Episode 2 Inside Versailles

Hello, and welcome to Inside Versailles,

where we'll go into a bit more detail about what we've just seen.

And today, we're thrilled to be joined by Kit Heyam,

who's going to talk particularly about gender and sexuality.

So, we've got this incredible portrait today of Philippe,

Louis' brother, and this episode really shows the tension between these two brothers.

It wasn't easy being a king's brother, was it, Kit?

No. He was brought up by his mother, Anne of Austria,

who was very aware that a king's younger brother was a very, very dangerous thing.

She'd seen Louis and Philippe's uncle, Gaston, rebel against the Crown

in the civil wars that took place in France when Louis and Philippe were young,

and so she was very keen that Philippe was not going to grow up to be a threat to Louis.

So, he wasn't given much of a political education, and when he grew up,

he wasn't given much of a role in governing the state, as you might expect for a king's brother.

So, he gets dressed as a little girl, growing up.

He does. I mean, everyone in that period was dressed as a little girl

until the age of about seven.

But what, of course, distinguished Philippe is that, when he grew up,

he continued to wear dresses in various situations.

Is there an element that his dressing up in women's clothes

is a way of him sort of getting back at Louis to try and embarrass him?

Or is Louis OK with it? Do we know anything about that?

Well, I think it's interesting that, obviously, Philippe hadn't

been given a role in governing the state very much as an adult.

This gave him a certain amount of freedom, because,

when it comes to things like this - men dressing up as women -

context is everything, right?

So, if something's not disrupting the social order,

then it's largely left alone.

If we contrast Philippe to someone like Henry III,

who was on the French throne in the late 16th century,

he gets slaughtered in the popular press for wearing earrings,

-wearing jewellery, wearing make-up.

-Earrings!

-Earrings in both ears!

-Oh, my goodness!

-God forbid!

-Too shocking!

So, erm...but, the subtext of the opposition to him and his favourites

dressing that way is an opposition to there being too many young,

fashionable men having power at court, and not enough old,

experienced men being consulted on the running of the country.

So, they're kind of taking his gender nonconformity and using

it as a stick to beat him with for other political crimes.

Philippe, he doesn't have a role in the governing of the state,

so, in some ways, he's got that freedom to dress how he wants,

and it may be that that was a way of getting back at Louis

for not giving him much of a political role.

Well, one of the people that we see him with in the drama is Chevalier de Lorraine, who...

-Chevalier, what a man.

-Great hair, great tache...

-Great hair.

-Handsome cheekbones.

You know, he's a real guy, so this is a true story,

but what was their relationship like at court and what was the gossip about them?

Actually, they got together during the War of Devolution,

when France was occupying the Spanish Netherlands.

And, after that, the Chevalier became a part of Philippe's entourage,

which is something he did financially very well out of,

but there was a genuine emotional relationship there, as well.

Philippe called the Chevalier, "the best friend I have an earth."

And also, the relationship with Henriette-Anne,

there's this real tension between the three of them.

-It's a three-way relationship, isn't it?

-Exactly, yeah.

I mean, we should remember the way that 17th-century people

looked at sex is that they didn't see it as an identity.

Sexuality was just something you did.

Erm, so, at most, it was kind of habit or a preference or a...

They talk about Philippe having "le gout abominable", the abominable taste,

for sleeping with men.

Erm, so, they wouldn't necessarily have assumed that just

because he was sleeping with the Chevalier he couldn't have

a functional relationship with Henriette.

But, that said, his relationship with Henriette was not

a wildly successful one.

They were both kind of as bad as each other in terms

of sleeping with other people.

Erm, Henriette actually seduced one of Philippe's old partners,

the Comte de Guise, to kind of get back at him.

To what extent is the Catholic Church turning a blind eye

to Philippe and his cross-dressing and his affairs with men?

Or are they rather upset about this? Is this a problem?

Erm, well, it is against French law, for sure,

and it is condemned by the Church.

In this period generally, unless there's a compelling political reason

that you have to take notice that sex between men is going on,

they'd really rather not.

-Don't ask, don't tell.

-Exactly.

-And, of course, you can't prove anything.

The only proof that you ever have of a relationship is the child, really.

So, no-one's actually going to prove that they're not just having a chat in his bedroom.

-Having a chat!

-Having a chat.

-It's a lovely euphemism.

-Playing chess.

So, Philippe's got this really quite moving plight

because he's clever, he's interesting, he's an amazing war leader.

He's clearly charismatic, and yet he can't really put his talents to any use at all.

Yeah, I mean, we see, in this episode, him begging Louis to go to war

and that was something that kind of happened again and again.

He had to really kind of persuade his brother to let him have a role in doing anything.

-Louis wasn't keen for Philippe...

-Because he was so jealous.

Yeah. He wasn't keen for Philippe to get any kind of military glory.

-He had everything and he didn't want his brother to have a single little thing.

-Exactly.

And, on that note, I think we should probably leave it there

cos we're running out of time, but join us next week,

when we'll have much more glorious, wonderful French history for you.

And, hopefully, more interesting insights into Louis

-and the drama you've seen tonight. Bonsoir.

-Bonsoir.

-Bonsoir.