0:00:00 > 0:00:04By the 17th century, life at the Royal Courts of Europe
0:00:04 > 0:00:09had evolved into a rarefied world of ritual and affectation.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Nowhere more so than in France.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Everyone at court had to grapple
0:00:14 > 0:00:18with the endless nuances of etiquette and flattery.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22But for the ambitious, it was the place to be seen.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31If you wanted to get ahead in 17th century France,
0:00:31 > 0:00:33there was only one thing for it -
0:00:33 > 0:00:38get yourself in the presence of the king by any means necessary.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Pull any strings you had, wear your finest clothes,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46sharpen your elbows to force your way into sight of the one person
0:00:46 > 0:00:50who could truly make a difference to your prospects.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54His Majesty the Sun King, Louis XIV.
0:00:59 > 0:01:04Louis very deliberately chose the sun to symbolise his omnipotence.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Everywhere he went he was orbited by a multitude of people,
0:01:08 > 0:01:10sometimes thousands at a time.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Who all hoped to bask in the king's good favour.
0:01:14 > 0:01:20This was a system of absolute power, and it was set in stone, literally,
0:01:20 > 0:01:25in this, the most magnificent palace anywhere on earth - Versailles.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Versailles was the ultimate expression of royal authority.
0:01:35 > 0:01:395,000 people living firmly under the royal thumb.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46Just five years old when he was crowned King of France,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Louis XIV spent his marathon 72-year reign combining
0:01:50 > 0:01:55the showmanship of Liberace with Stalin's grip on power.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02He surrounded himself with yes-men, from talented artists
0:02:02 > 0:02:08and designers to kowtowing courtiers and dancing dilettantes.
0:02:08 > 0:02:14His court was a hotbed of sex, poison and scandal.
0:02:14 > 0:02:19Sure, Louis was a despot, but his reign produced an explosion
0:02:19 > 0:02:23of baroque art that celebrated as Le Grand Siecle -
0:02:23 > 0:02:25the Splendid Century.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35TRUMPET FANFARE
0:03:10 > 0:03:16In 1661, Louis XIV brought his favourite mistress to Versailles
0:03:16 > 0:03:18for a bit of royal hanky-panky.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22He was 23, she just 17.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24And Versailles was a modest retreat
0:03:24 > 0:03:27built by Louis's father for hunting trips.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Young Louis had things other than hunting on his mind -
0:03:30 > 0:03:35love, of course, but also a thrillingly ambitious plan
0:03:35 > 0:03:39to transform little Versailles into the ultimate powerbase.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43A great royal city under a single roof.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Louis recruited a string of brilliant people
0:03:49 > 0:03:51to realise his dream.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55None of them more brilliant than the designer Charles Le Brun.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Before he'd even met the king,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Le Brun had dazzled French high society with his paintings
0:04:02 > 0:04:04and his fabulous interiors.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10Louis called him the greatest French artist of all time and decided
0:04:10 > 0:04:14what Versailles really needed was Le Brun's masterful touch.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21It was at a party that Louis decided to hire Charles Le Brun.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23But it wasn't a party of the king's.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28He was a guest at a lavish bash thrown by his then-Finance Minister.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31And it was something out of Great Gatsby -
0:04:31 > 0:04:37guests left not with goody bags but with diamond tiaras, even horses!
0:04:37 > 0:04:40Louis detected something suspicious
0:04:40 > 0:04:43and solved the problem to his own satisfaction by throwing
0:04:43 > 0:04:48his Finance Minister into jail and poaching his designer, Le Brun.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57What was the secret of Le Brun's success?
0:04:57 > 0:05:02Exquisite taste, naturally, but also a love of all things French.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Under Louis's watchful eye,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Le Brun stuffed Versailles with the best France had to offer.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12French tapestries.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14French furniture.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16French sculpture.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22This is Le Brun's masterpiece, the legendary Hall of Mirrors.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27There's a lot of glass!
0:05:27 > 0:05:33Nearly 50 chandeliers and candelabra, and 357 mirrors.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38Le Brun imported the finest Venetian craftsmen to make them,
0:05:38 > 0:05:41only to swipe all their closely guarded secrets
0:05:41 > 0:05:45and open up a dedicated French glass factory.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49He crowned the lot with his own spectacular paintings.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55A none-too-subtle homage to the monarch whose idea it was.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00This ceiling is one of the finest examples of baroque art
0:06:00 > 0:06:02you can see anywhere.
0:06:02 > 0:06:08There is Louis in his battle gear on his throne.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Putti and cherubs disport and play at his feet, playing cards
0:06:13 > 0:06:19and other games, and above him the gods look on favourably.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Only Father Time, with his hourglass and his scythe,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27represents a threat to Louis, a mortal threat.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30And it's interesting that apart from his poor, old wife
0:06:30 > 0:06:32shunted off to the corner there,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36he's the only human being in that scene.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40He keeps company with the supernatural, with the deities.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45And the message spelt out, "the king governs by himself."
0:06:45 > 0:06:48No other mortals need to be involved.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53This is the message Charles Le Brun hammered home at Versailles.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00Here is Louis XIV as an omnipotent, thunderbolt-hurling god.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02Louis as the sun.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06As all-conquering hero.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09No doubts here about who was the fairest of them all.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15And Le Brun did very well out of it, thank you very much.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Directorship of the French Royal Academy of Painting,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20plus a handsome pension.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23At Versailles, it paid to big-up the boss.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36If you were a foreigner hoping to please Louis,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39you have to play by French rules.
0:07:39 > 0:07:40God forbid you forgot
0:07:40 > 0:07:44that French Baroque was a regal, elegant style all its own.
