Mistresses and wives, mothers and daughters - Antonia Fraser brilliantly explores the relationships which existed between The Sun King and the women in his life. This includes not only Louis XIV's mistresses, principally Louise de La Valliere, Athenais de Montespan, and the puritanical Madame de Maintenon, but also the wider story of his relationships with women in general, including his mother Anne of Austria, his two sisters-in-law who were Duchesses d'Orleans in succession, Henriette-Anne and Liselotte, his wayward illegitimate daughters, and lastly Adelaide, the beloved child-wife of his grandson.
Given that the tv series "Versailles" has two seasons out now (and I hope a third in the making?), I would have thought there would be quite a few new biographies available (in English!) on Louis XIV, but this one by Antonia Fraser is very good, published in 2006. I'm totally addicted to the series, and when it veered off into poisonings and witchcraft in S2 I was skeptical, but apparently all that stuff has a historical basis! I guess you really *can't* make this stuff up....
