There was a kind of grotesquerie to the dazzle and magnificence, a vicious underlay of thorns beneath the bed of roses, and a vast shadow floating, looming overhead. The kingdom was forever at war, and there was an eerie strangeness in the shining trio of the king, his wife, and the little princess from Savoy. It is 1696. Louis XIV, absolute monarch in his sunset years, with his secret wife by his side, believes his grandson will succeed him and will continue the dynasty. As part of the spoils of war, he brings from Savoy, a child, a youthful bride for that grandson. In this bride the king gets more than he could ever have bargained for. She is enchanting, and he is bewitched. Has the king fallen madly in love with this Princess Marie-Adelade of Savoy? What exactly is the bond between these two?
