The secret of the Man in the Iron Mask is revealed in a satirical novel

The prisoner in the iron mask is identified as the Count of Vermandois in the Mémoires secrets pour servir à l'histoire de Perse, an anonymous work published in Amsterdam in 1745. The text claims that the son of Louis XIV was imprisoned for slapping the Dauphin, then exiled under a fake death that occurred in 1683. The anecdote recounts how the prisoner enjoyed the greatest respect while wearing a mask during his travels.