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00:04Louis XIV, so powerful he took his name from the sun itself, so dominant he made the haughtiest
00:14aristocrats bend to his will, so insatiable that no one mistress could satisfy him for long.
00:24Throughout a long and turbulent life, Louis sought magnificence in all things. He strived for it in love, in battle,
00:35and in art.
00:37But above all, he wanted magnificence at Versailles. By creating a building so spectacular, it would outshine any palace on
00:46earth.
00:47Taken from intimate memoirs and official records, this is the story of how a king's obsession created one of the
00:54wonders of the world.
01:12It started in a swamp.
01:17It was here, in a stretch of mosquito-infested marshland, that Louis, the 27-year-old king of France, decided
01:25to construct his new palace, near a small and unremarkable country town called Versailles.
01:34His courtiers were far from impressed.
01:38It was almost as though Louis had deliberately picked the worst possible site for his magnificent palace,
01:44in order to prove to the world that his will was greater than nature.
01:56Louis had a sentimental reason for choosing Versailles.
02:00It was the site of his father's old hunting lodge.
02:03And as a boy, he'd played and hunted here.
02:12The original chateau of Louis's father was on top of a hill.
02:18The problem, if you wanted to turn it into a whacking great palace, was that you weren't going to be
02:23building on flat land.
02:26Louis was told this is not a great place for a big expansion of your father's chateau.
02:31As a monarch with absolute power, Louis wasn't used to being told what to do, and he didn't much like
02:38it.
02:48From the outset, Louis was thinking big.
02:51He started by hiring the greatest architect of the age, Louis Levaux, to transform the hunting lodge into the palace
02:58of his dreams.
03:03Louis was to devote much of his energy to his new project, but he was always sure to make time
03:08for his other great passion.
03:12Although married to Queen Marie-Thérèse, he had numerous affairs.
03:16His current mistress was a young, aristocratic beauty called Louise de la Valliere.
03:22It will make me think that these insects have a good taste.
03:25They have hit us in places.
03:27But it's that I suffer horribly.
03:29And my desire to gratter is terrible.
03:31Here.
03:34And here too.
03:36Louis's attitude towards women was one of tremendous enthusiasm.
03:40He really loved women.
03:42He didn't just love them for sex.
03:44He loved their company.
03:45He loved their conversation.
03:46He loved their elegance.
03:48He loved women who were witty and refined.
03:51Most of all, I think he loved women because they teased him.
03:55They made him laugh.
04:00He had a tremendous sexual appetite.
04:02He would quite often, if his mistress was too slow in taking her dress off, have a turn with her
04:06lady's maid while he was waiting,
04:08or a passing servant in the corridor at Versailles.
04:11He made love the way he did everything else, with enormous gusto.
04:18A French king was expected to have a mistress.
04:21It sort of symbolized the virility of the nation.
04:25And, you know, a hundred years later, poor Louis XVI, the French were furious with him because he didn't have
04:30a mistress.
04:34Louise de la Valliere was Louis XIV's first official mistress.
04:38She was a lady-in-waiting at the court.
04:41She was guileless, charming, daughter of a good family.
04:46And she adored the king.
04:47And it was irresistible because she convinced him quite genuinely that she loved him for himself.
04:53And I think this is what the young king wanted to hear.
04:57I think he had a very good time.
05:03Louise was very important to him.
05:05He did love her.
05:06They had two children together.
05:08He made her a duchess.
05:10But it was a young man's crush rather than a profound passion.
05:20Whatever his feelings for Louise, Louis was always careful to fulfil all of his obligations to his wife.
05:27His marriage to Queen Marie-Thérèse was politically vital.
05:31It had ensured peace between France and Spain for many years.
05:35And he needed to father children with her to ensure that his dynasty lived on.
05:41Louis did feel a duty towards the queen.
05:43He made love to her frequently.
05:45And she would always have a special mass said the day afterwards.
05:48And everybody would nudge each other at court because she'd look very pleased as she came into the chapel.
05:53He was attentive to her, polite to her.
05:55They had children together.
05:57But she simply didn't have the looks or the education or the spirit or the charm to captivate a man
06:05like that.
06:06She accepted his infidelity, as did most royal and aristocratic women of the time, as being part of marriage.
06:16Louis' mosquito-bitten courtiers also had to accept their king for what he was.
06:21Like all 17th-century monarchs, Louis believed himself appointed directly by God.
06:28Yeah, sir.
06:29Well, sir.
06:30Messieurs, sachez que j'ai nommé notre premier valet de chambre, Monsieur Blouin,
06:35conseillé en notre conseil d'état.
