In 1648, when Louis XIV was still shy of 10 years old, the Parlement of Paris rebelled against his chief minister, Mazarin. Louis XIV's governor, Nicolas de Neufville, was appointed to keep watch over the lad, but incidents like young Louis XIV’s near drowning indicate that the monarch was overlooked as a child, if not as a ruler in the making.

Louis XIV's godfather, Italian-born Chief Minister Cardinal Jules Mazarin, was responsible for tutoring the boy in history, politics and the arts. Over the course of his childhood, Louis XIV was primed as a leader, receiving a practical education rather than a scholarly one. Not much more than a toddler, Louis XIV succeeded his father to the throne, becoming the leader of 19 million French subjects and a highly unstable government. On May 14, 1643, when Louis XIV was just 4 and a half years old, his father passed away. Louis XIV had a brother named Philippe, who was two years younger.

Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, France, and christened Louis-Dieudonné-French for 'Gift of God.' His mother was the Hapsburg Spanish queen Anne of Austria, and his father was Louis XIII, king of France. He died in Versailles, France, on September 1, 1715. By the 1680s, Louis XIV generated public hostility. In 1688, he led a war between France and the Grand Alliance. From 1672–1678 he engaged France in the Franco-Dutch War. In 1667 he invaded the Spanish Netherlands. Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, in Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, France.

Louis XIV by John B. Wolf