Louis XIV Becomes King of France

May 14, 1643

Four-year-old Louis, son of Louis XIII, inherited the French throne on his father's death. His mother Anne of Austria ruled as regent with Cardinal Mazarin beside her. The child who would one day call himself the Sun King learned early that monarchy was personal, ceremonial, and precarious, lessons he would repay with seventy-two years on the throne and the palace at Versailles.