06:36Our new council, sir.
06:38The one of us would have accepted that.
06:39Monsieur Blouin, our confidence.
06:42It would we very much like you would like to listen to it now.
06:45Nobody could tell him what to do.
06:47He was quite simply the only power in the realm.
06:50And having had this consciousness since he was a very, very small child,
06:54I think it meant that he was without any arrogance or hubris
06:59of the opinion that he was pretty much a god himself.
07:06As a kind of living god,
07:09Louis liked nothing more than being the centre of everyone else's attention.
07:16Louis was brought up in a theatre-mad age.
07:19As a young man, he took dancing lessons
07:22which seemed to have completely transformed his self-confidence.
07:28He was actually a very accomplished dancer
07:31and he clearly enjoyed greatly taking part in these performances
07:37which were mainly in front of a court audience.
07:39La trouve des astres s'enfuit dès que ce grand roi s'avance.
07:42Les nobles clartés de la nuit qui triomphaient en son absence.
07:47I think all his contemporaries were extremely impressed by him.
07:51He was astonishingly handsome with his long golden hair
07:54and his almost cherubic face.
07:57He was indeed god-given, as his mother, Anne of Austria, called him.
08:01Louis liked dressing up, and not just for fun.
08:05It was part of his public image.
08:07He chose as his role model the Greek god Apollo,
08:11represented in classical imagery as the sun.
08:29Louis was very interested in the sun as a symbol.
08:35It's a very powerful symbol because it sheds its light everywhere.
08:39It's obviously very beneficial, but it's also a symbol of domination
08:44because all the other elements are subordinate to the sun.
08:49He's, in a sense, above everything.
08:59The Sun King seems to me an appropriate title.
09:02It was one that was a piece of propaganda when he was young.
09:06But like many bits of propaganda, I think it became fat.
09:18Levaux's plans for the remodelling of Versailles were complete
09:21and ready to present to his demanding boss.
09:34Louis certainly knew that what he wanted was a building
09:37which had that shock and awe effect.
09:41There's absolutely no doubt that he wanted a building
09:44that would be sensational.
09:47Levaux's model was impressive, but had a major flaw.
09:51He planned to destroy the old hunting lodge.
09:56This is a new building, Mr. Levaux.
10:00Certainly, Majesté.
10:02The idea of Louis XIV was to keep always
10:06the little chateau of his father.
10:08So that was a problem for an architect
10:10because the architect preferred to destroy everything
10:12and to build a new building.
10:15So Louis sent the architect away and he told him,
10:18I want this little chateau preserved.
10:20You have to build, but by increasing the original building.
10:23I like to live with my father's memory.
10:25Make sure that your plans preserve his chateau.
10:34With Levaux sent back to the drawing board,
10:37Louis turned his attention to the landscape.
10:40He wanted to expand the existing garden,
10:43adding ornamental lakes and groves
10:45lined with dazzling fountains.
10:48But he'd picked an awful sight.
10:53There were no views.
10:55It's hemmed in by the sides of a valley.
10:58And also, Versailles wasn't naturally endowed,
11:02the region, with the sort of trees
11:03which Louis wanted for his garden.
11:06Louis' chief gardener
11:07was the century's most celebrated landscape designer,
11:10André Lenot.
11:11Versailles would be the greatest challenge of his career.
11:14Comment vous en rendre grâce?
11:17En nous donnant avec vos jardins un avant-goût du paradis.
11:21But the sun king did not want to wait for his earthly paradise,
11:25or for his trees to grow from saplings.
11:28Louis XIV wanted results, and he wanted them fast.
11:33This was really a theme of the whole sort of project Versailles.
11:37And the solution was to uproot mature trees from other parts of France
11:43and bring them in.
11:45And a special contraption was invented,
11:47a horse-drawn contraption,
11:48which would allow these mature trees to be transported on,
11:53as you can imagine, these terribly bad roads from other provinces.
12:01With major new building work on hold,
12:05Louis instructed Laveau to upgrade the interior of Versailles.
12:09On his inspection tours,
12:11Louis was accompanied by his entourage,
12:13including mistress, Louise de La Valliere.
12:16But Louise now had a rival.
12:23Madame?
12:27Faut-il aussi que je vous laisse ma place?
12:30Il se pourrait, madame, que ma place soit bientôt la vôtre.
12:33Monsieur Laveau,
12:36sont-ce bien là des miroirs de Venise?
12:40Les miroirs de Venise n'ont pas d'égal en pureté, sire.
