The palace of Versailles in a podcast
Janine: Bonjour and welcome to The Good Life France Podcast – where we share everything about France with you.
I’m Janine Marsh, I’m a Brit, born in London, but now living in the glorious countryside of the Pas de Calais in northern France. I’m an author and I’m the editor and publisher of The Good Life France Magazine and website and I spend my time either travelling around France or looking after my 60 animals or doing DIY on my old and once rather decrepit farmhouse, though after 19 years of renovation, it’s looking good and nearly finished. Well I say nearly finished, I’m not sure that will ever really happen as once one job finished another seems to pop up!
I love chatting to you from my little office in a former pigsty in the garden with my podcast partner Olivier Jauffrit…
Olivier: Bonjour, I’m Oli. Have you guessed that I’m French yet? You’re right. I am. But I live in the UK, near Windsor. Some say that you lose your Frenchness when you live abroad. “That is not true at all”. First, I think I’ll keep my strong French accent forever. Same for my taste for good food and wine. Same for all those things my country has to offer. Or for how I see the world. That will never change I can tell you. And “cerise sur le gateau”, icing on the cake, I get to be an ambassador of France in this podcast. And I’m loving it.
So let’s start. What will we be sharing with everyone today?
Janine: Well, I recently read that at the Palace of Versailles the Queen’s boudoir has had a bit of a renovation – somewhat quicker than my own house I must say, and I thought it would be great to talk Versailles – the palace, the people, the town, history and legends. It’s a truly fascinating subject.
Olivier: Such a great idea Janine. Versailles is definitely worth doing a whole episode on it. Or even more. Versailles is not like anything you’ve seen before. Versailles is in its very own dimension. Versailles is all the adjectives you can find put altogether and none of them at the same time. Versailles is unique… It’s Versailles!
I remember my first visit there, with my parents, as a kid. I’ve never been super tall but at Versailles, I felt very small… It is gigantic. The hall of mirrors in particular. La galerie des glaces. I have a vivid memory of it. Imagine, you’re 10 years old, standing in this insane room, with huge mirrors on one side and out-of-this-world windows on the other. You go “wow”, that is cool. I want a room like that. And then your mum takes your hand and pull you out of your dream to continue the visit.
So yes there is a lot to say. Let’s begin…
Janine: If you were able to step into a time machine and go back 323 years, and step out of the machine in the year 1600 in Versailles, you wouldn’t see a palace at all, in fact you wouldn’t see that much. Where the palace now is, was a humble windmill. Where the vibrant and elegant city now is, was a rural hamlet of around 200 people. But just a few years later – everything would change.
Olivier: Yes indeed. In 1610, Louis XIII, decided to build a hunting lodge in Versailles. He was crazy for hunting and as it was only about 12 miles from Paris as the crow flies, and had huge forests full of stags – it was perfect for him.
Janine: He was succeeded by Louis XIV also known as the sun king as the sun was his personal emblem. And it wasn’t for his sunny nature. He was christened Louis-Dieudonné, meaning “gift of God” by his relieved parents who had waited many years to have their first child. He was brought up to believe that he was King by divine right and like all kings, chose an emblem. The sun meant Apollo, God of Peace and the Arts and the heavenly body giving life to all things. The sun was seen as the embodiment of regularity, rising and setting each day. Louis XIV saw himself as a warrior hero, bringing peace to his people, protecting the arts and he held regular public levers and couchers (morning rising and evening retiring ceremonies). He was, according to him at least, the earthly Sun God and insisted on the resemblance, carved in stone not just at Versailles but on public buildings everywhere. You’ll often see a golden sun with a face on buildings, there’s a great one in the Grand Place in Lille quite near where I live. If you want to schmooze Louis 14th – you stuck a sun sculpture up on the wall. Yes, Louis thought that just as the earth revolves around the sun, France revolved around him. Not exactly a modest man…
He became king of France at the ripe old age of 4 in 1643. 4. When I was four I couldn’t even get my nan’s cat to sit still! Louis didn’t hold the power then though, his godfather, mentor and chief minister Cardinal Mazarin did until the king was a bit older. When Louis did get power – let’s just say, he took it very seriously.
