Princess Anna of the Medici was of course glad to see Madame aubigne among the teachers in charge of the junior girls, and she could not resist waving her hand gently at her female officer, and Madame aubigne winked at her, and went on to sit upright— The Duchess of Orleans knew the importance that the king attached to the school, or rather the example, of the school, so she imitated some girls' schools (there were already a few small schools for girls, mainly convents and a certain down-and-out lady in her own house, usually with only a few students), to prescribe uniform clothing for the students and teachers, and also to prevent outsiders from sneaking into the school and causing accidents.

The junior students wore white linen or cotton dresses, the older students wore blue dresses, and the teachers wore black dresses, some of the older students were still a little unaccustomed, but it was the first time they had seen so many of their peers, and the similarity of status—even if they were not so close, the other's father and brother must be future ministers who could be remembered by the king for their names and family circumstances—so within a few days, they became familiar and intimate.

Of course, the most popular is the eldest princess and the big princess, not so unexpectedly, the most friends are not the big princess, but the big princess, so it's normal to think about it, the big princess has set the king of Sweden Karl XI as her husband, the big princess has been rumored to be the queen of Spain, but with Carlos II and the eldest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor signed a marriage contract, the big lord is inevitably coveted again.

Although in most cases, the Grand Marsal is most likely to enter into a marriage contract, that is, a political marriage, but if it is the great nobles of France, it is not impossible, the Duke of Orleans, the royal brother Philippe is deeply valued and trusted by the King, if you can start from the unworldly Grand Marshalls, and then shake the Duke of Orleans, and finally obtain the king's approval, then the dowry of the Grand Marshire alone is a coveted income.

Prince Conti's eldest son is the last possible candidate, he is twelve years old this year, the same age as the lord of the Grand County, and inherited his mother's beauty, his father and Louis XIV can also be counted as half a brother-in-law, and he is the younger brother of King Ludwig I of Poland, there is a great hope of success, Prince Conti's second daughter is also eleven years old, and this time she was sent by her father to St. Louis Girls' School, which also has the meaning of fueling the trouble.

In fact, both the eldest princess and the princess were here not so much to learn as to give their father and uncle, King Louis XIV of France, so that the nobles could let go of their undue scruples, and the whole society would be more tolerant of the educators and the educated among women.

After all, in this era, there are still men who think that women are the same as children, the development of the brain is inherently not sound enough, and their opinions on children are all kinds of severe punishments, and when they treat women, they will think that they should spend their lives peacefully and comfortably under the protection of men, except for taking care of their own families, there is no need to spend effort on any affairs, even if it is a wise lady like Madame Lafayette, the gentlemen in the court still think that her wisdom is an add-on to charm, in short, it is to win the favor of men rather than respect the existence of existence。

Louis could not say anything about this, lest anyone think that he was crazy, and he could only plan more for his children, and open a less narrow door for the women of the future, and whether this door could be opened to the point where they could enter and exit with their heads held high in the future depended on their own determination and courage.

Therefore, the Grand Lord, who had been taught by such an important minister as Colbert, could see through these peers almost at a glance, even if it was a matter of deceit, how could these children be compared with the Queen Mother and the nobles around the Queen!

"That's what I'm going to complain about. The Duke of Orleans muttered, "How can Brother Prince, let Colbert or the Marquis de Lois teach you, hell, you are not princes, and see what they have made of you." ”

"I think it is good," said the Grand Princess, remembering some of her classmates, some ripening prematurely, some still very young, and expecting a noble love, as the poets depicted, as long as beauty and chastity were present, and she leaned on the knees of the Duke of Orleans, as any daughter who loved her father deeply, full of trust: "Honor, status, and power are rarer than love, and I may look forward to love, but it will be a long time later." Moreover, she raised her head and looked at her father: "The marriage of the eldest princess is also more happy than people think, father, as the eldest princess said to me, the more precious things are, the more you have to work hard, even if it is very difficult, but standing in place and feeling sorry for yourself will only attract the ridicule and contempt of others." ”

The Duke of Orleans reached out and touched his daughter's thick and soft long hair, his hair was curly when he was a child, but when he grew up, it became straight, the royal brother's hair has always been curly, the hair of the Grand County Lord has not inherited from him and Henrietta, but it is exactly the same as the king, and it is no wonder that some people question the identity of the Grand County Lord - but the Duke of Orleans knows that the royal brother and Henrietta would never do such a thing.

Henrietta knew early on that the king would not allow anyone to ruin his relationship with his brother, and that the king had more important matters to attend to every day than women, as the Duke of Orleans, as the head of the royal secrets, knew all too well.

"I have seen that boy," said the Duke of Orleans suddenly, and the Grand Marser paused to guess that the boy his father had spoken of was the eldest son of the Prince of Conti, and one of her husbands: "He is not too bad in terms of appearance alone, for he is also a Bourbon, and her mother is a Mancini, but he," he said, with a wandering gaze, "it is difficult to be flattering in personal morality." ”

"He was only thirteen years old...... Or fourteen?" The Grand County Lord couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard what the Duke of Orleans meant.

"In his own words," replied the Duke of Orleans, "he is gifted. ”

"Ugh. The lord said, "So forget it." ”

"But I really don't want you to leave France. The Duke of Orleans said dejectedly.

"Then I will only have to study in the monastery, father, my status is special, and you will give me a large dowry, no matter who I marry, it will be a problem. The Grand Princesse said coldly.

"You are a cruel person. "The Duke of Orleans said, "The king will keep the eldest princess until she is twenty years old......

