Episode 2 Inside Versailles

Bonjour!

Welcome to Inside Versailles, where we have seen...well,

new people arriving at court, which is a good thing,

but we're seeing poisonings - bad thing.

What are the kind of pressures at court for these new families

arriving and why is that contributing to

a sort of atmosphere of murder and intrigue?

To us, Versailles is so beautiful, so glamorous but, to them,

it was cramped and dark and damp.

And also, they were crammed in with the people they hated most.

Unsurprisingly, you not only got jealousy, cruelty and rivalries,

but also we're starting to see just a little bit of poison and murder.

And maybe we'll see some more.

The other thing we've seen is Athenais dancing in

a pretty tight-fitting corset and now going into labour.

It's interesting because Athenais is the maitresse-en-titre -

she's the official mistress, she's got all the power.

She is legit, in some ways, and yet there's still pressure on her

because, actually, the Church isn't too keen.

And here we're seeing a portrait of Jacques-Benigne Bossuet,

and we've seen tonight he's been remonstrating with the King

and with Athenais, saying she's got to give up the affair -

it's scandalous and immoral.

So he is the main religious figure at court, isn't he?

So Bossuet's quite supportive of the absolute divine right of

Louis to rule, but he is not supportive of his rather

dubious morality and, of course, the great problem with Athenais -

unlike Louise de La Valliere, who we saw in Series 1,

flagellating herself, devastated - Athenais simply doesn't care.

She does it for show and she's openly and obviously Louis' mistress,

and that really sets her in opposition to Bossuet,

who thinks this is disgraceful behaviour.

So she is scandalised at court and, as you say, the Church is conflicted

on this because you can't criticise the King,

but you can perhaps try and set a moral guidance.

And we know from history that Louis regularly went to confession

and he sometimes would skip the sort of basic Eucharist because

he felt guilty about things.

And sometimes the priests would give him an unconsecrated host

so it looked like he was taking communion, but he wasn't really.

But you might say,

why does the Church put up with Louis behaving in this immoral way?

And it's really because their interests are

so tied because what they think is that Louis'

going to impose Catholic orthodoxy on France and get rid of the Protestants,

and also get rid of some of those very annoying

-Catholic sects.

-Yes, they're called the Jansenists.

-Oh, horrors!

And they are quite a weird bunch because they believe in predestination -

they believe that only a certain set of people are going to be going

to heaven, that God has already decided who they are in advance.

And, to Catholics, they go, ooh!

That's not how we do things around here.

And Bossuet will be saying, no, no, no, as long as you do the Seven Sacraments

and all the things a good Catholic does, you go to heaven.

-And Jansenists say, well, you know, maybe not.

-Maybe not.

And that's scary because it means that some people might not

get to go to heaven, even if they're good Catholics.

And also, it takes away quite a lot of control from the priests

-because the priests are the gateway to heaven.

-Exactly.

You have to do what they say, and if it doesn't matter what they say,

-then that's pretty scary for them.

-Absolutely.

But this is also interesting cos it's about the Pope versus Louis,

and Bossuet's sort of stuck in the middle because he's ultimately a fan

of Louis, he's one of Louis' chief supporters,

and yet it's the Pope who appoints him.

It is, and we always see kings in opposition to monasteries

because they're so powerful, they've got so much land, they've got so much money,

but they're not answerable to the King - they're answerable to Rome.

But it's interesting, isn't it, because you have the Chevalier de la Reine,

who couldn't be more wild in his behaviour?

But he is the titular head of four abbeys,

-so so many powerful aristocrats are linked to these monasteries.

-Absolutely.

So they are bases of not only religion and not only money, but also of power.

It also sums up a singular battle going on at the courts

between the faction...the devout faction called le Devout and then

also the party aspects of the Palace - the glory, the glamour,

the sex, the rock and roll.

So there's a man here at odds with himself, isn't there?

He's torn between being the playboy king and being the good Catholic.

Let's see how the series progresses.

-Join us next week for more Inside Versailles. Bonsoir!

-Bonsoir!