Olivier: Indeed he did! He holds the record for the longest reigning monarch in Europe and ruled France for 72 years. Those years were seen as a time of prosperity, a golden age for France on the whole, though towards the end of his reign, several wars brought debt and famine to France. Louis XIV is not usually remembered for the bad times though, but for the flourishing of arts and sciences and magnificent architecture under his rule. Including of course Versailles – and a bit more about that in a minute!
By the time King Louis XIV died aged 77 of gangrene, just four days before his birthday, he had changed France forever.
Janine: Queen Elizabeth II came close to matching his reign, she celebrated 70 years in 2022. And here’s a fun fact Louisiana USA is named in honour of Louis XIV. Frenchman René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle from Rouen in Normandy, claimed the interior of North America for France in 1682 and named it Louisiana for his King. The state was purchased from France by the United States in 1803 when Napoleon agreed to an offer of $11,250,000 and for the US to assume claims of American citizens against France in the amount of $3,750,000.
Olivier: And a bit more about Louis, after all, without him, there would be no Versailles. He owned 1000 wigs! Louis XIV was quite short at 5 ft. 4 inches so the big wigs he wore (along with high heeled shoes) made him appear much taller.
Janine: And he liked to eat and drink. A lot. His sister-in-law, Princess Elizabeth Charlotte said of him: “…he could eat four plates of soup, a whole pheasant, a partridge, a large plate of salad, two slices of ham, mutton au jus with garlic, a plate of pastry, all followed by fruit and hard-boiled eggs…”
At Versailles etiquette was very important and the King would eat his evening meal at around 10 o’clock – the Grand Couvert as it was known. It was a formal court ceremony and was open to the public who could come and gawk at the king and his courtiers. A small orchestra played music, and several courses of between two and eight dishes would be served.
Olivier: That’s nothing. When it was a formal dinner it was even more grand. The first course les hors d’ouevres might be Royal ballotine of pheasant – or - Fresh oysters delivered from St Malo that day- or - lobster from Normandy served in aspic. And a glass of wine.
Each course would stay on the table until the end of the meal – served first to the King and then to his court in order of rank.
The second course could be Pureed chestnut soup with truffles – or - Pumpkin soup, fresh from the royal vegetable garden just down the road from the palace – or - Beef madrilène with gold leaf spangles. And another glass of wine.
And maybe you’d think they might be getting a bit full up by now but – whoo, here comes the third course (accompanied by another glass of wine) – more vegetables and herbs grown in the gardens of Versailles with perhaps a rice salad with langoustines and truffles – or - herb salad sprinkled with blue borage flowers, violets and gold leaf.
Surely enough?
More you say? And another glass of wine - oh if you insist, next course:
Hare stew – or – wild duck cromesquis à la Villeroy (breaded foie gras with rice), – or - Scallops with oyster liquor
Some of the meat would have been caught by the King himself and his courtiers – hunting was a daily past time and the beautiful plumage of the birds caught would be used to decorate the dish. Still, they must be getting a bit full up now... well perhaps a little more washed down of course with more wine… Course five could be something like wild salmon au sel (served on a block of salt – very expensive in those days) – or - Roast beef, carrots and smoked eel
Another glass of wine… down the hatch. Now time for the sweet stuff and there might be up to twenty-four different kinds of cakes followed by twenty-four different kinds of fruit – fresh, preserved, candied.
Then perhaps something chocolatey as cocoa was all the rage then plus little dishes of jam which Louis XIV loved.
It was not unusual to have up to 170 different dishes in one of these elaborate feasts and if it was a special occasion – even more.
Janine: Ooh I might try that at Christmas! Nah, nor really – way, way, way too much… Anyway, back to Louis and his obsession with Versailles because really that’s what it was. So here he is, this king who was a bit of a control freak. So, he wanted the best, the most beautiful home in the world so that everyone would know of it. He turned the humble hunting lodge first into a sort of bachelor pad, where he took his mistresses, and then into a palace that no one would ever forget visiting. He couldn’t really expand on his homes in Paris, not enough room. And he wanted somewhere he could expand. And then some.