12:43Nous n'en voulons pas d'autres.
12:47D'autres miroirs déformeraient le reflet de ces dames qui nous accompagnent.
12:52SORT-IL- Ms.
12:53After a while,
12:53he became quite bored with Louise
12:55and she hung around at court,
12:56desperate to try and get his attention back.
12:58She never really did.
12:59So I think she probably suffered quite a lot.
13:03I think the king could pick and choose.
13:05Power's a great aphrodisiac
13:07and a crown even more so so naturally i think he picked very beautiful women
13:16louis liked to display his power after winning a war against spain he celebrated with a huge party
13:22in the gardens of versailles it was also a chance for the king to show off the woman who had
13:31now
13:32replaced louise as his favorite mistress her name was madame de montespan and she was one of the most
13:39beautiful women in france is such an attractive figure i think she was a tremendous goer she loved
14:00everything to do with pleasure she loved jewels she liked marvelous clothes she liked food flowers
14:07gardening and above all she liked sex you see and he did too um so he found the absolutely the
14:14right
14:14maitres on teeth for him
14:19and she knew about having wonderful feasts and about having entertainments
14:24so she was exactly the kind of person louis envisaged as being suitable
14:30same time she was so beautiful that ambassadors thought she contributed to the legend of the sun
14:36king the sun king's festivities were about more than pleasure they had real political significance
14:45louis was slowly turning his new palace into the most important and the most fashionable seat of power in
14:52europe the parties at versailles um they've been described as pagan masses
15:04fireworks rides along the canal in gondolas balls for three thousand people under the stars
15:11plays ballets with a hundred dancers by lully everything you could possibly imagine
15:16all at once in this tremendous circus of celebration for the king
15:23the great parties were intended to show the nobility and the rest of europe how powerful the king of
15:30france was what wonderful artists he had what one of the musicians how superior his court and his culture
15:36were to every other court and culture in europe the king's former mistress louise eventually gave up trying to win
15:48him back
15:49after years of neglect she decided to enter a convent leaving behind the children she'd had with louis
16:01i don't think she felt guilt about leaving them behind because she knew that they were going to be very
16:06well treated
16:08so i don't think she felt that kind of guilt because i think her big guilt she wanted to expunge
16:13with penance and fasting and all that in the convent and when she finally got away i think she was
16:18much happier
16:22she became a very hard-line nun you know haircut hair shirt um praying and repentance and generally
16:30ended her life more or less in the odor of sanctity because louis was spending more and more time at
16:37versailles he decided to move his entire government there to accommodate the new officials levaux suggested a
16:45brand new idea keeping the old hunting lodge but enclosing it with massive new buildings on three sides
16:53the design was known as the envelope
17:00the chateau was preserved but it was enveloped in this new building in a completely different style
17:07which looked like a palace
17:11what he also did with levaux was to build pavilions for his ministers now this was very important what
17:18this meant was that for the first time versailles could function as a seat of monarchy a place from
17:24which the king could govern building the envelope was a massive task requiring thousands of workers
17:39the largest number of workers were 40 000 people at the same time it was a very dangerous place also
17:47because the the work to be done was not done in a secure way of course it was with accidents
17:55and people dying
18:01louis was impatient to get the job done quickly work went on day and night
18:09there was no health and safety regime and the workers who were most at risk were the ones who
18:15were working high up so for instance the roofers the carpenters
18:23we do know that there were a lot of accidents on site
18:38there were times when the death rate the mortality rate was high and in order not to demoralize the
18:47workforce the corpses would be removed at night
19:03louis mistress madame de montespan was already married but that didn't stop her spending most of
19:09her time with the king and he made sure she got the vip treatment
19:14she had a suite of 20 rooms whereas the queen had to make do with 11. they were gorgeously appointed
19:21and he spent a lot of time in them they included a bathroom most unusual for the time in which
19:27apparently he and madame de montespan spent many happy hours
19:35despite her elevated status montespan found it hard to share louis even with his own wife
20:03i don't think she was really jealous of the queen because after all she had
20:08everything of louis's real love and she knew it but i think she made scenes about the other
20:14mistresses when they came along as the years passed and i think there are some men possibly louis among
20:20them who rather like it if a woman is jealous and shows signs of caring you know she certainly
