Louis XIII

No son has ever been more different than his father. Louis was a neurotic, timid and distrustful child. His mother, Marie de Medici, didn’t like him and had him whipped every morning. Louis became king at the age of 8.

Louis was an inverted, melancholy and isolated man who would find himself paralyzed by his stutter. He was probably homosexual.

He married Anne of Austria when they were both 14. On their stormy wedding night Louis had to be carried, crying to their marriage bed.

Louis was always sickly. He died of gastric tuberculosis at the age of 41.

Note: Louis had a congenital condition where he had two rows of teeth. When he was a child his doctors cut the membrane under his tongue making it dangle unattractively. This contributed to his stammer and difficult manner of expression.

Note on Lenticular: The flip shows Louis being carried, weeping to his marriage bed. The Louvre is shown deserted with only two windows lit where he coupled with his wife during a thunderstorm.