According to historians Versailles had 2,300 rooms – I can’t confirm as I’ve not counted them all myself. At its peak between 3000 and 10000 people were living there. Some say it was actually more – but they didn’t count the servants. Essentially it was a city within a palace and its grounds.
The nobles, whom Louis pretty much insisted live there where he could keep an eye on them, didn’t really live a life of luxury. For one, for most of them there were no bathrooms. Let’s just say they did their business in the corridors or the gardens. Yup. All those silk gowns, jewels and all their money – but no bathroom. It got so bad, a decree was passed that the business be collected from corridors once a week. The King and top royals did have a sort of pot in a chair type thing which servants had the jolly job of emptying into the 34 cess pits dug under the castle.
And the bedrooms were often tiny. They rarely had a kitchen or cooking facilities and there are multiple examples of complaints about it. The nobles had to send their servants out to buy food. And a whole town grew up around the palace so that supplies could be had more easily. There were even street food stalls within the palace grounds.
Olivier: Ah but if you were a member of the royal family you had a chamber pot made of silver!
Janine: I don’t care if it’s made of solid gold – non!
Olivier: Everyone else had normal pots and they just kept them in the corner of their rooms. The palace, gorgeous as it was, could be a bit smelly. It wasn’t until Louis 15th inherited Versailles that what they called toilettes a l’anglaise, flushing loos, were installed in his private apartments - everyone else had to carry on making do!
And when it came to meals – even the royals didn’t have it that great. The kitchens were so far away from the dining room that by the time the food reached the table it was usually stone cold.
Janine: Also when it was a hot summer the castle would get incredibly hot, apparently Louis 14th used to have wet sheets hung at his windows to try to get some cool air.
It is a beautiful castle for sure – but not the most comfy…
Now let’s talk about probably the most famous room in the castle. The Hall of Mirrors…
Olivier: It’s incredible to see. Originally the gallery was open to the gardens – a terraced area, but then it was closed because bad weather often made it unusable. and the 357 mirrors were hung. They were hugely expensive, mirror making in those days was a real art and the city of Venice held the monopoly and the secrets to making these mirrors. They belonged to a guild that ruled they must not take the knowhow out of Venice. And when they were lured to France to make mirrors from the king it’s said that the Venetian Government ordered the assassination of the mirror makers. In those days the mirrors that were produced in Venice were small. Louis wanted hundreds of them to create walls of mirrors. It’s believed two of the mirror makers were killed but by then the secret was out – France knew how to create venetian style mirrors.
Janine: I like to imagine what fun they might have had if they had made a sort of funfair style wall of mirrors – you know where you look in the mirror and it distorts your image! I doubt the Sun King would have been impressed with that!
He was through, very impressed with his gardens. There were the gardens of Versailles that surround the palace, but a short walk away are another not very well-known set of gardens – the King’s potager, the King’s Vegetable garden. It was built on a swamp that was dug out by the King Swiss guard and to this day there is a small lake there known as the Lake of the Swiss Guard.
The gardener La Quintinie was a genius. He built an underground aqueduct, underground wood burners and dug huge square pits deep into the soil to trap the sun and heat the keep in. It meant he could grow almost anything despite being in the north. It was said he could provide up to 4000 figs and 150 melons a day. Lettuces were grown in January. Strawberries were ripe in March. Coffee beans and bananas were grown, as by 1685 glass making techniques meant greenhouse conditions could be created. The underground heating kept roots healthy even in the dead of winter.
Louis would show off the area to foreign visitors, it became one of the most famous gardens of its time. If you go to Versailles, I definitely recommend a detour to the vegetable gardens. Not quite as incredible as when the King was alive, but really very incredible with a fabulous view of the palace.
Olivier: The formal gardens of Versailles are amongst the most spectacular gardens in the world – they took 40 years to complete. Some of the trees were planted by Marie-Antoinette herself. . There are 372 statues including several of Apollo the Greek God of Sun – as Louis was of course the Sun King. There are 55 water features, 600 fountains and more than 20 miles of water pipes. There are hundreds of thousands of plants and flowers. In King Louis XIV’s day, there were so many blooms that they literally made visitors feel sick!
