Many of the characters who appear in The Three Musketeers were real people who are depicted reasonably accurately in the novel, although Dumas did take fictional liberties with their actions. King Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, and Cardinal Richelieu were important people during the period of the novel. Monsieur de Treville and Richelieu really were enemies—in fact, in 1642, de Treville was part of a plot to assassinate the Cardinal. Richelieu did have his own personal company of guards, who did have a fierce rivalry with the Musketeers. The tension between France and England, and the ensuing war in which the Guards and Musketeers fought, was an historical fact.

Louis XIII (1601-1643) ruled France from 1610 until his death, but the real ruler for much of that time was his domineering mother, Marie de' Medici. In 1617, he arranged the assassination of her minister, Concino Concini, forcing her...