rhyssain – Page 6 – French Travel Boutique

The Dauphin's bedroom on the ground floor overlooking the water parterre as it was displayed

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The Dauphin’s Apartment

The Dauphin was 17 years old when he married his second wife Marie-Josèphe de Saxe. He was still devastated by the loss of his first wife 6 months earlier. To make life easier it was decided to move away from the apartment the Dauphin had shared with his late wife on the first floor. The original Dauphin’s apartment which he had occupied as a child was renovated for the young couple. Each had their own apartment with a suite of rooms. They shared a bathroom. A small corridor had been installed so that the Dauphin could move discreetly from the “Grand Cabinet” next to his bedroom directly to Marie-Josèphe’s bedroom. The Dauphin and Dauphine occupied this apartment for 18 years. The marriage was very happy. Restoration work was going on in their apartment at Versailles during the court’s annual stay at Fontainebleau. The Dauphine fell ill while he was there and died at the age of 36. *The Dauphin’s apartments closed in October 2020 for renovation, which will last one year. On the website—www.chateauversailles.fr/actualites/vie-domaine.restauration-appartement-dauphin you will find a video of Frédéric Didier, the Architect in Chief, walking through the now empty apartment, describing the work. Even if you can’t follow it in French, it is an interesting virtual visit, with the original boiseries playing a starring role in the empty rooms.

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Beds Location Guide

Loire Valley Amboise The Chateau of Amboise was the residence of François I from the age of three. His predecessors had been involved in ambitious building projects there and the work continued under François and his son. It is in a beautiful village on the Loire River, a very easy drive half hour from the TGV station near Tours.* Take the road along the river. There are many attractive options for accommodation and restaurants. I always organise to stay there the first night of a Loire Valley tour. Château of Amboise BED— Henri II WEBSITE— www.chateau-amboise.com The Château of Clos Lucé is a 500 metre walk from the Château of Amboise. In addition to restored bedrooms and kitchens you will find Leonardo’s living workshops together with amazing models of his inventions. The beautiful gardens contain full size models of a number of his mechanical designs which, to the delight of children, can be touched. Château of Clos Lucé BEDS— Marguerite de Navarre Leonardo da Vinci WEBSITE—www.vinci-closluce.com Blois Another easy drive along the river from Amboise to Blois takes just over half an hour. Once again you’ll see the Château of Blois on the hill overlooking the Loire river and the 18th century stone bridge. It’s a buzzy town which once again offers a range of hotels and restaurants. BEDS – Catherine de Medici Henri III WEBSITE—www.chateaudeblois.fr *Both Amboise and Blois are directly accessible by train from Paris. Chambord The Chateau of Chambord is a 25 minute drive from Blois in the middle of the countryside. Although François I built it as a hunting lodge, it is the largest of the Loire Valley Châteaux. To make the visit even more memorable, you can stay at the Relais de Chambord within the grounds. BEDS— François I Louis XIV Marie-Thérèse WEBSITE— www.chambord.org Chaumont The Château of Chaumont was built in the fifteenth century and like Amboise and Blois, it is perched on the top of a hill overlooking the Loire. It is half way between Amboise and Blois and an easy stop en route. BEDS— Catherine de Medici Cosimo Ruggieri (Catherine’s astrologer) WEBSITE— www.domaine-chaumont.fr Chenonceau The Château of Chenonceau is a 30 minute drive from the Tours TGV station. It has six beds and is the best furnished of the chateaux with stunning fresh flowers filling the rooms. The gardens are beautiful and the Orangerie has an elegant restaurant which is the perfect lunch venue. Give yourself time to take it all in. BEDS – Catherine de Medici Diane de Poitiers The Five Queens Louise of Lorraine Gabrielle d’Estrées César de Vendôme. WEBSITE—www.chenonceau.com Valençay The Chateau of Valençay is a little further afield (about 50 kilometres from Chenonceau), but well worth the effort. Under Napoleon’s instructions his foreign minister Talleyrand bought the prestigious Chateau of Valençay to receive foreign dignitaries. For 5 years it became the gilded cage housing the deposed King of Spain, Ferdinand who was replaced by Napoleon’s brother Joseph. BED – King of Spain WEBSITE—www.chateau-valencay.com

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The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud

The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud had been the final home of Eleanor of Aquitaine. She, her husband Henry II of England and their son Richard the Lionheart and his brother’s wife were buried there. The abbess were normally the daughters of kings or famous aristocrats. The first Bourbon King Henri IV’s aunt was abbess there as well as his own illegitimate daughter. One of Louis XIV’s favourite women, the sister of Mme de Montespan was the abbess at the time Louis XV was born. Mme de Montespan’s niece was the abbess when Louis XV’s daughters arrived at Fontevraud. The last abbess of Fontevraud before the French Revolution was Mme de Montespan’s great great granddaughter—not related to Louis XIV. She was the granddaughter of Mme de Montespan’s legitimate son.

