Off the coast of Cannes, the island of Sainte-Marguerite is the largest of the four islands of Lérins.
The Iron Mask was a prisoner there for many years.
On April 30, 1687, he arrived on the island under the care of his jailer, Mr. Marquis de Saint-Mars.
His identity remains a mystery.
Was he the twin brother of Louis XIV, the adulterous son of Anne of Austria, wife of Louis XIII, and the Duke of Buckingham, or of the same Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin?
Was he the bastard son of Louis XIV, the bastard son of King Charles II of England, the Duke of Monmouth or the Count Mattioli, who would have been imprisoned for having sold to Spain the contents of the negotiations between Louis XIV and Carles III of Mantua?
Nobody knows!
The name given to the island would be that of a sister of Saint-Honorat, Marguerite.
In the 5th century she was the head of a community of nuns.
Her brother, who lived on the neighboring island, could not see her because the island was forbidden to women.
The Saint announced to her that he would only come to see her once a year, when the almond trees were in bloom.
Margaret prayed so fervently to God that an almond tree planted on the shore began to bloom every month.
In front of this miracle, Saint Honorat felt his ascetic rigor melt away.
The monastery founded by Saint Honorat on the island of Lerins is the oldest in the West.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
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