He had more than a dozen children with his mistresses

One of the interesting facts about Louis XIV is that he had more than a dozen children with his mistress. Only one of the six children the king's wife Marie-Thérèse gave birth to Louis lived past the age of five. Louis XIV fathered more than a dozen children who were not his. Only two of the king's five children, who were born to Lady Louise de La Vallière, lived through infancy. In contrast, Madame de Montespan, the king's final major mistress, gave birth to the king's seven children. Most of Louis XIV's children born to mistresses were finally given legal status in the years that followed their birth.

Louis was never devoted to Maria Theresa, despite signs of devotion early in their marriage. Both official and unofficial, he has had a lot of mistresses. Françoise-Athénas, Marquise de Montespan (with whom he had seven children; 1667-80), Anne de Rohan-Chabot (1669-75), Claude de Vin des illets (one born in 1676), Isabelle de Ludres (1675-78), and Marie Angélique de Scorailles (1679-81), who passed away at the age of 19 from childbirth, are among the better documents. He had a lot of illegitimate children from these relationships, and he married most of them off to cadet branches of the royal family.