0:07:45 > 0:07:50That was the undoing of the great Italian architect Bernini,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54famed for the magnificent piazza outside St Peter's in Rome,
0:07:54 > 0:07:59who came to France to do some building work for the Sun King.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02For all Bernini's acknowledged mastery,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Louis just didn't like his designs.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10They were too flowery, too baroque, just too Italian.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Between the two of them there could be no loss of face,
0:08:13 > 0:08:18it was all smiles. But as soon as Bernini was out the door, it was...
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Instead, the Italian was offered the consolation prize
0:08:22 > 0:08:24of making a bust of the king.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26And this is it.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Despite Louis' reservations about the great Italian,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33he's made rather a handsome job of this, hasn't he?
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Billowing locks,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39the wind-caught drapery suggest the king as a man of action.
0:08:39 > 0:08:45His thousand-metre gaze representing leadership, authority.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49His eyes are slightly larger than natural to emphasise that.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55It's said that Bernini left a tiny, accurate wart at the tip
0:08:55 > 0:09:00of that proud Bourbon nose, but I must say I can't detect it.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Perhaps some slavish courtier went round after the Italian left
0:09:03 > 0:09:05with sandpaper and removed it.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Bernini returned to Rome irritated by his treatment at the hands
0:09:13 > 0:09:15of the haughty Versailles courtiers.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Nevertheless,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20he set to work on a swaggering equestrian portrait of Louis.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24When it finally arrived at Versailles,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26the king hated it so much,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29he relegated it to the furthest corner of the gardens,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31where he wouldn't have to look at it.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Poor Bernini never really won the seal of Louis's approval.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48Manicured evergreens.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52Classical statues.
0:09:56 > 0:09:57Magical groves.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02Elegant fountains.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08The palace was spectacular, but the gardens of Versailles had
0:10:08 > 0:10:12the crowned heads of Europe turning green with envy.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Visitors couldn't wait to see them.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22The green-fingered wizard responsible for all of this
0:10:22 > 0:10:28was a man called Andre Le Notre, one of a long line of sons of the soil.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Despite his humble origins, he was a big favourite of the king's.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34And whenever Louis had been away from Versailles for a while,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38he could always count on a big hug from his gardener.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42The Sun King once offered Le Notre his own coat of arms -
0:10:42 > 0:10:46the sort of honour other people at court could only dream about.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48But the gardener modestly replied, "That's all right,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51"Your Majesty, I already have one.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54"Three slugs crowned by a lettuce leaf."
0:10:54 > 0:10:55Despite his humility,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59what he achieved in the gardens here was remarkable.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11Spectacular vistas stretched as far as the eye could see.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16Le Notre employed up to 30,000 labourers at a time, to tame
0:11:16 > 0:11:22a once-malarial swampland and create an earthly vision of paradise.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27Geometrically precise gardens boasted species both practical
0:11:27 > 0:11:29and exotic.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34One plant above all beguiled the king - the orange tree.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39He was intoxicated by its scent, enchanted by its flowers.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Le Notre established this orangery in the shelter of Versailles,
0:11:43 > 0:11:47and he somehow contrived to have orange trees in flower
0:11:47 > 0:11:49every month of the year.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52The finest of them were taken into the chateau,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55where their perfume filled the royal apartments.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02Le Notre's gardens were the absolute expression of an absolute monarchy.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Immaculately shaped, perfectly clipped,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10here was nature utterly subjected to the will of the king.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19DUCK QUACKS
0:12:29 > 0:12:32To improve the view from the Palace,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Louis called into being a vast, grand canal,
0:12:35 > 0:12:39complete with its own fleet of scale-model French warships.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50But supplying water for the canal, as well as 2,500 fountains,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54plus the domestic needs of Versailles residents,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57was a monumental challenge.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59For years the king's engineers
0:12:59 > 0:13:02laboured on one ambitious scheme after another.
0:13:02 > 0:13:08Diverting streams, draining lakes, building dams.
0:13:08 > 0:13:09It just wasn't enough.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17One engineer made an outrageous suggestion.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Why not divert the mighty River Seine itself,
0:13:20 > 0:13:21five miles to the north?
0:13:24 > 0:13:28This place is the closest the River Seine comes to Versailles,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32but in order to divert it to the palace itself, royal engineers
0:13:32 > 0:13:36first had to lift it to the top of that hill over there.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39That's an elevation of 162 metres.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42But they weren't going to let a little thing like that put them off.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51On the banks of the Seine, the engineers built a vast
0:13:51 > 0:13:55pumping station, once dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World.
0:13:57 > 0:14:0314 giant waterwheels powered 221 hydraulic pumps,
0:14:03 > 0:14:09which forced water uphill through a series of pipes, till it
0:14:09 > 0:14:13reached a monolithic stone structure looming over the landscape.
0:14:14 > 0:14:21It still looms today, an abandoned reminder of the Sun King's hubris.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23The way it worked was this.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26The waters of the Seine were pumped up here through this gully,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28into this well here,
0:14:28 > 0:14:33and up through this structure to the aqueduct above.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37And from there they would have gurgled and splashed all the way
0:14:37 > 0:14:41to Versailles, and lapped against the very shoes of the king himself.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49This was just one part of an astonishing engineering achievement.
0:14:51 > 0:14:57A vast network of aqueducts and pipes - 120 miles of them in total -
0:14:57 > 0:15:00all funnelling the wet stuff to Versailles.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06At full pelt, the fountains alone used more water than
0:15:06 > 0:15:10the entire city of Paris, over five million gallons a day.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17But the truth is, all that engineering genius was never
0:15:17 > 0:15:19quite enough to meet the demand.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23In the end, the gardeners just turned the fountains off
0:15:23 > 0:15:25when the king wasn't looking.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Louis's reign wasn't always secure.
0:15:36 > 0:15:37As a boy king,
0:15:37 > 0:15:41he nearly lost his crown to a bunch of rebellious nobles.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Which probably explains why the adult Louis kept
0:15:46 > 0:15:49a vice-like grip on the tiller of government.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53He is modestly supposed to have said, "L'Etat, c'est moi."
