Point of Divergence ... The year is 1624, and Cardinal Richelieu is on a high. Having just been promoted to Cardinal two years before, he has received a letter giving him even greater news. His monarch, King Louis the XIII, is making him his Chief Minister. Essentially, he has been put in charge of France and all its vast resources. Richelieu sees for himself advancement, titles, and esteem.
Walking through the halls of his residence, Richelieu barks orders to his many servants and advisors, demanding the best for the reconigtion of his title. He spends the day doing so, and retires for the evening in his chambers, comfortable in the knowledge that tomorrow his rule of France can begin.
He awakes in a cold sweat later in the night. He can feel a presence in the room, but cannot say from where. He opens his mouth to shout for his servants, but a hand clamps hard on his mouth. Richelieu struggles, but to no avail. He feels a sharp pain in his back, then another. The hand clamps tighter as he struggles to scream, and he tastes blood on his tongue. As he descends into blackness, the last thought he has is how shameful it is to get what he wanted and to not be able to wield the power.
The next morning, a servant enters the room to find Richelieu sprawled on the bed, blood covering his mouth and robes. She runs screaming for a physician. The entire household is in a panic as the King's Royal Physician arrives with a sizable amount of guards. After an examination of the body, he concludes Richelieu was stabbed by a dagger twice. The first stab did not damage any vital organs. However, the second punctured a lung, and he died choking on his own blood.
The King orders a thorough investigation. Servants are dragged into the torture chambers and put to rack and wheel till death, protesting their innocence. However, these torments come to naught. No one is able to shed light on the identity of the assassin. Richelieu's corpse is given all honors and services, then is buried in a grave under an elaborate monument. His dreams of being Chief Minister of France like himself, dust.
If this scenario came to pass, how does it impact the future of France and Europe?