20:26complained like mad if she felt he was strayed from what was in fact an illegitimate relationship
20:39so
20:40louis kept a close eye on the building works but one inspection visit brought a nasty surprise
20:48a mother angry at the death of her son killed on sight was waiting for him
20:53and we're told that she just let fly at louis the 14th
21:13i mean he was very surprised he said what is that me
21:35this was a courageous thing for this mother to have done because there were guards everywhere
21:41and of course as soon as she had said this she was very quickly uh hustled away for her punishment
21:53a good administration of justice requires that an indemnity be given to this woman like the others
21:59but this same good administration of justice requires that this woman is punished for the
22:03outrage which has been made for us because no one should think of being able to take impunently
22:28and louis's dream of creating the most spectacular palace in europe was slowly becoming a reality
22:36louis great gardener his real gift was for rearranging the landscape basically and dividing it up on a grid
22:45and then you treat the units within the grid essentially as outdoor rooms and then you would bring
22:53in all sorts of other people water engineers sculptors architects essentially to furnish these rooms
23:09the
23:21the envelope around the old hunting lodge was complete louis's ministers were installed in their new
23:26apartments and the king began governing from versailles now louis decided he would make the palace his
23:37permanent home and insisted that leading french nobles come and live there too
23:55there's no question that for louis the nobility particularly the great court nobility were
23:59an essential aspect of his kingship they surrounded him with glory and status
24:04this is here this is a state where the ultimate decider on granting favor or refusing favor is in the
24:13hands of the king
24:14if you were looking for a military command if you were looking for favors for many of your clients
24:21supporters and family then the way to achieve this was by getting access to louis and to a lesser extent
24:27by gaining access to the ministers around louis but housing all the nobles would mean yet more building work
24:36louis finance minister jean-baptiste colbert worried about the cost
24:41of the grand commune to the hill of midi make sure that everyone finds the place that will return
24:47versailles lack of apartments sire it will still need to build
24:51let's build up colbert build up if the king is in versailles
24:57if nothing can be done in france without passing by the king
25:01all the nobility will be in versailles
25:09louis wanted the nobility at versailles in order that he could keep an eye on them
25:15the message he wanted to give to his nobles was this you don't need to rebel to get what you
25:20want
25:21what you have to do is come and pay your court to me
25:42original architect louis levaux died before his project was complete
25:47his replacement jules mansard had ideas of his own
25:54mansard had the great idea to have big wings
25:58each side of the envelope to make some accommodations for the princes and the court so
26:04it was a huge design and i think he had a great idea of what would be a great palace
26:11for a great king
26:12if your majesty wants to give you the chance to look at one of the windows
26:17she will see our project in more detail
26:21mansard's most ambitious proposal was to build a fabulous gallery lined with mirrors
26:28in reflecting the light of the sun in the gallery
26:31they will no longer leave any place in the dark
26:34she will always see on the gardens
26:53how ever magnificent the plans louis experience with his builders was a familiar one everything took
27:00much longer and cost far more than the estimates and they made a terrible mess
27:06nothing is more false than these gracious pictures of their sign it shows this stately place with
27:12everything perfect you know everybody gliding about actually it was a huge building site
27:18all the court ladies complained about it the workmen starting at 6am my dear the dust and
27:25the smell of wet plaster which got it to their hair it's exactly like today exactly like what we feel
27:30on a tiny scale when our neighbors go building
27:39must have been an amazing sight i mean the first day in at versailles everybody stops jostling jostling
27:48jostling for bigger rooms and better rooms in a better position in the meantime the lesser folk you know
27:54they were trying to get down from the attics get better rooms and always to get as near as possible
28:00to the king
28:14at night there was this sort of great unrolling of mattresses all over the palace
28:19as servants and servants and soldiers guards would you know they'd go to sleep on the floor
28:26the lavatory arrangements were pretty kind of basic servants would think nothing of relieving
28:32themselves in the corridors of versailles so you have this extraordinary attention on outward
28:38appearances and magnificent clothes but alongside you have all these smells i mean you could have been in a
28:45farmyard i think many of the nobility would have resented the chaos and lack of order and doubt is
28:58complained about this at length but i think one shouldn't underestimate the compulsive desire of