0:15:53 > 0:15:54"I am the state."
0:15:54 > 0:15:56He wasn't far wrong!
0:15:58 > 0:16:02By 1689, the king had relocated the entire business of government
0:16:02 > 0:16:04from Paris to Versailles.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10If you were a minister or noble
0:16:10 > 0:16:12who didn't want to be left out in the cold,
0:16:12 > 0:16:15there was only one thing for it -
0:16:15 > 0:16:17get a room as close to the heart of power
0:16:17 > 0:16:19as you possibly could.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23Somewhere off the maze of corridors.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29The long gallery here was one of the great thoroughfares of Versailles.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Every door seemed to open onto a private world.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35At all hours of the day or night,
0:16:35 > 0:16:40this was a teeming ant hill of servants, courtiers, aristocrats.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Those who could afford to, preferred not to walk,
0:16:43 > 0:16:44and were carried instead.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46And so at times,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50the scene here resembled a demolition derby of sedan chairs.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55Even if you were on the waiting list,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57it could take you years to get in.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01You had to wait till someone was thrown out or died.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04That allowed everyone lower down the pecking order to shuffle up.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10But beware. Even if you got a room,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13you might languish in obscurity for years.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20A place at Versailles was to die for, literally.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Impoverished aristos faded away to nothing,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27up here in their overcrowded rookeries, underneath the eaves.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31One poor, discarded Duchess, abandoned by her husband,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33was mouldering away up here
0:17:33 > 0:17:35when somebody in the immediate royal circle
0:17:35 > 0:17:38decided what they needed was a maid of honour.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40She was sent for, tracked down.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Her life was transformed.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Was the old girl bitter about the way she'd been treated?
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Not at all. A girl's got to eat.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59At last, the king had all the great and good of France
0:17:59 > 0:18:01exactly where he wanted them.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Anyone who didn't live in the gilded cage
0:18:03 > 0:18:05didn't count.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19Louis liked to think he ran an open palace. He said,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22"If there's anything singular about the French monarchy
0:18:22 > 0:18:27"it's the free and easy access which subjects have to their prince."
0:18:27 > 0:18:30In reality, the guards had clear instructions
0:18:30 > 0:18:32to keep the riffraff out.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34And there was a rigorous system of entrees.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36The better your entree,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39the closer you could get to the king's private chambers.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45We've done it, nearly.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48This is the Mount Everest of our social climbing -
0:18:48 > 0:18:50the king's bedchamber itself.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54But wait a minute, you could still undo all your hard work
0:18:54 > 0:18:58with a careless rasp of the knuckles on the woodwork.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01No, believe it or not, the way to gain admission
0:19:01 > 0:19:04was to scratch ever so lightly
0:19:04 > 0:19:07with the nail of the smallest finger on your left hand
0:19:07 > 0:19:09and wait to be admitted.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12And it's said that here at Versailles,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14the fashionable grew that nail extra long
0:19:14 > 0:19:17to show that they were amongst the privileged few.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Louis was never alone in the royal bedroom,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32and I'm not just talking about after lights out.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35He turned this most intimate of royal places
0:19:35 > 0:19:38into a highly theatrical and hierarchical
0:19:38 > 0:19:40grand stage of court ritual.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46So near and yet so far.
0:19:46 > 0:19:47We're in the royal chamber,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51practically within touching distance of His Majesty.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55But some of us must remain forever beyond this cordon sanitaire.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58It's like a velvet rope in a nightclub.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Even if your access-all-areas backstage laminated pass
0:20:03 > 0:20:06was good enough to get you here, right beside the king's bed,
0:20:06 > 0:20:11one last hurdle, one nightmare of social etiquette awaited you.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14Which chair to choose?
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Would you take the attractive armchair
0:20:18 > 0:20:21or perhaps the stool?
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Should you take a chair at all?
0:20:24 > 0:20:27You were expected not to sit down before your social betters.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32And if you picked the wrong type of furniture,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34you might just as well have sat on the electric chair
0:20:34 > 0:20:36because it meant social death.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45The best job at Versailles was the one that got you in here,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54They dressed His Majesty in the morning and undressed him at night.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57Ridiculously, only the most senior person present
0:20:57 > 0:21:00could hand the king his shirt.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03So, if successively important people entered the room,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06His Majesty just had to wait as his outfit was passed
0:21:06 > 0:21:09from one pair of hands to the next.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Among the lucky few who got to dress the king in his bedroom every day
0:21:27 > 0:21:31was a man whose influence would shape courtly fashions
0:21:31 > 0:21:35throughout Europe - the royal hairdresser, Georges Binet.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Georges Binet was a specialist in wigs,
0:21:39 > 0:21:44a man so dedicated to furnishing a luxurious barnet for Louis
0:21:44 > 0:21:45that he once vowed,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49"I would strip every head in the kingdom bald
0:21:49 > 0:21:52"in order to adorn that of His Majesty."
0:21:52 > 0:21:57He was, if you like, the barber of civility.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03Until the mid-1600s, men wore wigs out of necessity,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06often because syphilis caused their hair to fall out.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Louis XIV's problem was hereditary baldness
0:22:11 > 0:22:14which he hid with a modest weave.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17But with encouragement from his wigmaker, Binet,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19the king's hair would reach phenomenal lengths,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21or rather heights.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Thanks to Louis, big hair on blokes
0:22:26 > 0:22:29became the must-have accessory in upper-class France.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Professional cutters scoured the land, buying up human hair.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42It took 50 heads of hair to furnish a royal wig.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Today, most toupees are machine-made in a matter of hours.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53'But Marie-Charlotte Quehin...'
