Eugene was a wimpy prince; stunted in growth, ugly, sickly, pale and hunched back. Everyone in Louis XIV's castle had written him off and ignored him. The young prince wandered around in the shadows of the French monarch's castle going unnoticed among the nobles and royalty who attended the balls, ballets, and parties.

Eugene's friends were the slaves. No one else would have anything to do with him. Eugene wanted to be a soldier so he went to Louis XIV and asked for a commission in his army. Louis wouldn't even look at him. That was one of the biggest mistakes the French king would ever make.

Eugene sneaked out of the palace dressed as a woman and stole away to Vienna where the Turks were invading Europe. There he joined Austria's army. Now the homely prince was more than a shadow in a castl…