"Don't," the Grand Princess, continuing to mend the knife mercilessly, "The eldest princess mentioned this matter to me, and she asked me to tell you, please advise Your Majesty not to do such stupid things. She took a deep breath and stood up and cupped her father's face: "The king has done a good job before, and I hope you will do the same, instead of thinking about the problems in eight years, you should try to solve my current problems." She said earnestly: "Find me a husband, a good husband, a husband who is good for France and good for me, and calm those turbulent hearts." ”

She looked at the Duke of Orleans's face, "What do you want to say?"

"There's one. The Duke of Orleans said slowly.

"One?"

"Your husband's candidate. "But the problem is that their messenger brought not a prince, but a princess." ”

——————

First of all, it should be noted that the kings of this era were not arrogant enough to ignore ethics, and their messengers brought portraits of princesses, not to discuss marriage with the lord of the county, but to prey Louis, the Dauphin of France, who was still a year old.

Speaking of the marriage of the crown prince Louis Jr. has long been put forward to the memorandum of the kings of various countries, especially after France has won great victories in Flanders and the Netherlands, of course, Louis will not consider a country like Denmark that is likely to become an enemy, after all, his eldest princess will be the queen of Sweden in the future, and Sweden and Denmark will definitely go to war for Norway and even more places in the future, Louis has not been indifferent to the point of ignoring his daughter's position, and if he marries Denmark, then Karl XI and the Swedish nobles will definitely doubt the sincerity of France's alliance with Chengqi, and France will lose such an important ally。

In addition, what could Denmark give to France? If the Netherlands were still there, Louis would have considered relying on Denmark to curb the development of the Netherlands, but now the Netherlands is only a large province of France, and France wants nothing from Denmark.

Not to mention, the marriage of the Dauphin Louis may be the most important bargaining chip for the French in the issue of marriage.

For this reason, the nobles below the duke are not among the optional ranks, and the choice of little Louis's wife has suddenly shrunk, there are not many princesses of his age, and some kings have not even given birth to daughters, even if they have daughters in the future, not to mention the age difference between the husband and the wife in the teens, does he want little Louis to marry until he is thirty years old? At that time, there will definitely be people who suspect that little Louis has a problem with male ability, and maybe there will be a lot of unnecessary trouble, such as the son of the Duke of Orleans, who is at the age of marriage more than ten years later, Louis will not suspect Philippe, but he is afraid that someone will cause trouble from it.

As a result, there were only two candidates to choose from, one was the youngest daughter of Frederick, the Grand Duke of Brandenburg-Prussia, and the other was the eldest daughter of King Pedro II of Portugal.

Frederick, Archduke of Brandenburg, stood clearly on the side of the Habsburgs in the war between France and the Netherlands, and was also the uncle of the former Prince of Orange, now Wilhelm III, a vain Archduke of Utrecht. William III was released from the Tower of London after the dust had settled, and returned to the Netherlands, you can imagine how embarrassed he was at that time, the vast majority of the Dutch believed that he betrayed the Dutch to the English in exchange for Utrecht, and the honor of his ancestors was thus covered with disgrace, but William III was worthy of being a descendant of Orange, and he persevered tenaciously, and at the same time managed Utrecht in good order, he did not forget to search for those who were willing to believe and help him, and Frederick, Grand Duke of Brandenburg, gave him a lot of help in this regard。

This behavior inevitably caused some trouble for the Dutch governor of France, Viscount Tyrenne, but he was also the nephew of Maurice Orange, and had the blood of the Orange family, and he was a great fighter and had the support of some Dutch.

Louis did not think about disposing of William III, he also needed William III to be a buffer between England and France in the Netherlands, but this did not mean that he did not care about the actions of the Archduke of Brandenburg at all.

Moreover, Hohenzollern was once a vassal of the Habsburgs, Prussia was a vassal of Poland, on an equal footing with the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, and Louis XIV, who was even a courtier of Poland, was reluctant to choose such a queen for the future king of France.

As for King Pedro II of Portugal, there are also problems.

The Portuguese royal family began in Burgundy, where the son of Henry of Burgundy married part of the illegitimate daughter of the king of Castile (part of Spain before the annexation) as his wife, and obtained Portugal as an earldom, independent in 1139, but later the Habsburgs had acquired Portugal by marriage in 1580, but it was recaptured by João IV in 1640, who was this João IV? He was the illegitimate son of the last Portuguese king of the Burgundian dynasty.

Even if this is not the case, the current Pedro II is similar to the former King Henry VIII, and even more feared than Henry VIII, because Henry VIII's brother did encounter misfortune, but Pedro II's brother was indeed under house arrest by him - he is now only a regent, although he can't wait to marry his former sister-in-law, the princess Isabella who was born in 69 alone is really ...... Awkward identity.

Even though the daughter of the Duke of Savoy, now Queen of Portugal, had broken off her marriage to her former husband Alfonso VI, the princess was deliberately neglected, and it was said that she was born in a remote monastery rather than a royal palace, and that the queen was very indifferent to her, and that the regent did not care about her, and Louis wondered if this was a conspiracy of the Portuguese? At the very least, the child in the portrait should be about the same age as the Grand Lord.

In addition to this, the Duke of Savoy even came to Paris in person to say to his granddaughter, that the territory of Savoy occupied France, part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Apennine Peninsula, although small but very important, although the title of Duke of Savoy came from the Holy Roman Empire, but in terms of gesture and words, the Duke was almost willing to commit to a secret contract with France.

In this way, the king's scales had to be tilted in favor of the princess Isabella.