0:22:53 > 0:22:54Bonjour.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57'..an expert in creating Louis XIV's wigs for the theatre,
0:22:57 > 0:23:03'still uses the same painstaking method they employed 400 years ago.'
0:23:03 > 0:23:06- So, that's real hair.- Oui.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Can you explain what you're doing there?
0:23:08 > 0:23:10SHE SPEAKS IN FRENCH
0:23:39 > 0:23:42So, how long will this take you, do you think?
0:23:49 > 0:23:52What is this over here? It looks like you've trapped
0:23:52 > 0:23:55an animal or something in there, Marie-Charlotte. What is that?
0:24:21 > 0:24:25'Inevitably, I've agreed to be fitted with a Louis XIV wig.'
0:24:25 > 0:24:27Merci.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31'If I'm lucky, it won't come with any 17th-century problems,
0:24:31 > 0:24:33'such as dust, fleas,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37'splitting headaches, throbbing boils.'
0:24:39 > 0:24:41That's interesting.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45I feel a strange surge of power,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47an authority coursing through me.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51I like it.
0:24:52 > 0:24:53I'll take it.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Everyone at court understood the importance of clothes
0:25:04 > 0:25:06to the Sun King.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10He adored the finest fabrics, the grandest of designs,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13not just on himself, but on everyone around him too.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17His Majesty would often demand that the entire court
0:25:17 > 0:25:21was re-kitted in the latest expensive couture
0:25:21 > 0:25:24and he insisted you pay for it yourself
0:25:24 > 0:25:26to the ruin of several nobles.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34'Historian Fabrice Conan is an expert
0:25:34 > 0:25:36'in the fashions of Louis's court...'
0:25:36 > 0:25:38- Stockings.- Stockings.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41'..and how vital it was that you dress to show off
0:25:41 > 0:25:43'your social status...'
0:25:45 > 0:25:46Here we are, Fabrice.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48What do you think?
0:25:48 > 0:25:50'..beginning, of course, with the underwear.'
0:25:50 > 0:25:52That's perfect.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55'In an age of dangerous waterborne diseases,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57'regular bathing was deeply unpopular.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01'Instead, spotless underwear showed you cared.'
0:26:01 > 0:26:07It was very important to change your shirt two or three times a day
0:26:07 > 0:26:10because people thought that when you change your shirt, you are clean
0:26:10 > 0:26:13because all the dirt is on the shirt.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16That's why, in the suit, you can see the laces,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19you see some white parts
0:26:19 > 0:26:23and it's a way to show that you are someone very important
0:26:23 > 0:26:25and that you take care.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30So, a very white shirt, as you have, this one, it's really perfect.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34'Next comes the 17th-century forerunner
0:26:34 > 0:26:38'of today's three-piece suit. Part one, the pantaloons.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40'Part two, a waistcoat.'
0:26:41 > 0:26:45So, this is typical of the 17th-century
0:26:45 > 0:26:50because it's very long and it became shorter in the 18th-century.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52And who would have worn this?
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Somebody of high rank or middle rank?
0:26:56 > 0:27:02Each man had to wear this and it will change...
0:27:02 > 0:27:05It depends on your rank, you're right.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08You will have more ornaments,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11more gold, more silver or diamonds.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13OK. Shall we?
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Oh, yeah. Yeah.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21I can see it would give you a certain swagger.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24- Is this all fastened up?- Yes.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26- You have to fasten this part. - I was afraid you'd say that.
0:27:27 > 0:27:33- Very long.- It IS quite long. Would a gentleman have dressed by himself?
0:27:33 > 0:27:36No, never. Never.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41OK. What's the idea with the lace? Why wear lace?
0:27:41 > 0:27:44The more lace you have, the richer you are.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46So, at the beginning of the time of Louis XIV,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50there were very, very large laces like this,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52and they became a bit shorter later.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55- Let me go... - OK.- ..like for Louis XIV.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00- We'll put it here. - Not too tight, Fabrice.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03You have to suffer to be a royal.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06OK.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08That's nice.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11- And now...- The piece de resistance...
0:28:11 > 0:28:15- The piece de resistance! - ..as we say in English.- Yes, yes.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18It's in velvet and embroidered.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22The richer it is, the nicest to have at the court.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24Very...up, like this.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Good fit. Perfect.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29- What do you think? - Yes, it was done for you.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33Well, I might not be ready for the court, but I'm ready for panto.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38'All these dainty feet need now are shoes, but not just any shoes...'
0:28:38 > 0:28:42So, you see we have the red heels?
0:28:42 > 0:28:47We don't know why they appeared at the court.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Some people said that Louis XIV was back from a party in Paris
0:28:50 > 0:28:54and he walked in the street and he was in front of a butcher's shop
0:28:54 > 0:28:57and there was some blood
0:28:57 > 0:29:01and he walked on the blood and he arrived like this at court.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05- And everyone thought it was the new fashion.- And everyone, two days later, thought it was fashion.
0:29:05 > 0:29:06In fact, we don't know.
0:29:06 > 0:29:12- But all the people at Versailles had these red heels.- Naturally.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16- OK.- If you please.- Yep.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20- Didn't have stockings on, admittedly.- Ah, yes, that's it.
0:29:20 > 0:29:21'Here comes that wig again.'
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Fix the head.
0:29:28 > 0:29:32'And a sword to prove I'm a member of the nobility.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34'Finally, the icing on the gateau.'
