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Bonjour, and welcome to Inside Versailles.
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Well, we've seen a pretty grisly amputation and we've seen
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the Duke de Cassel lamenting the fact he doesn't have fire insurance.
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So that's not gone well for him.
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We've also seen, of course, the rise of a new mistress,
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Athenais, who is Louis's new paramour.
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There's a new girl on the block and she's glamorous, she's beautiful.
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One problem - she's got a husband.
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- Ah.
- And that's difficult because some husbands will put up
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with their wives being mistresses to the King.
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They'll think, "Oh, well, I'll get money out of it."
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Not this one.
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He gets pretty upset, so we don't see any of this in the drama.
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We do see Athenais saying, "I hate him, I never want to see him again."
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But he tries to get VD.
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He says, "I'm going to try and get a venereal disease,
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"give it to you and then you can give it to the king."
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And doesn't he even hold a funeral for her?
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Yeah, I think he does throw this fake funeral to say,
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"You're dead to me. You know, my wife is dead
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"and this woman now is a harlot."
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So clearly, he's not enjoying the fact that he's been
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cuckolded by the king of France.
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Well, Greg, another thing we saw in this episode
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was the fabulous entertainment in the gardens.
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And to tell us more about this, we're joined here
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- by Dr Linda Briggs. Hello, Linda.
- Hello.
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What is this a picture of here?
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Another big Louis party?
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It is. So this is one of Louis's festivities -
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not the one we see in the drama, but from 1664,
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which is entitled The Pleasures Of The Enchanted Isle.
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And this was a festivity that was supposed
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to be in honour of his mother and his wife,
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but was tacitly acknowledged as being also
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an homage to his mistress, Louise de La Valliere.
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And we can't quite see all of the things in the picture
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but the festivity was quite exciting
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because it involved a tournament,
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it involved a comedy ballet by Moliere and Lully and also
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three separate plays by Moliere including the premiere of Tartuffe.
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And this is an engraving, isn't it,
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that Louis created of the wonderful party and then sent out everywhere
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to make sure that everyone knew that he threw the best parties?
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- Exactly, this is...
- And you weren't invited.
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This is something he chose to do himself and he had it
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magnificently illustrated, sent to all the European courts
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- so they could see what they were missing...
- "Ha-ha-ha".
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..and also what they ought to be doing
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to show that they are as thriving in their state as he is.
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So this is propaganda, this is PR.
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This is a way of making everyone else jealous?
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Yes, exactly.
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And there was all kinds of exotic stuff, wasn't there?
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There were fireworks, the menagerie was out
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and I believe there were even ornamental whales...
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- There were.
- ..coming down the Grand Canal as the grand finale.
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And part of the reason why Louis had to have these parties outside
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was because there was no room inside.
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Exactly. As we're seeing in the show, he's still in the process of
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building Versailles, and some of the rooms just aren't big enough to hold
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the number of people at court, of which there are thousands.
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So he has most of it in the gardens, which at this point are landscaped.
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So it's quite a nice place to be.
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So you've said that this party is, in theory, to celebrate
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- his queen and his mother, but he's throwing it for his mistress.
- Yes.
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Is this his way of showing off?
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Is he doing this for other people?
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A way of demonstrating his greatness and his power?
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Yes. Well, he's doing it for his mistresses as almost
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like a peacock with a feather.
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But he's doing it for the nobility at large for a number of reasons -
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it's his means of trying to create control over his nobility,
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so he's trying to divert them, he's trying to give them
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something to do so they're not creating coups against him.
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He's also trying to communicate
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that it's going to be a very prosperous age, a new golden age.
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So he's throwing, what, ballets, masques?
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What's going on in terms of the entertainment,
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musically and theatrically? You mentioned Moliere and Lully -
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what are they composing for him?
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Well, there's a genre of play at this time
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which is the comedy ballet, which doesn't actually have a plot,
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it's just a series of set pieces,
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which was originally designed so there could be vast costume changes.
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Great costumes and bling and glitter...
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Why not? Exactly.
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He's the Mariah Carey of the 17th century.
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LAUGHTER
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So, yes, there are some pastoral scenes which involve dancing.
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Then there are musical interludes
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while the costume changes take place.
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So it's just a sort of grand affair
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that Louis himself will have been involved with
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and a lot of the other nobles as well who are all dancing together,
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supplemented with professional dancers as well.
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But I should say that Louis XIV was actually
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a really fantastic ballet dancer,
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so he doesn't need the professional dancers all that much.
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So in the drama, we see Louis watching his entertainments
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but in reality, he would have been centre stage.
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Exactly, he would have been the star.
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He takes part in a number of ballets from 1653 up until 1669,
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and he is almost always the centre of it, usually playing Apollo.
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- Mr Prima.
- Exactly.
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And he has all the nobles dance around him,
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which he uses to reinforce the hierarchy of court
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where everyone has to congregate around him.
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He is the sun and they are the planets.
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So Moliere is one of my favourites - I've read a few of his plays
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and they're pretty satirical, they're full of jokes.
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But he pokes a lot of fun at the rich and powerful.
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How does that go down, given that the audience is rich and powerful?
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This sees the premiere of Tartuffe, which is a very satirical play
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about an impostor who comes into a family
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and turns everything upside-down and pretends to be very pious
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but in fact is very not pious.
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And it's banned almost immediately by bishops.
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And Louis, for his part, actually doesn't mind it -
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he thinks they're quite funny and he really respects Moliere
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and is quite a good friend of his.
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But even he agrees that it can be banned.
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But the satire tends to go down quite well at court
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because it's all quite tongue-in-cheek.
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So he's a patron of the arts but he's also politically savvy,
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- he knows when to put his foot down?
- Yes, exactly.
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So this was 1664.
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In the drama, we're seeing a big entertainment in 1668.
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Does that really happen?
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Yes, it does, and in fact it dwarfs the 1664 ceremony.
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It was bigger and better?
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Much bigger, the best that he throws, actually.
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Crucial question - are there whales?
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No, there are dolphins and there is a giant bronze dragon.
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- Oh, what else do you need?
- That's OK, that's fine.
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Exactly. Who needs a whale?
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So the drama suggests that this festivity
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was actually created in celebration of the end of the war.
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- But the ceremonies took up to two years to put together...
- Heavens.
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..so it was started much earlier.
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And in fact, in the account that's sent out to all the different courts
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in Europe, it specifically says that the ceremony has been put back
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because Louis has been at the front.
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So they've been sitting there with all their fireworks going,
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- "Where is he?"
- Just waiting.
- Awkward.
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So Louis really was a party king,
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but it was also party politics at the same time?
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Exactly.
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Thank you so much, Linda, it's been great to have you with us.
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So, what an episode.
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Join us next week for some more Inside Versailles.
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- Bonsoir.
- Bonsoir.
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