In this episode Philip Mansel takes us to the court of Louis XIV at Versailles, probably the most lavish, extraordinary royal palace ever built. This was a place where the fun never stopped, parties, plays, banquets, firework displays and concerts, life at court was a giddy carousel of extravagance, culture, beauty, wit, sophistication and intrigue.

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In the year 1700 the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris, was the centre of power, politics and pleasure. It was the home of the royal family and the nobility, a hotbed of conspiracy and scandal. Philip Mansel’s book is based on what he also calls ‘the palace of paper’, due to the many diaries and vast correspondence Louis’ courtiers wrote, documenting their lives and times.

Louis XIV stood, resplendent, at the centre of this court. He was a complex, fascinating figure who became king at the age of four and ruled until his death in 1715 – over 72 years, making him the longest reigning monarch of all time. From the miracle of his birth late on in his parents’ marriage and after several miscarriages, he was revered and celebrated as ‘god given’, the ultimate Catholic monarch.

A Stag Hunt at Versailles c. 1700, Jean-Baptiste Martin (*Wiki Commons*)

The king was a man of paradoxes: kind, humorous, intelligent and interested in everything from the bulbs in his extensive flowerbeds to the political alliances he orchestrated, but he was also ruthless and cruel, ordering the bombardment of cities like Brussels and the brutal persecution of Protestants.

He loved war and spent years of his reign on the battlefield, but he was also a supporter of women’s rights and according to Mansel, was ‘almost a feminist’.

His court was famous for its complex etiquette and hierarchy, but Louis was surprisingly relaxed and accessible to his people. Walking around Paris today, as Philip Mansel tells us in this sparkling episode, his legacy is everywhere in the buildings and works of art and literature he commissioned.

The characters and stories that feature in this episode of Travels Through Time form part of Philip Mansel’s award-winning book, King of the World: The Life of Louis XIV.

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Show notes:

Scene One: 17 November 1700. Louis XIV presents his seventeen-year-old grandson to assembled diplomats and courtiers as Philip V King of Spain, by the will of God and the will of the nation.

Scene Two: 1700. Military review of Louis XIV’s guards, the special regiment of cavalry nobles whom he loved and who formed the foundation of his power.

Scene Three: 1700. A procession in front of Louis at the Palace of Versailles of freed white French slaves, who had been captured by Algerian pirates in the Mediterranean.

Memento: One of the magnificent books from the Royal Printing Press.

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Presenter: Violet Moller

Guest: Philip Mansel

Production: Maria Nolan

Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours

Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan

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About Philip Mansel

Philip Mansel specialises in the history of France and the Middle East. He has lived in Paris, Beirut and Istanbul. His previous books include Louis XVIII (1981), The Eagle in Splendour: Napoleon and his Court (1987), The Court of France 1789-1830 (1988), Paris Between Empires (2001) and Dressed to Rule: Royal and Court Costume from Louis XIV to Elizabeth II (2005).

He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Society of Literature, the Institute of Historical Research and the Royal Asiatic Society, and in 1995 was a co-founder of the Society for Court Studies, whose journal, The Court Historian, he edited for twenty years. He is president of the Conseil Scientifique of the Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles and a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (France) and the Order of the Crown (Belgium).

In 2012, he was awarded the London Library 'Life in Literature' Prize. King of the World has been translated into French, Italian, Dutch and German and won the Franco-British Prize.