Color fading on top of cover McGraw-Hill, 2966 second printing, 351 pages I, The King is the story of Philip IV of Spain and of the women who most infuenced his life. Among them was his first wife, Isabel of Bourbon, the beautiful child bride who became his wise and respected Regent; his "true love" Inés Calderón, the charming young actress, who gave him his best-loved son; and Sor María, the Abbess, gifted with great mystical powers, of a remote provincial convent, whose correspondence with the King, comprising more than 600 letters and covering a period of more than twenty years, remains a record of one of the most remarkable friendships in history.