Episode 5 Inside Versailles

Bonsoir, and welcome to Inside Versailles.

Pretty exciting episode - the Queen's becoming regent

and, not surprisingly, Montespan thinks she might get frozen out.

Yeah, and this really did happen.

Louis did go to war and leave his queen as regent,

which is a big placing of trust in her.

It's astonishing, at a time when people thought

that women were legal children,

that he didn't give it to his brother - he gave it to his wife.

And that also means perhaps he's now losing faith in Athenais.

We're starting to see him think about his soul more than his loins.

And Athenais, on the way down,

also brings us to Alexandre Bontemps because we saw the King say,

"If I ever fall under the spell of a woman,

"you tell me and I'll ditch her!"

And now we've seen Bontemps stepping forward and saying,

"Sire, I'm worried about you."

That's a big red flag because, of course, you know,

the King likes to think that he's the one in total control,

but we know that she's quite conniving and she's got him

-wrapped around her finger.

-I love Bontemps.

He was kind, he was actually someone who never had

a bad word to say about people.

Not a pushover - he was still tough, but very protective of the King.

And it really shows why the King trusted him so much

-and confided in him so much.

-Extraordinary loyalty.

-Such loyalty.

-He's not the first Bontemps.

His father had been a servant of the King,

and there are three more after him.

And, of course, we see him, we think, in this portrait,

probably here, but, you know, we're not entirely certain,

but certainly he's always going to be close to the King.

But, of course, what Bontemps does for Louis is he's the gatekeeper -

he's the one who closes the doors and says, OK...

-You're not coming in.

-Not coming in now. The King needs some quiet time.

But you could go to Bontemps and say, I need some time with the King,

and he would say, I'll put in a word for you.

So he was the sort of middleman shepherding the King,

making sure the King had enough secrecy and privacy

when he needed it, but also making sure

the nobles at court weren't too grumpy, being left out.

And it really does show that, if you want to make your way

in Versailles, you have to devote yourself completely to the King.

And the role initially was created

because the gentlemen of the bedchamber said

that some of their role was too menial,

so could you bring in an actual servant?

Which was pretty much, I think, a mistake because,

when everything you need in Versailles

comes on how close you can get to the King, even if

-you're just changing his socks, you need to be there.

-Absolutely.

But the other thing to say is the proximity -

that's what also makes the mistresses so powerful.

They're not just proximate - they are in his bed, with him,

they are sleeping with him.

So you can see Bontemps and Athenais are in

a sort of power battle to see who can be the most trusted...

-To get the King's body.

-Exactly,

access to the King's body, access to power.

I love Bontemps as well because he does get rewarded for

his long service - he has his own house with 12 servants.

And what's very striking is that his descendants, they marry into

great wealthy families and indeed into aristocratic ones as well.

-Yeah.

-So I do think that it shows that, if you do well,

you still can be rewarded and gain elite membership.

Unfortunately, we've run out of time,

so please join us next week for more Inside Versailles.

-Bonsoir.

-Bonsoir.