Diplomatic actions under Louis XIV were designed to build alliances aimed at establishing and imposing the power of the monarch. There were a few short years between the meeting on Pheasant Island, orchestrated by Mazarin, and the pre-eminence of France recognised by Spain, as Louis XIV wanted. Contemporaries of the Sun King recall the splendour of the receptions of the defeated Doge of Genoa or of the ambassadors of the King of Siam, meant to secure a new ally against Holland overseas. All of these displays fuelled European tensions.