0:29:34 > 0:29:36- OK.- On your head.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40If there's still room up there.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42Thank you very much, Fabrice.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01If you were going to be spending any time at all
0:30:01 > 0:30:04in the royal presence, you'd be well advised
0:30:04 > 0:30:06to lay off the liquids beforehand.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10The king had no tolerance of anybody else's physical weaknesses,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13and Versailles wasn't particularly well endowed
0:30:13 > 0:30:17with comfort facilities. Indeed, it wasn't unknown for a noble
0:30:17 > 0:30:21to nip behind a pillar when emergency pressed.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24The king had the same control over his bladder as he did over
0:30:24 > 0:30:28everything else in France, and woe betide the courtier
0:30:28 > 0:30:30who asked permission to relieve himself.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34Round here, the royal "we" was seldom heard.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42The worst thing was to be caught in a coach with the king.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46Yes, it was a first-rate opportunity to bend the royal ear...
0:30:49 > 0:30:52..but on the other hand, if you didn't have superhuman control
0:30:52 > 0:30:57over your bodily functions, you were in big trouble.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00One duchess described a journey she made with the king
0:31:00 > 0:31:02as the most horrific of her life.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07She realised quite early on that she needed a...comfort stop.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09That was out of the question.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12So, the poor woman knitted her legs together
0:31:12 > 0:31:14for six - count them - hours.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16There was the exquisite torture
0:31:16 > 0:31:19of the refreshment that was proffered to her,
0:31:19 > 0:31:20which she had to sip.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24Several times, she came close to blacking out completely.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27When at last they reached their destination,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30she only narrowly avoided an embarrassment
0:31:30 > 0:31:34by making a mercy dash for the nearest chamber pot.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41The king had the same intolerance of any symptom of illness.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43Even pregnancy irked him.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47Perhaps this is the origin of the phrase "a right royal pain".
0:31:56 > 0:32:00The Duc de Saint-Simon was the courtier who got it all wrong.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Try as he might to grovel to the king,
0:32:03 > 0:32:05he was forever putting his foot in it.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09Embarrassing faux pas, hot-headed outbursts,
0:32:09 > 0:32:13generally irritating His Majesty and so getting short shrift.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Luckily for us, in his final years,
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Saint-Simon took bittersweet revenge by writing his memoirs,
0:32:20 > 0:32:24the most revealing account we have of life at Louis's court.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30He first met His Majesty when he was just 16.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33His own father propelled him through the mob
0:32:33 > 0:32:35into the presence of the king.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39It was a taste of what was to come because it wasn't a terrific moment,
0:32:39 > 0:32:43as he later recorded, in French, of course.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46"The king thought me puny and delicate looking
0:32:46 > 0:32:50"and said that I was still exceedingly young."
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Saint-Simon clung on at Versailles by his fingertips,
0:32:53 > 0:32:57constantly scuppering his own chances of promotion.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Take the time he slipped away on an unauthorised pleasure trip,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03was spotted by the king's spies
0:33:03 > 0:33:06and got a royal dressing-down for his pains.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11His career was a souffle that stubbornly failed to rise.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17By the end of his account, it's clear that Saint-Simon
0:33:17 > 0:33:22has become jaded and cynical, fed up with the routine at court.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25On the other hand, he's very clear-eyed about what it was
0:33:25 > 0:33:30that Louis most sought in his courtiers.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Praise, or better - adulation - pleased him so much
0:33:34 > 0:33:37that the most fulsome was welcome
0:33:37 > 0:33:40and the most servile even more delectable.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44That's what gave his ministers so much power
0:33:44 > 0:33:48for they had endless opportunities of flattering his vanity,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52especially by suggesting that he was the source of all their ideas
0:33:52 > 0:33:55and had taught them all that they knew.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Falseness, servility,
0:33:58 > 0:33:59admiring glances,
0:33:59 > 0:34:03combined with a dependant and cringing attitude,
0:34:03 > 0:34:07above all, an appearance of being nothing without him,
0:34:07 > 0:34:10were the only means of pleasing him.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24In one respect, the king's unbridled vanity was justified.
0:34:24 > 0:34:26He was a beautiful mover.
0:34:27 > 0:34:32He famously performed the role of the Sun God Apollo in a ballet
0:34:32 > 0:34:36designed to remind everyone from whence their sun shone.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43Louis made dance a vital talent for anyone wanting to get on.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47If you were a member of court,
0:34:47 > 0:34:49you were expected to attend dances.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52They were important social occasions
0:34:52 > 0:34:55at which your accomplishments could tell others a lot
0:34:55 > 0:34:58about your breeding and refinement.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06'With the help of my trusty baroque shoes,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09'I'm following in the footsteps
0:35:09 > 0:35:10'of all those Versailles courtiers
0:35:10 > 0:35:13'who sought tuition in the essential art of movement.'
0:35:13 > 0:35:14Small steps...
0:35:14 > 0:35:18'Dance expert Edith Lagrange begins by teaching me
0:35:18 > 0:35:21'how to walk with grace and confidence.'
0:35:21 > 0:35:25- So...- So if I was a brave officer
0:35:25 > 0:35:28or if I was a writer or something like that,
0:35:28 > 0:35:32but my deportment was poor, that would be a problem for me?
0:35:32 > 0:35:34- Oh, yes, sure.- Really?
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Because you have to look like you're steady.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41In fact, they taught dancing in the army
0:35:41 > 0:35:44to make them very strong in the legs
0:35:44 > 0:35:50and to know how to control their body and to be fast in their turn.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53'Now I must learn the dance steps of the minuet,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55'a popular little number at court.'
0:35:55 > 0:35:58The rhythm of the minuet step is
0:35:58 > 0:36:00one step forward,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02you have plie
0:36:02 > 0:36:04and eleve.
0:36:04 > 0:36:05Plie...
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Eleve on your toes.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10First step and three little steps
0:36:10 > 0:36:12on your toes - so up...
0:36:12 > 0:36:15up, up, down.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19- Heels to heels.- Heel to heel,
0:36:19 > 0:36:23- of course.- And up, down.- Up, down...
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Then, three steps
0:36:25 > 0:36:29- on your toes and then plie.- Plie.
