Louis XIV. was not ill-disposed towards the Polish project, and, on 10 December, 1663, the marriage of the Duc d’Enghien and Anne of Bavaria was celebrated in the King’s chapel at the Louvre. A clause in the marriage contract stated that the King and Queen of Poland adopted the bride “as their only daughter.” Meanwhile, however, it was becoming apparent that Condé himself was likely to be far more acceptable to the Poles than his son, and the French Court seemed to approve of this solution. At the beginning of 1665, John Casimir decided to abdicate, and Condé was preparing to start for Warsaw with Enghien--whether it was his intention to get himself or his son elected is a moot point--when Louis XIV., fearing to offend the Duke of Neuburg, a rival competitor, whose possessions of Berg and Jülich commanded the passages of the Rhine and covered the Spanish Netherlands on the North-East, ordered him to renounce his candidature. “My cousin,” said he, “think no more of the Crown of Poland; the interest of my State is concerned in it.” Condé reluctantly obeyed, and when, in June 1669, John Casimir, who had been persuaded by the prince’s friends in Poland to retain the crown until then, in the hope that circumstances might permit him to renew his candidature, Michael Wisnowiecki was elected. Condé received some compensation for the mortification which the Polish affair must have occasioned him in a brilliantly successful reappearance in command of a French army. On the outbreak of the Devolution War in 1667, the command of the forces which invaded the Spanish Netherlands was given to Turenne, and his great rival was left to languish in inaction at Chantilly. Without allowing himself to be discouraged, Condé secretly applied himself to drawing up a plan for the conquest of Franche-Comté. This plan he submitted to Louvois, the Minister for War, who persuaded the King to approve it, and to entrust its execution to the prince himself. On 4 February, 1668, Condé crossed the frontier, and so skilfully had his measures been taken and so rapid were his movements, that in little more than a fortnight the whole province was at his feet. Louis XIV. immediately gave to the prince the government of the conquered territory; but the Triple Alliance between England, Sweden and Holland was already forming, and the King was soon obliged to consent to peace, retaining his conquests in the Netherlands, but restoring Franche-Comté to Spain.