Introduction
One day when his pregnant daughter-in-law asked to be excused from a ball, Louis XIV would have said to her only and with a certain dryness “Madame, we are not like private individuals, we owe ourselves entirely to the public”. As a result, we imagine Louis XIV in the middle of the gold and marble of Versailles and always surrounded, when inevitably like everyone else he also needed his privacy.
In the spring of 168 the court moved to Versailles, at the beginning Louis XIV moved into the large apartment in the north of the central court, then he left it to settle around the marble court and then very quickly in the extension even of this first apartment. He will develop all kinds of rooms that we will call the king’s interior apartment and which are much more private.
He will build the “Trianon” in the very park of Versailles, which is a small pavilion to spend the day there, and later the “Marly” estate which was for him a quieter secondary residence than Versailles. Louis XIV received the most chosen people at Marly. The location of the estate was chosen by the king, almost halfway between Versailles and Saint-Germain, and has a beautiful view. Marly will be built in seven years, simply not many people are invited there, in the whole reign of Louis XIV, it is estimated that around 1000 people were the number of privileged people who were admitted to the intimacy of the king. The extraordinary merit of Marly is that etiquette is not respected there (no reverence for the king, you don’t take your hat off in the presence of the king, you don’t speak in the third person, etc.) in Marly you feel at home.
At the beginning, it is absolutely necessary to present yourself before coming to Marly, that is to say: the ladies must be at the supper which precedes the departure of the king and stand in an arc of a circle and the king chooses among the ladies those who will come, he dictates their names to a waiter. As for the lords, it’s even more humiliating, they have to land on the passage of the king by kneeling on the ground and asking for “Marly my king”. As there are many called and few chosen, some often put their knees on the ground without ever having the satisfaction of being rewarded.
Louis XIV wants to make the invitation to his small residence and these extraordinary pavilions a reward in a way
At the end of the reign of Louis XIV the royal finances were in great difficulty, and the king needed the help of a certain number of private financiers to lend to the crown, among them there is a very powerful banker Samuel Bernard, who was a Jew, and usually had no access to the court. But Louis XIV said to himself that “he really needs the money, so Paris is willing”
Marly
It was a truly beautiful place with first a central pavilion “royal pavilion” where one can find 4 apartments: for the king his brother his sister-in-law his son. The apartments were arranged around the large octagonal central hall. The living room rose over the space of the floors of the pavilion. In front of the terrace of this royal pavilion a large central water basin and on either side of this basin pavilions, 6 on each side. Pavilions in which one could reside very comfortably. It was a great pleasure to live in one of the twelve pavillons.
The king and other members of the royal family were seated at the same table as Marly. Usually, at Versailles Louis XIV took these dinners alone, seated alone in front of the court, who came to watch the meal standing, and then in the evening he took them with his small family, what were called suppers under the open plan, but the king did not eat at table with his courtiers and indeed at Marly the king presides over one table, and the king’s brother presides over another.
The guests are installed nicely in the large living room, and then we clear the tables we play exactly as if we were in a country house and we are with Louis XIV. There was a kind of bonhomie at Marly that obviously couldn’t be found anywhere else.
The Princess Palatine, the king’s sister-in-law, complains about it “We no longer know that he has any, it definitely doesn’t look like a court anymore”
It is the splendor of the place and in particular beyond the chosen and discreet sumptuousness of the decorations and the buildings, the incredible splendor of the gardens. The gardens of Marly were a real lace. The density of gardeners there was ten times greater than at Versailles, the trees were pruned like parasols, everything was absolutely divine. Marly, unlike Versailles, had plenty of water thanks in particular to a pumping device, it was quite unheard of, we had gushing fountains, an absolutely extraordinary waterfall. We lived in the middle of the waters, it’s a real paradise, we hunt there in the park.
And to have fun in the heights of Marly, we installed the ancestor of the roller coaster called the « Roulette »: a kind of chariot which descended on a soapy slide and which allowed you to go very quickly.
At the pretty Château de Marly there is no gilding, only white paintings, except in the large living room: gilded woodwork and an extraordinary profusion of vases of Chinese and Persian porcelain incredible carpets everywhere dogs who roam freely in the house there are even parrots in the suite of the duchess of burgundy. In the basins the king had carp installed which are among the most famous in Europe because they are huge carp and which he had painted and adorned with jewels. These carp spend their time dying, because the king veiled painting them the same colors as the porcelains “refinement!!! “. You could play different games: billiards, the trou-madame; the game of mail (the ancestor of cricket). He also had thematic Marlys of hunting Marlys where the king obviously invites only good shooters, game Marlys and there we spend, ladies’ Marlys, war Marlys, carnival Marlys, raffle. So when we invite male and female couples, we call them Marlys on horseback.
The royal residences were open to the public for visits and walks in the gardens. But not Mary. Marly was the place of all fantasies and dreams. This magic evaporates with Louis XV because Marly opens up to the public.
arly will gradually become the main residence of Louis XIV, with age he prefers to frequent this residence more to be in the middle of what he loves in an enchanting setting, and to satisfy his taste for the outdoors. In addition, Marly is a place where the traditional codes of hierarchy are blurred, which makes things easier. Also it was a way that the king used to honor the guests without it being expensive.
Intimacy of the different kings of France and their taste for the arts
We can divide the life of King Louis XIV into two periods: the young man, dancers runners. And old gentleman who preferred buildings and gardens. He had a pronounced taste in the arts and literature. And he had an excellent memory, so he was in constant training, and he has a passion for buildings.
King Louis XIV had almost no privacy, it is even said that he had a commode as a throne, and that he relieved himself in front of his court, and that even in the morning for his daily toilet his courtesans are invited to attend. It is easier to talk about the passions of Louis XIV than about his intimacy, because it was a time when intimacy was still very much in its infancy. Under the reign of Louis XV it is the opposite, we enter the century of intimacy. And the king protected his privacy a lot. He was an extremely secretive, shy agoraphobic man. But with those closest it turns out he was charming speaking a lot and well. And he did not frequent Marly so much unlike his predecessor, but rather a whole series of small castles which are arranged around Paris. And there he behaves like a French gentleman surrounded by loved ones and also engaged in manual activities, reading because he has a large collection of history books and historical objects. He had a taste for science. King Louis XV liked to cook himself.
The hunt
The great pastime of all the kings of France is hunting, Louis XIV loved to hunt, Louis XV could not spend a day without hunting, and Louis XVI hunted every other day, and which is a lot because it was trying physically and moreover Louis XVI came home each time staggering with fatigue and it is for this reason critics accused him of consuming a little too much alcohol.
Kings who had a lot of responsibilities also needed outdoor life away from court and obligations. Alas the people did not accept to see them other than kings, for example Louis XVI spent his time on locksmith work and that will be much blamed on him during the revolution.
