by Chantal Thomas · SEUIL · tapa blanda · ISBN 9782021119138
VAT included
Hamelyn quality guarantee · checked and verified, or your money back
In 1721, Philippe d'Orléans is Regent, awaiting Louis XV to reach legal maturity. The exercise of power is pleasant, he is getting a taste for it. Then, a brilliant idea arises in his head: to propose to Philip V of Spain a marriage between Louis XV, aged eleven, and the very young Infanta, Maria Anna Victoria, aged four, who will therefore not be able to give birth until a decade later. This lapse of time allows the hope of a "misfortune" that would definitively seat him on the throne of France. And he doesn't stop there: he also proposes to give his daughter, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, as wife to the young Prince of Asturias, future heir to the throne of Spain, to consolidate his positions. The reaction in Madrid is enthusiastic, and things are quickly put in place. The exchange of princesses takes place in early 1722, with great pomp, on a small island in the middle of the Bidassoa, the river that serves as the border between the two kingdoms. Everything could go well. But nothing will go as planned. Louis XV disdains the Infanta lost in the subtle and swirling immensity of the Louvre and Versailles; in Spain, Mademoiselle de Montpensier does not play the game and refuses her husband, much to the dismay of her parents-in-law Philip V and Elisabeth of Farnese. In the end, a new exchange takes place, much more discreet this time: each of the princesses returns to her country...
Chantal Thomas is a French writer and historian. Her 2002 book, Farewell, My Queen, won the Prix Femina and was adapted into a 2012 film starring Diane Kruger and Léa Seydoux.
