''Angélique and the King'' (french: Angélique et le Roy) is a

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

novel by Anne Golon and

Serge Golon Serge Golon (born Vsevolod Sergeevich Golubinov, russian: Всеволод Серге́евич Голубинов; 23 August 1903 – 12 July 1972) was a French geochemist and artist of Russian descent. He is known as the husband of French author ...

, the second novel in the ''Angélique'' series. Inspired by the life of Suzanne de

Rougé Rougé (; br, Ruzieg) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, near Rennes. The name "Rougé" comes from the Latin "Rubiacus", means ''the red place'', in reference to the high iron-composition of the ground. Geogr ...

du Plessis-Bellière, known as the Marquise du Plessis-Bellière. The novel is set during the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678). Angélique's marriage to Jeoffrey de Peyrac is thought to be parallel to that of the daughter of

Madame de Sévigné Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné, comtesse de Grignan (10 October 1646 – 13 August 1705), was a French aristocrat, remembered for the letters that her mother, Madame de Sévigné, wrote to her. Life Françoise-Marguerite was born in Paris, ...

to the

Comte de Grignan ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...

. There are some parallels between the career of Angélique's second husband, Philippe de Plessis du Bellière, and that of the historical Comte d'Artagnan, well-known through his fictionalized depiction in Alexandre Dumas's ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...

'' and its sequels. In 1966, the book was adapted into a film titled ''

Angelique and the King ''Angelique and the King'' (French: ''Angélique et le Roy''), Italian: ''Angelica alla corte del re'') is a 1966 historical adventure film directed by Bernard Borderie. It stars Michèle Mercier. It was made as a co-production between France, Ita ...

''.

Plot summary

After many trials, Angelique finally takes her place in

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

's court alongside her new husband, who is the Marshal of France, Philippe de Plessis du Bellière. She has many problems with her new husband, who despises her for having blackmailed him into marriage. Eventually, she starts loving him (and vice versa) but he gets killed in the King's war at the Low Countries. She earns the undivided attention of the King and there are even rumours that she may be his mistress. Her rival becomes Atenais de Montespan, the most recent favorite of the King, who plots against her. Angelique triumphs over her rival and even learns that her first husband, thought to be executed by the king himself, may still be alive. She resolves to find him at any cost. 1959 French novels French historical novels French romance novels Novels set in Early Modern France Novels set in the 1670s French novels adapted into films Works about Louis XIV {{1950s-hist-novel-stub