Maria Theresa of Spain was Queen of France from 1660 to 1683 as the wife of King Louis XIV. She was born an Infanta of Spain and Portugal as the daughter of King Philip IV and Elisabeth of France, and was also an Archduchess of Austria as a member of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg.
Portrait by Henri and Charles Beaubrun
Portrait by Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo c. 1645
The infanta Maria Theresa aged 14 by Diego Velázquez, c. 1653. Her hairstyle and dress with wide panniers were popular in Spain.
Meeting on the Isle of Pheasants, June 1660; Maria Theresa is handed over to the French and her husband by proxy, Louis XIV.
Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign. Although Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the Age of Absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Bossuet, Colbert, Louvois, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, Lully, Mazarin, Molière, Racine, Turenne, Condé, and Vauban.
Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701
Louis XIV as a young child, unknown painter
Baptismal certificate, 1638
Louis XIV in 1643, just before becoming king, by Claude Deruet
