Château de Blois - Blois Castle, France

King Louis XII (1462-1515) once occupied the Château de Blois, a Renaissance castle in the centre of the city of Blois in the Loire Valley in France. He was King of France from 1498 to his death in 1515, and also King of Naples from 1501 to 1504.

Popular with the people, he was nicknamed the Father of the People in 1506. His regal colours were red and gold, and he adopted the porcupine as his emblem.

He was born in the castle, the Château de Blois, and died in the castle – of gout. His funeral mass was held at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, and he is buried at the Saint Denis Basilica.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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