Louis XIV of France dies in 1658

In 1658, after the siege of Bergues Louis XIV of France got a food intoxication, and many believed he would die. WI he had died, and his brother Philip had become king of France? Philip was known as an effeminate homossexual more interested in wearing women's dresses and playing with handsome men than in politics, but he was also a good military leader. What could we expect from France under Philip? Would the French not be involved in so many wars as under Louis?
 

Thande

Donor
For a start, more problems producing surviving heirs in 17th century France, if that was even possible ;)
 

Susano

Banned
Philipw as also a worse spender of royal funds than Louis himself. Expect the royal coffins to be emptied soon.
 
For a start, more problems producing surviving heirs in 17th century France, if that was even possible ;)

Well, IOTL Philip managed to produce four children who reached adulthood (though only one of them was male, something important to Salic Law). He could have more I think, but the problem was that he really didn't like... you know... women. ;)
 

Thande

Donor
If you think that Louis' Versailles was great, imagine what Philip would have ordered to do then.:p
"I believe that the Kingdom of France and Navarre should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this century is out, of landing a man on the Moon and establishing the Compagnie française pour le commerce de la Lune with the native Selenite rulers..."
 
"I believe that the Kingdom of France and Navarre should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this century is out, of landing a man on the Moon and establishing the Compagnie française pour le commerce de la Lune with the native Selenite rulers..."

:D :D :D
 
France never becomes the strongest power in Europe. They manage to keep good relations with England and the Netherlands and probably don't fight any more wars with Spain for quite a while. If Philip is such a spender and doesn't have Louis' ties to Charles II, it's likely France never buys Dunkirk from the English.

The butterflies from this could be very interesting if they reach Spain (I expect they do, but then again I'm a butterfly extremist). King Philip IV had 2 (?) legitimate sons at the time, Philip Prospero and Thomas Charles*. But they would both die before their father and leave as heir the deformed Charles, born in 1661, whose fragility and inability to produce children would leave all of Europe scheming for a partition of the Spanish empire. Say this is butterflied away. Killing Louis and giving Spain a more reliable king could have an interesting effect on the balance of power.

*Wiki only says he was born in 1658 and died in 1659, so I can't be sure if he was born yet.
 
"I believe that the Kingdom of France and Navarre should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this century is out, of landing a man on the Moon and establishing the Compagnie française pour le commerce de la Lune with the native Selenite rulers..."

:D:D
Only to be later conquered by the English Lunar Company...

France never becomes the strongest power in Europe. They manage to keep good relations with England and the Netherlands and probably don't fight any more wars with Spain for quite a while. If Philip is such a spender and doesn't have Louis' ties to Charles II, it's likely France never buys Dunkirk from the English.

The butterflies from this could be very interesting if they reach Spain (I expect they do, but then again I'm a butterfly extremist). King Philip IV had 2 (?) legitimate sons at the time, Philip Prospero and Thomas Charles*. But they would both die before their father and leave as heir the deformed Charles, born in 1661, whose fragility and inability to produce children would leave all of Europe scheming for a partition of the Spanish empire. Say this is butterflied away. Killing Louis and giving Spain a more reliable king could have an interesting effect on the balance of power.

*Wiki only says he was born in 1658 and died in 1659, so I can't be sure if he was born yet.

The issue with the children of Philip IV and Mariana of Austria is that they also probably had the same genetical problems as Charles II. Only Charles and his sister Margaret reached adulthood, and only Margaret could have children. So I think that even if one of Charles' brothers survive is unlikely he could have heirs.
Also, it's not impossible that France would not be involved in the Spanish Succession. Philip was the son of Anne of Austria - daughter of Philip III - and probably the same agreements made by Mazarin to marry Louis XIV and Maria Theresa would be probably made now to marry her and Philip VII. IOTL his two marriages were imposed by his brother, and I see no reason why Mazarin could not impose a political marriage with Maria Theresa (after all, Philip wasn't very interested in politics, and would probably accept Mazarin's plan).
So we would probably have Spain still facing succession problems and France not so involved in wars (at least until the Spanish succession issue appears) and with more financial difficulties.
 
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