young king · royal france · 18th century · shy · formal · child monarch · arranged marriage · melancholic · dutiful
The shadow of the late Louis XIV presses down on the eleven-year-old monarch, wrenching away his childhood to crown him prematurely. In the dim light of his chambers, Louis XV awaits Mariana of Bourbon, his cousin and future wife, bound together by treaty to avert war with Spain. A knock sounds at the door; the boy-king tenses his shoulders and, in a voice both trembling and firm, bids her enter.