0:36:29 > 0:36:30Heels together like I showed you.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Heels together, yes, you did show me that.
0:36:33 > 0:36:34You can hold my hand.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36Oh, lovely. Thank you.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39And one step
0:36:39 > 0:36:42and three little steps
0:36:42 > 0:36:45- and...- One...
0:36:45 > 0:36:46three little...
0:36:46 > 0:36:48- I don't, yeah.- Yes...
0:36:48 > 0:36:51OK, well, something like that. Maybe we need some music.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53- Yes.- What do you think?- I think so.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57'And now for a performance that would impress the Sun King himself.'
0:36:57 > 0:36:58MUSIC PLAYS
0:36:58 > 0:37:00Very good.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03- When do we go?- I will tell you.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05- I thought I was leading.- Now! And...
0:37:07 > 0:37:10- It's a bit fast.- Is it too fast?
0:37:10 > 0:37:11That's a little fast.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13Because minuet was a happy dance.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16- Well, I'm happy, I'm just not very quick.- Yes?
0:37:16 > 0:37:19No, OK, so this, we were very slow,
0:37:19 > 0:37:21we were in a walk...
0:37:22 > 0:37:24- ..beat, a walking beat. - You held us back, I felt.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26One...
0:37:26 > 0:37:28one, two.
0:37:28 > 0:37:29Up.
0:37:30 > 0:37:31Up.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34Up.
0:37:35 > 0:37:36Up.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38Small wave, big wave.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42- Very good. But you've done this before, I sense...- No.- No.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46Ready?
0:37:46 > 0:37:48- One.- No, too fast.
0:37:48 > 0:37:49Now.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55- Up.- I'm up.
0:37:55 > 0:37:56- Up.- I'm up!
0:37:56 > 0:37:59Come on! You're better when you go back.
0:37:59 > 0:38:00- Let's go back, you're better.- OK.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03I'm better going back.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12- Well, I enjoyed that.- Yes! - Thank you for the dance.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Oh, it was my pleasure.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25Louis XIV adored music.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27So much so, he had a gaggle of musicians
0:38:27 > 0:38:30following him around almost everywhere he went.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35He filled Versailles with the sound of music.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39Today, faithfully recreated by the Compagnie Baroque.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43And the man who created the Versailles sound
0:38:43 > 0:38:47was Louis's court composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50MUSIC PLAYS
0:39:00 > 0:39:07Jean-Baptiste Lully was actually Italian, born Giovanni Battista.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10But the king didn't seem to mind, perhaps because Lully
0:39:10 > 0:39:13was so keen on all things France.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16He begged the king to give him full citizenship, and in return,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Lully helped to define what it meant to be French.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28The impressive Lully penned new works for His Majesty
0:39:28 > 0:39:30every single day.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33He saw to it that Europe's most-fashionable baroque music
0:39:33 > 0:39:36was no longer Italian, but French.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39Stately and elegant, like the Sun King himself.
0:39:51 > 0:39:52APPLAUSE
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Louis's reign was a golden age for French music,
0:39:58 > 0:40:03producing star composers like the viol player Marin Marais,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06organist and harpsichordist Francois Couperin,
0:40:06 > 0:40:11and the prolific Marc-Antoine Charpentier, whose Te Deum
0:40:11 > 0:40:15is cherished today is the theme of the Eurovision Song Contest.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28If the king embodied the entire nation,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32then what nourished his body was important, too.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34At Versailles, there was an army of cooks
0:40:34 > 0:40:37whose job was to provide regular banquets fit for a king.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44The public could stand and watch - and inhale -
0:40:44 > 0:40:49as Louis sated his legendary appetite with dozens of dishes.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52This was the birth of haute cuisine as we know it,
0:40:52 > 0:40:58the classic French melange of rich creams, sauces and meats.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Fish, too, brought fresh to the Royal table,
0:41:03 > 0:41:06was given the fancy treatment.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08Merci, monsieur.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12The king's most talented chef, Francois Vatel,
0:41:12 > 0:41:16discovered the horror of getting it wrong during a weekend
0:41:16 > 0:41:19of feasting in the countryside.
0:41:19 > 0:41:20Poor old Vatel.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24The Prince of Cooks, as he was known, met a fishy end.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27He laid a sumptuous banquet for the king and his party
0:41:27 > 0:41:31in the woods at Chantilly. The smell of roasting meat
0:41:31 > 0:41:34commingled with the bouquet of narcissi.
0:41:34 > 0:41:39Everybody had a terrific evening, apart from the poor cook himself.
0:41:39 > 0:41:40They ran out of meat.
0:41:40 > 0:41:46Not, thank God, at the king's table. No, at the 25th table.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50All the same, he saw this as a grave blot on his reputation.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54He'd ordered fish for the next day, but where were they?
0:41:54 > 0:41:56The poissons hadn't arrived.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59Convinced that his honour would be ruined,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Vatel retired to his quarters.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06He took his sword and braced it against the back of the door.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10And thrust it three times into his chest,
0:42:10 > 0:42:11fatally wounding himself.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16The next morning, the fish turned up
0:42:16 > 0:42:19and everybody agreed it was a most delightful luncheon.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31# Je t'aime...
0:42:31 > 0:42:33# Je t'aime...
