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Louis XIV was 15 years old and already king — but nobody let him act like one. C
1654 Event

June 7

Louis XIV Crowned at Reims at Age 15: The Sun King Gets His Ceremony

Louis XIV was 15 years old and already king — but nobody let him act like one. Cardinal Mazarin ran France while the boy-king watched from the sidelines. Then Mazarin died in 1661, and Louis made a decision that stunned his court: he named no new chief minister. He'd do it himself. He moved the entire French government to Versailles, forcing 10,000 nobles to beg for his attention rather than plot against him. And it worked. The king who started powerless built the template every absolute monarch copied for a century.

June 7, 1654

372 years ago

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