In the grounds are two more palaces, the Grand Trianon and what is known as the Petit Trianon, the Queen’s hamlet, though really it was a small palace within the grounds of the big palace, where Marie Antoinette used to make believe she was a simple country girl with a normal life, albeit still surrounded by servants and with its own theatre which could seat 200 people and is incredibly opulent.
Janine: I was amazed to see that they planted the flowers the same way now as they did then, not all dug straight into the soil, but the pots they are grown in were sunk into the soil instead so that they can be removed when they are wilting and replaced. And did you know, the gardens were never closed to the public. It was a tradition that a King should be accessible to his subjects, so pretty much anyone could come in – as long as they were well-dressed. They literally had fashion police standing at the gates, like night club bouncers decided if you were dressed right!
Olivier: Versailles has so many secrets too. There’s the “Secret Passage” or “Secret Staircase” in the Palace’s Grand Apartments which was used by the king and his mistresses to escape unnoticed. It’s hidden behind a door that looks like a bookcase. It’s very narrow, so not many people can use it at one time, but you can visit as part of a guided tour.
There’s also the kings Secret Room: Secret du Roi, near the King’s Private Apartments. It’s also said that the Petit Trianon came with its very own secret passageway which joined the Petit Trianon to the main palace said to have been built by special request from queen Marie-Antoinette. Now we don’t know where it is, or even if it still exists. It’s so secret, no one can find it!
Janine: There’s also a secret Royal Chapel you get to through a hidden door in the King’s bedroom. And there’s a secret tunnel in the basement of the palace to the outside that was used to transport food and people between the palace and the town wide enough for a horse and cart. They liked their secrets those royals! They liked to be away from the reality of the outside too, and that’s what Versailles gave them, disconnected from reality. Which of course in the end played a part in their undoing as they carried on partying in their bling bling bubble at Versailles while the ordinary people suffered a cost-of-living crisis.
Olivier: Indeed and you can find out more about that in our Bastille Day podcast!
Janine: Ultimately Versailles was one of the greatest achievements of architecture and gardening of the 17th century. It has been a museum since 1837 It still holds the power to take your breath away when you see that golden gate (a replica by the way, the original was destroyed in the French Revolution, though there is an original at the King’s vegetable garden), and the sheer immense size of the place, and the gold and gilt, tapestries and furnishings. It’s just as impressive now as it was in the Sun King’s day.
Q&A
Olivier: That was such a great topic! But now, it’s time for a listener question! So, what have we been asked today Janine?
Janine: Today’s question is from Taylor Smith in the USA and she says “My French friend Thibaud says that it is legal to marry a dead person in France, is that true? Surely not?” Well it’s a proper morbid question Taylor, but is Thibaud telling the truth? Oli – true or false in France can you marry a dead person?
Olivier: Well, it is in fact true. France is one of a few countries where it is permitted to marry posthumously. There are a lot of rules though, you can’t just rock up to the town hall where marriages are conducted and say, I want to marry Napoleon Bonaparte or Marie-Antoinette. But under Article 171 of the Civil Code, in some circumstances, you may marry someone who is deceased.
Janine: Yes Taylor Oli is right. And it’s not something that happens often. In World War I for instance it was quite common for women to marry the fathers of their children who had sadly died. And there are rules, for instance the deceased must show consent, for example having bought wedding rings, and there has to be a very good reason, usually involving children.
Olivier: Thanks so much for this question Taylor. If you also have a question for us – feel free to send it to janine@thegoodlifefrance.com or via our podcast newsletter.
Janine: Thank you so much for listening to our podcast, we’re very grateful to you for sharing it with your friends and family.
Olivier: We’re taking a little summer break now and we’ll be back in a few weeks time. I’m off to the Vendee in France to spend time with my family.
Janine: And I’m off to lovely Alsace in the northeast of France!
Olivier: You’ve been listening to Janine Marsh and myself Olivier Jauffrit. You can find me at parischanson.fr
Janine: And you can find me at thegoodlifefrance.com where you can subscribe to the podcast, my weekly newsletter about France and my fabulous, free magazine which is at magazine.thegoodlifefrance.com
But for now, it’s au revoir from me.
Olivier: And goodbye from me.
Janine: Speak to you soon!
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