Man in the Iron Mask arrested in Calais in 1669 further to the execution of Roux, who would have denounced him when being tortured. Hugh Ross Williamson argues that the man in the iron mask was the natural father of Louis XIV. According to this theory, the "miraculous" birth of Louis XIV in 1638 would have come after Louis XIII had been estranged from his wife Anne of Austria for 14 years. Furthermore, Louis XIII was old, weak, ill, and not expected to live much longer, and thus may have been impotent at the time, implying that he was not the father. The theory then
Man in the Iron Mask be conducted to the fortress at Pignerol where he will be locked in a cell and under guard at night, and permitted to walk the battlements during the day with a 330 309." It has been suggested that the 330 stood for "masque" and the 309 for full stop. However, in 17th-century French "avec un masque" would mean "in a mask". Some believe that the evidence of the letters means that there is now little need of an alternative explanation for the man in the mask. Other sources, however, claim that Bulonde's arrest was no secret and was actually published