, because he remembered his Grand Lord, who had not been with him for long, and how could he be willing to give up his daughter so quickly and so simply? His first impression of the Grand Princess's swaddle was a swaddling baby in the cradle, white, soft and sweet, reminiscent of milk pudding: "You are my rose, you are my lily," said the duke, "I will never leave you unless you will leave me." ”

The lord didn't speak, just buried his face in his father's arm, and his father's words were so soft, but it made her heart more firm - although she was still a little jealous of Princess Elizabeth, she also had the best father in the world, better than she imagined, if the king wanted her to marry in Spain, she would immediately agree, and would never embarrass her father, and even oppose the king's decision, making the king angry with him.

——————

The portrait was finally laid out at the banquet a week later, and Juan Patiño, though working for Duke Don Juan, was just as loyal to the king, and he was worried that, as the situation of Carlos II was well known, the King of France might not agree to the marriage, or ask for a high return. So he did not go directly to the king and hand over the proposal, but tried to spread the word in Versailles and Paris, Louis XIV may have had Louis XIV's considerations, but Spain was indeed the best marriage partner for ministers, otherwise Louis XIV would not have had a Spanish mother and wife.

Moreover, according to tradition, Carlos II's wife was supposed to be the eldest princess of Louis XIV, and after they could not get it, they took a step back and asked for the Grand Duke of Orleans, which also made many French people raise their eyebrows, as if they had won another victory over Spain. In this way, even if Louis XIV had other ideas, his ministers and nobles would have tried to bring about 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 Princesses and the Celestial Princess had learned Spanish before, but as a queen, they must be proficient in the Spanish language, as well as various etiquette in the Spanish court- The French court was still very unruly at the time of Louis XIII, until Princess Anne of Spain, the current Queen Mother, brought Spanish court etiquette here, and there were all kinds of rules and requirements we see now, and it is conceivable that the requirements for etiquette and demeanor in the Spanish court will only become stricter.

Louis XIV pinched a golden-red nectarine, his eyes drooped, he saw his younger brother the Duke of Orleans clenched his fist tightly, the Grand County Lord was pale, but still strong and did not lose his temper on the spot, the Grand Princess walked up to her and took her arm, Karl XI looked at the Grand Princess worriedly, the Queen Mother looked unpredictable, and the Queen hugged the shoulder of the Duchess of Orleans- In fact, as far as Louis XIV's control of the court was concerned, they had already known about Patinho's intentions, but Patiño's actions were something they could not prevent and hinder - to put it simply, as long as the Spaniards were willing to propose, if Princess Elizabeth was not engaged, then the king might not be able to convince his subjects.

Patiño's gaze swept over everyone, and stopped for a moment on the Grand County Lord Mary, compared to Carlos II, even if the latter was his king, he had to say that the two stood together, like angels than demons, the King and the royal brother of France were both handsome as gods, and their children also inherited their beauty, the eldest princess aside, although the Grand County Lord was still a ten-year-old child, he could also see how moving the future would be— Her eyes and hair were dark, and her skin was snow-white, almost transparent, and perhaps because she was sick a while ago, she looked so thin that everyone who saw her couldn't help but make a cross on her chest, asking God to bless her.

But as an envoy, the fulfillment of one's mission is the most important thing, and as for personal morality and empathy, how can one's loyalty to the country and the king be worthwhile? Patinho could only promise in his heart that if the Grand Marsal became Queen of Spain, he would offer her his loyalty until she had done any harm to Spain for France.

Louis XIV walked down slowly, still holding the peach, but his eyes never took his eyes off the portrait - this portrait that shook the French court was none other than the ten-year-old Carlos II, and it could be seen that the painter who painted this portrait was not only skillful, delicate, but also extremely intelligent, and on this portrait, Carlos II seemed to have no problem— Although the figure in the portrait is not pretty, and it is dwarfed in front of Louis, it looks like he is just a little unhappy little king- The portrait of Carlos II is wearing a black velvet jacket common to the Spanish court, white leggings, black shoes, a necklace hanging from his chest, a long sword at his waist, one hand pressed on the small table beside him, and the other hand is holding a silk or letter, the reason why he looks a little unhappy, we all know that when people are angry, the corners of their mouths will unconsciously droop, and their chin is retracted, which is the case with Carlos II in the picture。

Carlos II's bulging eyes, which were often protruding from seizures, were also obscured by drooping eyelashes, and the painter deliberately depicted his shaggy hair, high nose, and heroic eyebrows—to put it mildly, one might think that Carlos II was a good man with the majesty of a king.

Louis XIV knew that in this era, portraits, especially those of nobles and kings, would be embellished, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that this portrait was deliberately deceived - if his spy had not sent a portrait of the real Carlos II, Louis XIV probably could not have imagined that the Spaniards would be so shameless - on the portrait of the agent, Carlos II did not have a face that could be called a human at all!

But the king had only taken a few steps, and had passed all those who were around him, not even the Prince of Condé, or Colbert, or other important nobles, and they all looked approving and delighted, and of course, for them the marriage was worth it, not that they could stay out of it so easily, but that the weight of a young girl was too light for a country.