0:42:33 > 0:42:34# Oui, je t'aime... #
0:42:34 > 0:42:37The king enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41and every one of his mistresses worked her charms.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44He took his satisfaction wherever he could.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47So as long as you were female, and had a pulse,
0:42:47 > 0:42:49you had a fair chance of bedding the boss.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54Little Louise de la Valliere was youthful and pretty
0:42:54 > 0:42:59and distracted from her flat chest with plenty of frills and laces.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06By contrast, the witty Athenais de Montespan
0:43:06 > 0:43:11had long, blonde hair, a pouting mouth, and an impressive cleavage.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18Court stunner Marie Fontanges was said to be as beautiful
0:43:18 > 0:43:21as an angel, and as stupid as a basket.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25And the formidable, matronly Francoise de Maintenon
0:43:25 > 0:43:28tried to tame the rapacious monarch.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34This is the marble court at the very heart of Versailles.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37And the king's complicated love life is written
0:43:37 > 0:43:40into the very architecture of the place.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44The Queen was ensconced in her quarters here.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48The king's apartments, including the all-important bedchamber, behind me.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51And over here was where the mistress du jour was put up.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56Now, Louis and his mistress liked to oversee
0:43:56 > 0:44:01the comings and goings in the court, to comment and titter about them.
0:44:01 > 0:44:06And other, even more ribald noises escaped the upper windows.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10Small wonder courtiers came to dread passing beneath them
0:44:10 > 0:44:14and referred to it as "facing the firing squad".
0:44:16 > 0:44:19Charming your way into the position of official mistress
0:44:19 > 0:44:22won you untold privileges and favours.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25But make no mistake, when the king was feeling frisky,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28you'd better not complain of a "mal de tete",
0:44:28 > 0:44:32or he'd grab the nearest chambermaid instead.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Yet one of Louis's favourite paintings has a strange
0:44:35 > 0:44:39double meaning, for a man so driven by carnal pleasures.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44The obvious subject matter was King David playing the harp.
0:44:44 > 0:44:49Well, Louis was a lover of, a patron of the arts, particularly music.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50So that flattered him.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54But the work also spoke to the inner man in Louis.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59After all, King David is raising his eyes in supplication to the Almighty
0:44:59 > 0:45:05for forgiveness over his affair with Bathsheba, an adulterous liaison.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10Not for the first time, I think, the king was having it both ways.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13When he got up in the morning, he could look at this picture
0:45:13 > 0:45:18and either be engorged with vanity at the idea of his musical prowess,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20or else shriven with remorse,
0:45:20 > 0:45:24depending on what he'd been up to the night before.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37The year was 1666.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41The royal mistress of the day was Athenais de Montespan,
0:45:41 > 0:45:45a ravishing beauty with a razor-sharp wit.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47# I put a spell on you...
0:45:52 > 0:45:54# Because you're mine! #
0:45:55 > 0:45:58For a time, the charms of Athenais worked perfectly.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03The king was spellbound and made her his new official mistress.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05All too soon, though,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08she began to fear the kingly eye was roving again.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10So she took unorthodox action.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14She consulted a maker of spells, a sorceress,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17and her name was Madame Voisin.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20# You're mine! #
0:46:22 > 0:46:25Madame Voisin was a witch who counted many important people
0:46:25 > 0:46:29amongst her clients, but none closer to the king than Athenais.
0:46:32 > 0:46:37We can imagine the usually vivacious mistress secretly slipping away
0:46:37 > 0:46:40in a carriage to visit Madame Voisin at her home
0:46:40 > 0:46:42in a quiet Parisian backstreet.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49This row of houses stands on the site of the sorceress
0:46:49 > 0:46:54La Voisin's home. It was an elegant villa set in substantial grounds.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57And it was here she practised her Satanic arts,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01including abortions and black magic rituals.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07Many residents of Versailles came to buy
0:47:07 > 0:47:12Voisin's famously poisonous concoction of arsenic and lead,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15to help rid them of some rival at court.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19But the king's mistress, Athenais, was here for something else -
0:47:19 > 0:47:22a love potion that would help reinforce her hold
0:47:22 > 0:47:25on the king's affections.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32In a Parisian herbalists, historian Yves Broha is about to reveal
0:47:32 > 0:47:37exactly what Madame Voisin was brewing up for Athenais.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42Could you show me a love potion today? Is it legal?
0:48:06 > 0:48:09And was it hidden in his food? Was that the idea?
0:48:43 > 0:48:45A what "sexuel"? What was it?
0:48:45 > 0:48:47Un excitant.
0:48:47 > 0:48:52Oh, an exciter, a sexual exciter. Well, I guess that's the whole idea.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10This is big voodoo, isn't it? Have you used this on anybody?
0:50:14 > 0:50:15Really?
0:50:19 > 0:50:22The love potion seemed to do the trick,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25because the king's mistress noticed a distinct improvement
0:50:25 > 0:50:27in the royal bedroom department.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30Unfortunately, things were about to unravel
0:50:30 > 0:50:33for her sorceress friend, Madame Voisin.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39In 1679, Paris police were investigating
0:50:39 > 0:50:42a string of suspicious deaths.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46They uncovered widespread use of poison in French high society.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50La Voisin was named as one of the chief suppliers.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55Along with several other dealers in poison, she was tortured,
0:50:55 > 0:50:57tried and hanged.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04This wonderful, lurid engraving of the period
0:51:04 > 0:51:07shows how the story of La Voisin
0:51:07 > 0:51:10was seized upon by a scandal-hungry public.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14It describes her as "source of so much evil,
0:51:14 > 0:51:20"cursed creature who, by a thousand poisons, has destroyed nature".
0:51:20 > 0:51:24She's seen here with demonic forces gathering about her.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28On the right here, Death himself, with his sharpened scythe.
0:51:28 > 0:51:30And over on the left, the three Fates,
0:51:30 > 0:51:33about to sever the cord of her wretched life.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38To begin with, the king was fully behind the inquiry.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41He wanted to get to the bottom of this whole terrible affair.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43But then word began to circulate
0:51:43 > 0:51:45that one of the people caught up in it
0:51:45 > 0:51:49was none other than his own beloved mistress. What to do?
0:51:49 > 0:51:51Well, the king, of course, did what he always did,
0:51:51 > 0:51:53and acted to suit himself.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55He simply shut the inquiry down,
0:51:55 > 0:51:59suppressed the evidence relating to his favourite courtesan.