29:03most of the great nobility to attend at court to be around the king
29:12louis's desire for magnificence extended to every aspect of his life especially his wardrobe he dressed
29:19in the finest cloth and expected his courtiers to do likewise and when his hair began to recede
29:27he adopted the fashion for elaborate wigs
29:32a half inch of lace on a cuff a gold or a silver button whether your pearl was here on
29:37your collar or
29:37here these could mean life and death to the courtiers fashion was hugely important and it was a very
29:43important way for the aristocracy to distinguish themselves from the ordinary people
29:50louis influenced fashion to some extent when he was a young man he dressed quite flamboyantly
29:55lots of cavalier silks and laces and ribbons he was a bit on the short side so he introduced a
30:02fashion for
30:02high-heeled shoes his mistresses perhaps were more influential on fashion madame de montespan
30:09invented various outfits including one um the glorious uh déshabillé which was a sort of a tunic worn
30:16over trousers and she invented this because it was very easy to take off um normally a lady's dress
30:22required two women to stand behind her to undo all the strings and of course louis was an impatient
30:26man he couldn't be bothered waiting so she invented this outfit so that he could undress her discreetly
30:30and easily in private
30:38with so many courtiers now craving his attention louis kept them busy by turning his daily activities
30:45into public rituals
30:49when he gets up in the morning that's the royal louis with a great queue of great nobles who hand
30:56him
30:56different articles of clothing at night it's all reversed it's the royal couche and he takes things
31:03off and gives them to nobles great nobles would quarrel with one another as to which of them had the
31:10right
31:10to hand him his shirt because it had to be the person of highest rank in the room
31:18they couldn't go off to the country on their estate and start raising armies meddling it meant that
31:23they had to stay there quarrelling about whose turn it was to give the king his napkin
31:29even the king's meal times turned into a performance where the nobles stood and watched the king eat
31:36waiting for him to speak to them one of the phenomena of versailles was the sight of leading nobles adopting
31:46these very deferential poses this was actually a very very powerful signal that the monarchy was back in
31:53charge for the courtiers flattery became a way of life for instance one courtier a great nobleman
32:02in his province louis says to him when is your wife's baby due and this nobleman says when your majesty
32:10wishes it
32:16as well as accommodating thousands of courtiers and officials
32:20versailles was also used by the king to promote france itself
32:26there was a deliberate intention to create a showcase for french manufacturers and to rival
32:36or outdo italy above all which was the great source of taste in the 17th century
32:44the magnificence of the interior of course it was all about the splendor of the monarchy and the splendor
32:49louis the 14th louis personally loved rich materials and fine craftsmanship
32:56but it was also a careful orchestration of louis the 14th's france's claim to lead europe in terms
33:04of taste and the arts
33:11as building progressed louis commissioned hundreds of paintings sculptures and other decorations
33:16many containing images of himself as the embodiment of french glory this was no accident
33:25if you compare louis with rulers before it is remarkable how he had professional advice
33:31so he's not presenting his image by himself there was a whole backup team of intellectuals writers this is
33:40real innovation that there should be a small committee of people who are simply working on how to present the
33:48king's image
33:48in the most grand manner possible the great french painter charles lebrun was recruited to the cause
33:58the royal voice that is written under your eyes sire
34:03will lead to each of your subjects from war to peace
34:06from darkness to light
34:08from the forces of chaos to the victory of order and good
34:13your paintings are dear Mr Lebrun
34:20Louis's image makers liked art that presented him as a conquering hero
34:25drawing on figures from ancient mythology like jupiter and his favorite apollo
34:33the association with the images of very powerful men of the past
34:38were part of the strategy of being the best king and the most powerful and most important king of the
34:45time
34:49Louis's public image may have included a fair amount of 17th century hype
34:54but he was certainly a remarkable man he goes hunting three times a day he goes to council meetings three
35:02times a day he's a very hard worker he makes love three times a day we must conclude the man
35:08had amazing energies
35:27Louis's restless pursuit of glory and magnificence found expression in the gardens of Versailles
35:33but even the king could not change the geography of a region that was critically short of running water
35:38to power the hundreds of new fountains that le notre had installed
35:44and so when the king took a stroll his gardeners had to turn the fountains on as he approached
35:52and then off again once he had walked past
