The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas. Part II.

The Man in the Iron Mask is the final part of The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, which is the last of the three d'Artagnan Romances, following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After.

Set in the 1660s and concerned with the early reign of Louis XIV, the novel has been called an "origins" story of the King, "a tale about the education of a young man who went on to rule for over 70 years and become one of France's most beloved monarchs."

Dumas constructs the plot around the notion that the Man in the Iron Mask is the twin brother of Louis XIV, Philippe, who had been concealed and imprisoned from birth by his father, Louis XIII, and his mother, Anne of Austria, "for the good of France". Only a very few people living at the start of the novel know of Philippe's existence; these include his mother, Anne, and her former confidante, the Duchesse de Chevreuse. Chevreuse has let the secret slip to Aramis when they had an affair. (From Wikipedia)

At the same time D’Artagnan’s fortune is near its height; having become the illustrious Captain of the Musketeers, he is now the chief defender of King Louis XIV. Fortune has also smiled on his three companions: Aramis is a wealthy bishop and the powerful, secret Superior General of the Jesuit Order (or “the black pope”); Athos is the premier nobleman of France; and Porthos becomes a Duke with the proud but garishly long-winded title of “du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds.”

On the opposite side of fortune, we find the young Phillippe, a desolate iron-masked prisoner in the infamous Bastille who has been deprived of everything, even his true identity.

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