0:51:59 > 0:52:01And sure enough, she was safe.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03Small matter that by then,
0:52:03 > 0:52:0836 people had already paid with their lives for this sorry business.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25For years, the king had inflicted exquisite torture on the court.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28Most of them were banned from sitting in his presence.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32Now, though, he was facing karmic comeuppance.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36His normally strong constitution failed him for once,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38and he developed a ticklish complaint
0:52:38 > 0:52:41that made sitting down into an ordeal.
0:52:45 > 0:52:50Louis developed an embarrassing and very painful anal fistula,
0:52:50 > 0:52:53a pus-filled abscess that just wouldn't go away.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58The king's physicians tried a range of tricks -
0:52:58 > 0:53:02enemas, soothing poultices and various herbal concoctions -
0:53:02 > 0:53:03without success.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09The king got so fed up with his physicians
0:53:09 > 0:53:12that he ordered his barber to cut the abscess out instead.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15In those days, barbers performed surgery.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18But it was a drastic throw of the dice.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21The operation would be performed without anaesthetic,
0:53:21 > 0:53:25and there was a high chance that the patient wouldn't survive.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28As for the poor barber, Charles-Francois Felix,
0:53:28 > 0:53:32he was terrified, but he didn't say no to His Majesty.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41Monsieur Felix set about redesigning the tools of the trade
0:53:41 > 0:53:45to create something that might improve his chances of success.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50The Paris Museum of Medicine still houses the original instruments
0:53:50 > 0:53:51designed by Louis's barber.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59And this is what the fiendish imagination of Monsieur Felix
0:53:59 > 0:54:04came up with to solve the agonising problem of the royal fundament.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07He designed a retractor and a scalpel.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Now, the retractor would be inserted
0:54:11 > 0:54:15into a delicate and throbbing part of the royal anatomy,
0:54:15 > 0:54:19and then gently, like the petals of a flower,
0:54:19 > 0:54:22opened up so that the surgeon could see what he was doing.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27The historical record is a bit patchy
0:54:27 > 0:54:31as to where Monsieur Felix came up with the idea for the scalpel -
0:54:31 > 0:54:35this eye-wateringly long blade -
0:54:35 > 0:54:38but I like to imagine that he was settling down
0:54:38 > 0:54:41to a plate of his favourite escargots of an evening,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44still turning this problem over in his mind,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47when, grappling with a particularly truculent snail,
0:54:47 > 0:54:49inspiration struck him.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53Before he turned to the royal bottom,
0:54:53 > 0:54:5775 other lesser posteriors were brought before him on the slab
0:54:57 > 0:55:00so that he could experiment with these devices.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07His Majesty went under the blade without a whimper or a murmur.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Against all the odds, the op was a great success.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13The king was well and happy again.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17He showered his lucky barber with benisons, with honours
0:55:17 > 0:55:20and titles and riches.
0:55:20 > 0:55:21And the operation itself
0:55:21 > 0:55:25became the must-have procedure in fashionable Paris.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27It was the Botox of its day.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29It was known as the Royale.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34And fashionable people would say to each other, "Have you had a Royale?
0:55:34 > 0:55:35"I hear she's had a Royale."
0:55:46 > 0:55:49Throughout Louis's reign, it was his portrait painters
0:55:49 > 0:55:53who projected the powerful Sun King image to the wider world.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59Hyacinthe Rigaud, who made his name painting all the nobs at Versailles,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02was the artistic spin doctor par excellence.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10In 1701, Rigaud was confronted with a challenge -
0:56:10 > 0:56:14to paint the ageing Louis without diminishing his glory.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25His Majesty was, by now, clearly no spring chicken.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29But Rigaud manages to combine a jowly accuracy
0:56:29 > 0:56:32with a noble, almost godlike demeanour.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39And look at the legs on that. Not bad for 63.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44No wonder Louis declared this his official state portrait,
0:56:44 > 0:56:47his image for the ages.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50This was the original painting
0:56:50 > 0:56:52where the eyes followed you round the room,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55because you dare not take your eyes off it.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59It was forbidden to turn your back on this likeness of the king,
0:56:59 > 0:57:01just as it was against the rules
0:57:01 > 0:57:04to show your back to His Majesty himself.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Whenever he was away from court,
0:57:06 > 0:57:10this full-length portrait hung in the throne room in his place.
0:57:11 > 0:57:16Facsimiles of it were carried in processions in the provinces
0:57:16 > 0:57:19like effigies of martyrs or saints.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24It was less a work of art, more a feat of transubstantiation.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28It was as if the ineffable presence of His Majesty himself
0:57:28 > 0:57:31somehow permeated the oil and the canvas.
0:57:45 > 0:57:50Louis lived to be one of the longest-reigning monarchs
0:57:50 > 0:57:53in history. 72 years and 110 days on the throne.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02His was a time of unparalleled glitter and spectacle.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06He wanted his court to reflect his glory.
0:58:06 > 0:58:11There were endless entertainments, lavish displays of fountains,
0:58:11 > 0:58:13fireworks and feasting.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17In the terrible winter of 1709,
0:58:17 > 0:58:20when most of France starved from famine,
0:58:20 > 0:58:23Louis decreed the party should go on.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29At Versailles, Louis created a court like no other.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31It was made to serve him and France -
0:58:31 > 0:58:33though, of course, in his mind,
0:58:33 > 0:58:35they were one and the same.
0:58:35 > 0:58:39A project of such dazzling, all-consuming narcissism
0:58:39 > 0:58:41couldn't possibly last.
0:58:41 > 0:58:45The kings of France would live on at Versailles for 100 years,
0:58:45 > 0:58:48until history blew up in their faces,
0:58:48 > 0:58:51taking them right along with it.