36:20the problem of getting supplies of fast running high pressure water were never adequately solved
36:28various attempts were made to find alternative sources from quite far away from Versailles the
36:34celebrated machine of Mali a series of vast water wheels which were intended to bring water up from the
36:40Seine and deliver it to the palace of Versailles this provided water but not enough the great and final
36:49scheme involved building a full-scale roman style aqueduct
36:55this was abandoned as being too expensive and the result of course was that the great gardens of
37:01Versailles never had enough water to drive all the fountain simultaneously
37:14fortunately there was enough glass to furnish the palace's most ambitious development
37:20the result of six years intense work this was mansard and lebrun's most stunning achievement
37:28in the world Versailles Hall of Mirrors
38:00PIANO PLAYS
38:13I think the effect of the gallery is more a dream
38:19Wonderful life given by the mirrors
38:22And I think it's very impressive and astonishing
38:31Versailles is undoubtedly one of the great palaces
38:35Louis would have wanted us to think of the chateau
38:39as an integrated whole, not to focus on specific items
38:42whether the hall of mirrors or the great canal
38:45And as an integrated unit, it completely outshines
38:49I think almost every other palace ever conceived or built
38:57Quelque chose déplait-il à sa majesté
39:01Tout est bien comme vous me l'aviez promis
39:04Toutefois il nous plairait que cette galerie soit ouverte au public
39:08Comme le reste du château et des jardins
39:10Ils sont la fierté du royaume de France
39:12Faisons-les partager au monde
39:17Louis said of his house Versailles, c'est moi
39:21Louis was Versailles, he was his house
39:23If we understand one, we understand the other
39:30The king wishes to assert his authority and maintain his position
39:34He has to do it through display
39:37Versailles is an ideal theatre set
39:39On which he can act out what he regards as his royal duties
39:43Versailles, from this point of view, fulfills those requirements
39:46Better than almost any other building that could be imagined
39:53Louis' love affair with his palace
39:55Lasted longer than any of his human relationships
39:59After 14 years, 9 pregnancies and 7 children
40:03Montespan was beginning to lose her looks
40:06And her hold on the king
40:08Madame de Montespan began to fall out of favour
40:10Because inevitably, after 9 pregnancies
40:13Her figure wasn't quite what it was
40:15She became rather blousy
40:17She drank too much, she gambled too much
40:20She made a nuisance of herself with her tantrums
40:22And I think, as happens to a lot of women
40:25The more she felt her man slipping away from her
40:27The more needy and clingy she became
40:29And the more needy and clingy she became
40:31The more she drove him away
40:44But I think Louis was also undergoing quite a significant personal transformation
40:48He was becoming much more religious
40:50Madame de Montespan was a married woman
40:53Committing adultery with an unmarried woman was one thing
40:56But double adultery was sacrilege
40:58It was a tremendous scandal
41:01And he was becoming conscious of the fact
41:03That his way of life was really compromising the state
41:07And compromising his kingship
41:12Louis turned to a very different woman
41:16Madame de Maintenon
41:18Governess to his illegitimate children
41:21Maintenon was pious, quiet and intelligent
41:25Qualities that a middle-aged Louis had come to admire
41:31Poor Madame de Maintenon had to do everything
41:33She had to act as a cook, a plumber, a gardener
41:36As well as a teacher and a nursemaid
41:38It was exhausting
41:39And she did this so well
41:41That Louis began to pay attention to her
41:43He noticed this intelligent woman
41:45This calm presence
41:50Slowly, slowly
41:51Madame de Maintenon began to seduce the king
41:56Rejected mistress, Montespan
41:59Was distraught
42:01J'étais loin d'imaginer
42:02Allons, madame
42:03On dit que la Maintenon est plus dévouée à Dieu qu'à sa majesté
42:07Notre roi va vite se lasser de ses prières
42:09Il aime trop la chasse, la fête et la beauté
42:12Croyez-moi
42:14Vous êtes sûre ?
42:15Oui, madame
42:16I think it was the rise of Montenor in the first place
42:19Which really riled her
42:20Because she found she'd made a mistake
42:22She'd underestimated another woman
42:26Montenor was poor and a widow
42:28And innocuous and very pleasant and intelligent
42:31And she didn't spot that Louis might actually fall in love
42:34With a woman like that
42:36You know, and it might be a very seductive thing to him
42:39In quite a different way from her own seductive past
42:42And I think for a couple of years at least
42:44She was extremely angry
42:48When Louis' long-suffering queen, Marie-Thérèse, died
42:51He was free to marry again
42:53And he turned to the quiet governess
42:57She'd not only won his heart
42:58She'd convinced him she could help save his soul
43:03The 17th century mentality was very different
43:06The attention paid to salvation
43:08Dying in a state of grace so you didn't go to hell
43:11Was enormous
43:12And Louis, who in some ways was quite simple
43:15Took this very, very seriously
43:17And I think Montenor persuaded him
43:20That she could help him towards his salvation
43:24As Montenor was a commoner
