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Don’t believe everything you see in the movies. For starters. the mask was stiffened black velvet, not iron. I guess “iron” just sounded better for the moviegoers. Also unlike the movies, it is highly unlikely that the prisoner was King Louis IV’s twin, thopugh it is possible he was an illegitimate relative that had the misfortune to resemble the king overly much. The truth is, no one alive knows. Anything left in official papers did little to clear things up. All it verifies was that the man was kept for most of his life, moved from prison to prison several times, and that he had never been tried, charged, or convicted of anything criminal.

According to official papers, the unknown, masked prisoner died on November 19, 1703, and was buried somewhere in “St. Paul in our parrish” in France. His grave bore the name “Marchioly”, for whatever reason.

Louis XV, who knew the identity of the man, would say only that he had never heard a ruor that even came close to the truth.

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