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Who was the Man in the Iron Mask?
In the famous novel by Alexander Dumas, the man in the iron mask is kept a
miserable prisoner in the Bastille, and is portrayed as the twin brother of
Louis XIV - or may be even the king himself.
In fact, there was a masked prisoner in the Bastille during the reign of
Louis XIV, but his mask was of velvet and he lived in style and comfort. He was
guarded by two Musketeers at all times, and they had orders to kill him if he
unmasked. He was arrested in 1669, and spent the rest of his life a prisoner,
dying thirty-four years later. He was forbidden under pain of death to speak of
anything but his everyday needs, and his name was never revealed - he was buried
under a false name. Who was he?
No one will ever know for certain, but the most likely theory is that the
prisoner was the true father of Louis XIV, Louis XIII and his queen had been
childless for thirteen of their twenty-two years of marriage, and had lived
apart for years until Cardinal Richelieu brought about a brief reconciliation.
Shortly after this the queen gave birth to a son and its is probable that the
father was not Louis but some nobleman, chosen to make certain that there was a
royal heir. Certainly the young Louis. The theory goes that the real father was
sent abroad to avoid any scandal, and when he returned, perhaps hoping for
favors from his son who was now the all-powerful ‘Sun King’, he was arrested and
hidden away. He probably looked too much like the king for comfort. Louis could
not bring him self to murder his own father, so he had him goaled for life
instead.
But of course, no one will ever know for sure who the mysterious masked man
was, for his secret was buried with him.
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