43:26The king could only marry her behind closed doors
43:33He did need a secret church wedding
43:36A morganatic wedding, as they're called
43:39In the presence of clergy and witnesses
43:42After that, he's all right with God and the church
43:45He can go to communion, it's all perfectly okay
43:52And it's interesting that Louis never declared the marriage
43:55Because she wasn't a princess
43:57He had his own values
43:59That is, he would have his private life
44:01But in public, he was solitary
44:13In public, Louis concentrated on running his palace
44:18And his court life at Versailles became ever more formalized
44:23I think the establishment of the full court of Versailles
44:27Really turned it into the great social, political, power-broking centre of France
44:37Versailles was exciting if you thought like a French nobleman
44:41Because Louis XIV was your host
44:45You would spend the evening in the physical presence of the king of France
44:50You would be admitted to his gaming table
44:55You would be invited to dance in front of the king
44:59Now, for nobles, this was an enormously prestigious
45:03An enormously flattering thing
45:29The court of Versailles could be seen as a cross
45:32Perhaps between Royal Ascot and the dealing floor of a futures exchange
45:37A combination of a very socially elite group
45:41Who already know each other and can interact with each other
45:44And at the same time, a group of hardened professionals
45:48Who have their own language and their own codes
45:50Who know how to strike deals
45:52And to extract the best possible advantages from a particular situation
46:00Versailles was the original hotbed
46:02Of scandal
46:02The phrase with which everyone began their conversation was
46:05Andi, it's being said
46:07They're saying this, they're saying that
46:09All day, these whispers of rumour would travel about the palace
46:14And people would send each other little bulletins
46:15By sedan chair to report on what was going on in the different rooms
46:19And that, of course, made it a tremendously claustrophobic place to live
46:23You couldn't do anything without everybody knowing about it
46:31It was this extraordinary networking centre
46:34Everyone who was anyone in France was now at their side
46:38So to be excluded was disastrous for a French nobleman
46:44The worst thing that a courtier could hear from the king
46:47Was, he's a man I never see
46:50People would spend literally years
46:53Trying to hear one word
46:55Or have a gesture from the king
47:03With the nobility now so dependent on him
47:06Louis could fully immerse himself in the role he was born to play
47:13He emerges as this absolutely consummate performer
47:19The whole regime at Versailles hinged on your having this extraordinarily charismatic figure
47:26Who could perform in all the right ways for this enormous audience
47:31Which he had assembled around him
47:37But Louis was only human
47:39And after years of good health
47:41He began to suffer from a serious medical problem
47:43An anal fistula
48:05This was an extremely serious condition in the context of the 17th century
48:09The risk of it becoming gangrenous
48:11The pus would seep into the rest of the body
48:14And in fact was very great indeed
48:18Untreated it would almost certainly have killed the king
48:23The only way that it was likely to be cured was through invasive surgery
48:27Such surgery had had a very poor success rate
48:31But Louis instructed his doctors to go ahead
48:36His senior physician devised a new instrument
48:38Especially for the operation
48:44The doctors involved in the operation
48:46Practised on a number of others who had anal fistulas beforehand
48:50But it was nonetheless still a very risky operation
48:53In the 17th century the doctors were much more likely to kill you than cure you
48:58Huge effort was made at Versailles to keep the details of this secret
49:02Because it was felt so likely that the king wouldn't survive
49:06That the diplomatic repercussions of this would sweep through Europe
49:18Majesté
49:22Majesté
49:23Monsieur le chirurgien
49:24Traitez-moi comme le moindre de mes sujets
49:27Ainsi votre main ne tremblera pas
49:28Bien, Majesté
49:48He was so stalwart during the operation
49:51He never spoke at all
49:53Imagine the pain
49:54No anaesthetic
50:01This extraordinary self-control he had
50:04He just gritted his teeth
50:07And conducted himself with great dignity
50:16La fistula à l'anus de sa majesté est bien réduite
50:19Maintenant il faut prier pour le salut total du roi
50:28And that night he took a council meeting
50:30Extraordinary
50:33Very pale
50:34With a sort of sheen of sweat
50:35But he made it
50:45Louis recovered his health
50:46But other troubles were looming
50:49His fame and success had earned him many enemies
50:52Two years after his operation
50:54France began a costly war against Spain, England and Sweden
51:01As the fighting dragged on
51:03Some of Versailles' silver was quietly removed
51:06And melted down to pay the king's soldiers
51:12Unable to win the war
51:14Louis signed an unfavourable peace treaty
51:16Conceding territory to his enemies
51:21The sun king was finally in decline
51:24And although he continued to make small improvements to his great palace
51:28He lost much of his enthusiasm
51:32Ces nouveaux travaux sont-ils bien utiles ?
