Queen Anne had a very close relationship with the Cardinal, and many observers believed that Mazarin became Louis XIV's
stepfather by a secret marriage to Queen Anne.[30] However, Louis's coming-of-age and subsequent coronation deprived them ofthe Frondeurs' pretext for revolt. The Fronde thus gradually lost steam and ended in 1653, when Mazarin returned triumphantly
from exile. From that time until his death, Mazarin was in charge of foreign and financial policy without the daily supervision of
Anne, who was no longer regent.[31]
During this period, Louis fell in love with Mazarin's niece Marie Mancini, but Anne and Mazarin ended the king's infatuation by
sending Mancini away from court to be married in Italy. While Mazarin might have been tempted for a short time to marry his
niece to the King of France, Queen Anne was absolutely against this; she wanted to marry her son to the daughter of her brother,
Philip IV of Spain, for both dynastic and political reasons. Mazarin soon supported the Queen's position because he knew that her
support for his power and his foreign policy depended on making peace with Spain from a strong position and on the Spanish
marriage. Additionally, Mazarin's relations with Marie Mancini were not good, and he did not trust her to support his position. All
of Louis's tears and his supplications to his mother did not make her change her mind. The Spanish marriage would be very