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Duke de Richelieu

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The Mistresses’ Mother

In case you were wondering how the mother of the Mailly sisters reacted to her daughters becoming serial mistresses of Louis XV, it is interesting to see her own history. In 1709 she married Louis III de Mailly-Nesle. She was 17 he was 20. The following year she have birth to her first daughter – later Louis XV’s first mistress. The year after giving birth to her fifth daughter (who became the Duchess de Châteauroux) she became involved in a duel over her lover the Duke of Richelieu. Armande-Félice de la Porte Mazarin The Duke of Richelieu She had become involved with the infamous playboy when she was 27. He was 22. The Viscountess of Polignac, one of Richelieu’s other mistresses, did not take kindly to the situation. The story goes that the two women ended up fighting a duel over him – with pistols! Mme de Mailly-Nesle was shot in the shoulder. When the Duke of Richelieu heard about the duel that evening he said it was a good thing the women had fought over him but he wouldn’t sacrifice a hair for either of them. Mme de Mailly-Nesle then had an affair with the Duke of Bourbon. In 1725 she gave birth to their child, who was, of course, a daughter they called Henriette. She was duly recognised by her father and married a nobleman at 15. Two years after the birth of Henriette, Mme de Mailly-Nesle was made “dame d’atour” to the new queen Marie Leszczynska. This was an important position in the Queen’s household, responsible for the Queen’s wardrobe, jewels etc. It probably helped that the Duke of Bourbon had organised the marriage of Marie Leszczynska to Louis XV and his elder sister was in charge of the Queen’s household. Louise-Julie de Mailly-Nesle When Mme de Mailly-Nesle died two years later at the age of 38, her eldest daughter Louise-Julie took over her position in the Queen’s household. It was another sister of the Duke of Bourbon, the scandalous Mademoiselle de Charolais, who set Louis XV up with Louise-Julie Mailly-Nesle as his first mistress.

Marie_Josèphe_of_Saxony_as_Dauphine_of_France_by_Jean-Marc_Nattier_(1751)

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Marie-Josèphe de Saxe

Marie-Josèphe de Saxe was the daughter of the King of Poland and the Austrian Archduchess Marie-Josèphe of Habsbourg. This was a potential problem with her future mother-in-law. Marie Leszczynska’s father had been displaced as King of Poland by Marie-Josèphe’s father. It is a testament to her tact and diplomatic skills that the young Dauphine was able to win the respect of the entire royal family while maintaining a friendship with the King’s mistress who she knew was responsible for her marriage.

1 Min Read

Madame de Pompadour’s Bed

Madame de Pompadour was the first official King’s mistress to come from the bourgeois business class, which did not go down well with the aristocracy. Today her significant influence on architecture and interior design is recognised, with courses such as at the Ecole du Louvre paying tribute to the contribution she made toward “French style”. Madame de Pompadour’s boudoir was at the opposite end of the apartment, leading to her wardrobe and bathroom. Madame de Pompadour was a remarkable woman and when the affair with Louis XV ended (because of her gynaecological problems), she managed to retain her close association with the King. He valued her opinion and many regarded her as a de-facto Prime Minister. She secured a much grander apartment on the ground floor at Versailles. It was in this apartment she died at the age of 45. Madame de Pompadour’s apartment was later occupied by Louis XV’s daughter Adelaide and is part of what is now known to visitors at Versailles as the apartment of the daughters of Louis XV or “Mesdames apartments”. The Parisian residence Louis XV bought for Madame de Pompadour — now the Elysée Palace — has been the official residence of the French President since the 19th century.

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Madame Victoire’s Bed

Adelaide’s sister Victoire had the adjoining apartment at Versailles. As with all the apartments at Versailles, the fabrics were changed for winter and summer. The summer fabrics are normally displayed. The silk taffeta in her bedroom is similar to the summer fabric Victoire had there in 1769. Adelaide and Victoire inherited the Chateau of Bellevue which had been built by Madame de Pompadour. They spent a lot of their time there. When Versailles was invaded at the start of the French Revolution they did not accompany the royal family to the Tuileries in Paris, preferring their own residence at Bellevue. Two years later they left for Rome where they stayed under the protection of the Pope for five years. The Revolutionary French army invaded and they and their entourage of eighty people moved to Naples where Marie-Antoinette’s sister was queen. When Naples was invaded they moved to Trieste. Victoire died there of breast cancer a few months later at the age of 66. Less than a year later Adelaide died shortly before her 68th birthday. After the French revolution their nephew King Louis XVIII brought their bodies back to France and interred them at St Denis.

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Madame Adelaide’s Bed

The only one of Louis XV’s daughters to marry was the eldest –Elisabeth. She married her second cousin, one of the younger sons of the King of Spain. They became the Duke and Duchess of Parma. Twelve years after Elisabeth left Versailles, her twin sister Henriette died, leaving Adelaide, the eldest of the four surviving daughters at court. There was never any serious question of marriage. There were no available Catholic princes the right age and Adelaide had no interest in marrying beneath her station as her eldest sister believed she had. With the arrival of her father’s latest (and final) mistress Madame du Barry, Adelaide moved from the apartment she had occupied on the first floor and took over Madame de Pompadour’s former apartment on the ground floor. She stayed there for the next twenty years until the French Revolution.

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Princess de Soubise’s Bed

Five years after the death of his first wife, Hercule-Mériadec remarried at the age of 63. His second wife was the 19 year old Marie–Sophie de Courcillon, who became the next Princess of Soubise. The Prince of Soubise decided to redecorate the family mansion for her. The décor was very much influenced by the theme of “divine love”. During the Louis XIV period, the use of fables or mythology had been reflecting glory. Now people were more interested in the love lives of the gods and goddesses so “The Love of Psyché and Cupid” was a popular theme. The young Princess of Soubise had the requisite formal bedroom (“Chambre de Parade”) where, in keeping with the model of Versailles, she held audience. As it was at Versailles with the king, being allowed to stand behind the balustrade was a mark of special favour. The princess’ “lit à la Duchesse” is a perfect example of Louis XV rocaille with its sinuous lines of foliage and flowers. This grand bed is in stark contrast with the bed she actually slept in every night which was accessed by a door hidden in the panelling next to the fireplace. The bed in the private room is a “lit d’alcove”. This simple room is typical of the changes which occurred during the reign of Louis XV with the emphasis on an intimate private life away from the princely pomp. The Prince of Soubise died at his residence at the age of 79.