51:34L'opéra, sire
51:36C'est vrai que notre Versailles a beaucoup manqué d'un opéra
51:42Mais il est trop tard, monsieur Mansart
51:47Faites notre nouvelle chambre
51:49Et pour l'opéra, nous laisserons cela à nos successeurs
52:03After just four years of peace
52:05A new crisis threatened
52:08The Spanish king died
52:10Leaving his empire to Louis' grandson
52:13If Louis accepted on the boy's behalf
52:16He knew the other European powers would try to stop him
52:19But if he refused
52:21The territories would go to France's rivals in Austria
52:26He was in an impossible situation
52:29Louis was damned if he did, damned if he didn't
52:33Faced with an issue which concerns the honour of his dynasty
52:36It's perhaps not surprising that he opts for the acceptance of the Spanish offer
52:44But inevitably, therefore, provokes war with the other major European powers
52:51This, the most gruelling war of Louis' reign
52:54Lasted for 12 years
52:56And brought France to the brink of ruin
53:02As Louis grew old and frail
53:04He fell ever more under the influence of his devout wife
53:07And now shunned the lavish amusements
53:10That had once filled his beloved palace
53:15I think Versailles became a chilly, tedious place in many respects
53:20Once la Manthenon got Louis into her grip
53:24It became this sort of rather dreary world
53:28Where whatever the king of France was doing
53:30You could set your watch by
53:31You could look at a clock at any hour of the day
53:33And know exactly where Louis was
53:35And his whole life
53:36Became this endless choreography of etiquette and ritual
53:41With Madame de Montenor sitting there in the corner
53:43Like some sort of holy spider watching it all
54:07Mantenor was a comfort to Louis when he needed it the most
54:10Illness took the life of many members of his family
54:13Including a son and grandson
54:15And he was haunted by the legacy of his wars
54:19I think Louis was a tragic figure in his final days
54:22I think the tragedy began with the sudden deaths
54:26Of so many of his nearest and dearest
54:30Louis had Mantenor by his side
54:32But she said about him
54:33That sometimes he would be alone with her
54:35He'd shut the doors
54:36And then he would just weep
54:37About the way things had gone
54:39I think it was a very sad old age
54:41You know, outliving his descendants
54:44And having led France into these wars
54:46Which seemed so wonderful when he was winning them
54:48And became so ghastly when he wasn't
55:00Aged 76
55:01And after 72 years on the throne
55:04Louis was once again taken seriously ill
55:11No one expected Louis XIV to live as long as he did
55:15When Louis finally weakens in the last year of his life
55:20It's a result of a gangrenous infection
55:22Which gradually spreads from his leg
55:24To the rest of the left side of his body
55:28Even Louis' own death became a public performance
55:33I lived among the people of my court
55:37I want to die among them
55:44Let's go to my dinner
55:51In spite of their long intimacy
55:54Mantenor wasn't actually at the king's side
55:56When he died
55:57And that was not the practice
55:59By her own wish
56:01She went off to a convent
56:03To be among ladies
56:04Who would succor her
56:06And sympathize with her
56:07Leaving him to priest
56:09And ultimately to God
56:16He died rather slowly
56:17And so she came back
56:19Once I think twice
56:21To be with him again
56:23But ultimately it was time for her to go
56:34The heir to the throne
56:35Was a really tiny child
56:37The little five-year-old boy
56:38And he's brought in to see his grandfather
56:41And his grandfather
56:43Sort of tells him to be a good king
56:45But says
56:45I have loved war too much
56:47Very sad dying words from Louis XIV
56:49It's certainly true
57:15Throughout his long reign
57:17Louis sought to bring glory
57:19To himself and his country
57:23That lifelong devotion
57:25Expressed in the extraordinary palace
57:27He built at Versailles
57:28Is the reason he's become part
57:30Of the very essence of France
57:38He didn't just leave glorious monuments
57:40Beautiful buildings
57:41Fabulous paintings
57:42He left a sense of identity
57:45Which has endured until today
57:49Louis certainly embodies
57:50I think
57:51The idea of the greatness of France
57:55He was the king
57:56And you were the subject
57:58And there was never any doubt about that
58:03He imposed his will on the world
58:05So splendidly in every respect
58:10He wanted to impress everybody
58:12And I think he succeeded
58:15The scale of the vision
58:17Is breathtaking
58:21No one did it
58:22Like Louis
58:33Next this evening
58:34Preparations for the big day
58:36Are underway
58:37As Giles and Sue
58:38Recreate a royal wedding
58:43Oil
58:43They're all in
58:48A bit
58:49For more information
58:50And i'll tell you
58:50How about a출
58:50That's a horrible
58:50Love
58:50What's ready
58:55Or a battle
58:55A battle