🌸6 August 1644. Louise de La Vallière born at Tours. The first official mistress of Louis XIV, she was a deeply religious woman, she will eventually leave court to become a nun. Image: Lizzie Brocheré as Louise and Davy Sardou as Louis XIV (Le Roi, l'Écureuil et la Couleuvre)

Nighty night !

💍28 July 1540. Katherine Howard marries Henry VIII, becoming his fifth queen. Perhaps the most minunderstood of the Six, Katherine's is a tragic story. My book draws heavily from original documents (some never before published) to show that her story is more nuanced than tradition has allowed.

🌙The beauty of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte as the sun sets.

🦌A family home for French kings, the château de Fontainebleu features many images depicting its use as hunting lodge by kings such as François I and Louis XIV.

🥗Louis liked to entertain members of his court to dinner. Fun and games inevitably ensued. On one occasion, a food fight broke out and a lady threw a piece of fruit at the king, hitting him on the head. He retaliated by picking up a bowl of salad and tipping it over her.🥗 Image: Liebig card.

🌞Happy July ! 'An Allegory of King Louis XIV in Armour hailed as King of the Sea by the Personification of France,' attributed to Jean Nocret (1615-1672).

🪽30 June 1670. Death of Henriette d'Angleterre, duchesse d'Orléans. I published an article about the controversy surrounding her death - www.historytoday.com/archive/hist...

📒 Can't believe it was six years ago that Suzie was helping me prepare my book on John the Baptist for publication😊

⚔️25 June 1673. Louis XIV's Dutch Wars take a tragic turn for France when d’Artagnan is shot and killed at the siege of Maastricht. The acting captain of the Musketeers was about 60 years old.

🫧24 June. Traditional date of the birth of John the Baptist. Read about his life and the traditions that influenced his teaching in my book. Images: Filippino Lippi. John the Baptist bids farewell to his parents as he embarks upon his desert sojourn. Cover of my book😊

🛣️Yep - it's a real place. A short street with a long name in York.

🌳Memories of living in York - view of the Minster and gardens, taken from the Walls.

Did you know that The Wicked Lady began as a ghost story ? Nighty night 🍊 dr-josephine-wilkinson.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-...

🫧The moat and drawbridge at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. The drawbridge predates the current château, belonging as it did to the earlier house built on the site.

👣Stone steps leading into a woodland walk at Ludlow.

📝Contemporary sketch of d'Artagnan at a royal parade.

🐎Love the racehorses road sign - how very Middleham !

🔐 Mysterious fortress of Exilles in Italy. One of the prisons of the Man in the Iron Mask. It has since been renovated. Image : Forte di Exilles

Nighty night from the Louvre ghost 👻

🏰The Princes's Tower at Middleham Castle. Thought to be the residence of Edward of Middleham, son of Richard III and Anne Nevill.

🪑30 April 1687. M. de Saint-Mars arrives at his new post on the island of Sainte-Marguerite. He had brought his secret prisoner who has travelled from Exilles in a sedan chair covered with oilcloth. Naturally, this drew attention to the prisoner and led to much gossip !

👒Milady de Winter continues to be my most popular post on academia.edu ! www.academia.edu/126935880/Th...

⛓️8 April 1680. Following the death of Nicolas Foucquet while still a prisoner at Pignerol, the two valets who served him, Danger and La Rivière, are hidden away in a secret cell. Neither man will see freedom again. Read my book to find out why...

🧅Do you know that d'Artagnan's mother had a cabinet in her bedroom to which only she kept the key ? The cabinet was used to store jams, pickles and chutneys. Source: the inventory taken after the death of Bertrand de Batz Castelmore, d'Artagnan's father, in 1635.

⚔️It's a shame the skull is so damaged, otherwise they might have been able to make a facial reconstruction. It would be interesting to see if it was similar to this image, first seen c.1701.

🎬 The lovers in both The Phantom of the Opera and The Man in the Iron Mask are called Raoul and Christine 💕

👑10 March 1661. Following the death of Cardinal Mazarin, to whom he had left the government of France, Louis takes power into his own hands. So began the personal reign of Louis XIV. He was still only twenty-two years old.

📒Crumbs, I can't believe this was seven years ago ! The US edition of my biography of Louis XIV.

🗝️What was life like for a State prisoner in Louis XIV's France ? Well, for a start, it depended on your social status...