Episode 4 Inside Versailles

Hello, and welcome to Inside Versailles.

So, Greg, fascinating episode, lots going on

and Louise de La Valliere is on the way down.

Yeah, it's sort of a gradual decline for her.

She's had a few years as chief mistress.

-She's had a run.

-She's had a good run.

And she's had a few pregnancies, a couple of kids,

but Louis's obviously starting to look elsewhere,

and I think she's also starting to feel a bit left out,

and we see that scene where she's now starting to think

about maybe going to a convent.

So the problem is that Louis liked witty, fun women,

and Louise was virtuous, but not actually very witty.

But Athenais, the lady-in-waiting to Marie-Therese,

is really very clever.

And that really did happen in real life, didn't it,

that actually while both Louise and the Queen were pregnant,

they said, "Athenais, will you look after the King?"

Because they thought she wasn't a threat.

-Bit of a mistake there.

-Classic mistake.

-Yeah, classic mistake.

-Inviting your enemy in.

Exactly the same happened with Edward VIII's mistress - she said,

"Oh, Wallis, would you look after him while I'm away in America?"

Oh, dear. Got back and he was well and truly looked after.

-Yes.

-Oh, crikey!

So, Athenais is witty, she's fun

and she's also got a pretty mean tongue -

she likes to insult people and Louis thinks that's hilarious, doesn't he?

Yeah, Louis likes a strong woman,

as long as they're not meddling in politics.

-No.

-But if they're sharp and witty and they can give him

a bit of a back-and-forth banter, he enjoys that,

and Athenais is a beauty, but she's also whip-smart.

Louis likes his girls around - he has them around him the whole time

and also he does actually take them to battle with him.

Yeah, he's gone on tour with his ladies

and he's presumably wanting to show off,

he's taken them off to watch him fight.

But on that note, we should probably get on to war actually,

because that's what Louis loves doing most

and that's what we've seen Louis and Philippe doing in this episode.

So I think it's time we go and meet Dr Phil McCluskey.

Talk about battle.

-Hello, Phil.

-Hello.

So, Phil, what's going on in this picture here?

So this is a picture of a battle that took place during

the War of Devolution.

This is Louis that you can see here in the foreground.

-Here? There he is.

-There.

-Right in the middle of the painting.

-Exactly.

Looking at us, saying, "Look, chaps, this is my war."

Indeed.

This is a piece of royal propaganda, because in actual fact Louis

turned up too late to this battle in order to play a real part in it.

This is just after the Siege of Lille, which is...

Louis personally commands.

So they're showing the triumph of the French army here.

-And maybe this is Philippe, possibly, here?

-I think so, yes.

We're not quite sure - could be him, looks quite similar.

So he's in the background, he's hidden away. Louis's here -

look at the triumph, look at the amazing success we've had.

Is that representative of what happened in the wars?

Yes, and I think the fact, as you pointed out,

that Philippe probably played a more prominent role as a commander

than is being allowed for here.

Louis was very concerned and actually quite deeply anxious

that he not be outshone by members of his family

and Philippe was very much placed in kind of reserve.

-Even though he was doing all the work?

-Yeah.

What is the War of Devolution?

Cos, you know, you've introduced that idea.

It sounds quite a complicated phrase.

It's not a place, so...

-There's no town called Devolution.

-No.

What is the reason for going to war?

You know, we hear about the Duke of Cassel in the drama

talking about a pretext for war - so a suggestion that there's

something a bit dubious about the cause for war.

How has Louis swung this?

Well, a lot of the wars in this period actually were

based on quite trumped-up legal arguments.

Phil, you're saying they just went to war for the sake of it?

-Fancy!

-Fancy(!)

But, in this case, it's about inheritance.

Louis uses his lawyers to claim that his wife, Marie-Therese,

is basically the right heir to the Spanish Netherlands,

based on the fact that, at their marriage, she gave up her rights

to these territories conditional on a dowry.

The dowry, however, was never paid.

The Spanish Netherlands is sort of what we'd say as modern-day Belgium

-and Luxembourg and bits of France and Germany.

-Flanders.

-Yeah.

-But also bits of what we now think of as France as well.

So Louis is adding territory

that we now think of as being part of France.

So he's... Has he created modern France, geographically?

He's certainly pushing it in that direction to what we would recognise

as France's borders today

-which are kind of like, the hexagon, as it's called.

-Yeah.

So, glory...

It's vital for a prince, it's vital for a king to go to war.

You've got to be glorious.

But, actually, Louis himself -

does he really like leading from the front?

Yes, I think he does, but I think he also accepts his limitations.

He realises... He's aware that he's not the greatest commander.

He actually has plenty of very competent generals

so he's happy for those to lead on the battlefield,

but he's directing strategy from his cabinet at Versailles.

So he's sort of a weekend warrior. He likes to sort of turn up,

do a couple of days of roughing it,

feel like he's a soldier, and then he'll go home to his lovely palace.

Yeah. By this stage he's nearly 30, and I think he realises

he's lead quite a frivolous life until this point.

He needs some serious kind of military glory to prove his manhood.

So, in terms of this treaty then, Louis arrives and says,

"I've signed a treaty, the war is over.

"Philippe, you don't get to fight any more,"

which obviously annoys Philippe cos he's enjoying the glory.

What is that treaty and has that been forced upon him?

Has he opted into that?

What's going on there?

So this is the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

Really it's not what Louis had in mind.

His hand has been forced by the Dutch, particularly,

because they get very alarmed at Louis XIV advancing towards...

Closer to their borders.

-As you would.

-Indeed, as you would.

And so they conclude very quickly an alliance with the English and

the Swedish and this is basically saying, "You have to stop there.

"If you don't stop then we'll all join forces

"and force you to relinquish it."

And they're Protestant, these three nations, this triple alliance?

They're Protestant states, France is a Catholic state,

so there's sort of tension there.

But France and the Netherlands, the Dutch,

have been allies for a century or so.

So is this a sort of new shift in direction for his foreign policy?

Is Louis now thinking of the Dutch as the enemy

and Spain is in the rear window?

He doesn't take the Dutch as a rival,

he just thinks of them as sort of meddlesome.

He thinks it's very ungrateful considering all the help that France

has given to the Dutch over the last century fighting the Spanish.

So he decides that they need

putting back in their place, basically, after that.

And the other tricky thing for him of course is

he's married to a Spanish queen.

He's got Henriette-Anne at court who's English,

he has friends and allies who are Dutch.

Is it ever complicated for him declaring war on a rival nation

when he has people from those nations living in his court?

No, I think that's fairly standard for this time is that they accept

the part of the French dynasty,

the ruling dynasty now for all intents and purposes.

Unfortunately, on that note, we've run out of time.

-But thank you, Phil, it's been a pleasure.

-Thank you, Phil.

And thank you for watching at home. Hopefully you'll join us next week.

-Bonsoir.

-Bonsoir.