Louis XIV who built Versailles led a very public life.  Everything he did, he did in public and this is one of the reasons he succeeded in making France Europe’s number-one power.  Versailles was the cultural centre of Europe, everyone learned French and French style, taste and manner of kissing spread across Europe.  There was no suspicion about him, no rumours, no cause for question because everything he did had a witness. Louis XIV had no privacy and privacy was something Louis XV and Louis XVI craved and they eventually took for themselves.  That privacy ultimately led to the fall of the French Monarchy.  

The day Louis XIV died, his grandson and heir Louis XV took the throne and went to bed in public that night.  Louis XV was only 5 years old. A Regency was establish and ruled until the King turned of age and life was much the same as it had been under Louis XIV.  When the King turned of age he had new apartments built for himself in Versailles (see Versailles – A lesson in opulence) and slowly carved out more and more private time for himself.    Louis XV lacked his grandfathers charm and slowly France lost it’s power abroad and rumblings of rebellion began in France.  By the time Louis XVI took the throne, the nation was in crisis.  He was a meek man who married a sweet girl from Austria, Marie Anntoinette.  The two retreated into a private life in the Gardens of Versailles, isolating themselves from the growing revolutionary fires.  They lived extravagantly, no one knew what they were doing, there was a lot of suspicion and question.  Eventually the poor peasantry were wondering why the King held absolute power over them and why they should be expected to pay for all his and Marie Antoinette’s extravagant life?  This is a bit of an over simplification of what caused the French Revolution by the gluttenous lifestyle of Louis XIV, XV & XVI certainly were leading factors.

Versailles has some amazing gardens originally built by Louis XIV.  In his mind, he was the divine ruler and thus he canncontrol nature.  The well manicured gardens were well planned, beautifully manicured and embellished with statues and fountains … This control in the gardens was to remind the 5000 nobles who lived at Versailles that the Sun King was in complete control.    We were lucky to be there on a day when the fountains were on, so we got to enjoy them in all their splendour!

                  

Palace life at Versaille still got hectic for Louis XIV.  Ironically, he moved the French Court to Versailles to get away from the stressful life of the Louvre in Paris and instead he just moved all that stress to Versailles.  The constant scrutiny and strict etiquette of being watched by people 24/7 had to wear on the king and so ‘The Trianon Palaces’ were built as a getaway at the edge of the manicured grounds (about a 30 minute walk from the Palace).  Louis XIV and XV used the Trianon Palaces mostly for their mistresses … Louis XVI and his wife retreated there to lead a private, insulated life away from the countries problems.

Marie Antoinette desired the simple life of a peasant.  She wanted the fairy tale of simple country living, she did not want the experience of hard labour like the real peasants who sweated and starved around her.  To live out this fairy tale she had built Le Domaine de Marie-Antoinette … A small peasant village where she could live out this dream.  She loved the privacy this village offered her as no one could come to visit without her permission.  It was this type of extravagance that earned her the nickname ‘Madame Déficit’ and helped the country become disillusioned with the monarchy.  Even with all of that – the village is a pretty amazing place and you can easily see its charm.

   

 
  

  

  

  

  

  

They still grow full gardens and have bunnies, goats and cows so you can get a real feel on what it would have been like.