His successor was France’s second-longest-reigning monarch.
Louis XIV was born in 1638, and when his father passed away when he was four years old, he was made king of France. An important fact about Louis XIV is that he reigned from 1643 to 1715 until his death at the age of 72. Few other monarchs in the world have reigned longer. This makes him the longest-reigning French monarch in history and any other European country.
In the last years of his life, Louis XIV had to go through a series of family tragedies. First, in 1711, his son and apparent heir died of smallpox. Then, the following year, measles claimed the lives of a grandson and great-grandson, as well as a beloved niece-in-law. Two grandsons are still alive. But one died as a result of a hunting accident in 1714, and the other was forced to give up the French throne as part of an agreement that he remained the ruler of Spain.
Louis XIV now has only one potential heir: an ailing great-grandson. Although in desperation he claimed that two of his illegitimate children could become kings if his direct lineage were lost, that never happened. Coming to power at the age of 5, his great-grandson would continue to run France for the next 59 years as Louis XV.
