PREVIOUS OCCUPANTS
On the north wing of the ground floor of Versailles, Louis XIV had built a magnificent “Bath Apartment” consisting of a series of five rooms built and furnished over a period of 9 years. This was during the reign of his mistress Madame de Montespan and was a private apartment where one could enjoy the “pleasures of the bath”. In fact the bath was rarely used. Magnificent paintings and sculptures filled the rooms, which were all sumptuously furnished.
Madame de Montespan
When Madame de Montespan was no longer Louis XIV’s mistress, she had to move from her grand apartment on the first floor. She was given the Bath Apartment on the ground floor. She covered the marble walls with boiseries and the large marble bath with parquetry flooring.
Six years later she decided to leave Versailles. Louis XIV was more than pleased with her decision to live in a convent she had founded in Paris.
Duke and Duchess de Maine
Louis XIV gave the apartment to their eldest son the Duke of Maine.
The Duke of Maine married the following year (Madame de Montespan was not invited). The young Duke and his wife occupied the apartment.
Count of Toulouse
The same year Louis XIV moved the Count of Toulouse, his youngest son by Madame de Montespan into an apartment adjacent to his brother’s, overlooking the north parterre. He was fourteen and moved in initially with his governor. The Count of Toulouse stayed in the apartment until the death of his father Louis XIV twenty three years later, when the court moved from Versailles.
When Louis XIV died his will had specified that the Regency for his five year old great grandson Louis XV would be shared by his nephew, the Duke of Orleans and the Duke of Maine.
The day after Louis XIV died, his nephew managed to have the will annulled in the Parlement de Paris and the Duke of Orleans became the sole Regent for the 5 year old King Louis XV. When court moved from Versailles to Paris, King Louis XV’s residence was the Tuileries Palace.
The Duke of Maine became involved in a rebellion against the Regent which landed him in prison. When he was released he spent most of his time at his Château of Sceaux.
When he was 12, Louis XV decided to return to Versailles and re-establish the court at the residence of his great grandfather Louis XIV.
The Duke of Maine’s younger brother, the Count of Toulouse had remained in favour with the Court. He was able to return to the ground floor apartment at Versailles.
The Count and Countess of Toulouse
The Count of Toulouse married at the age of 44. He had been in love with the widow of Madame de Montespan’s grandson (by her first husband) for ten years. They married in secret when Louis XV was 13. Louis XV was fond of the Countess.
She had been a lady in waiting to Louis’ mother who had died when he was two years old. She in turn became a sort of mother figure to the young King. Louis XV was a regular visitor to the Toulouse’ apartment at Versailles as well as their chateau of Rambouillet where Louis XV went to hunt regularly from the age of 12.
Duke and Duchesse of Penthièvre
The Count and Countess of Toulouse had a son who was known as the Duke of Penthièvre. At the age of twelve his father died and he inherited his father’s fortune. He moved into the apartment at Versailles which he shared with his mother.
When he married at 19, the Duke and his wife continued to occupy the ground floor apartment. The Countess of Toulouse had the rooms overlooking the water parterre and the Duke and Duchess of Penthièvre had the rooms overlooking the northern parterre.
When the last of the Duke of Maine’s sons later died without an heir the Duke of Penthièvre inherited that fortune as well, making him one of the richest men in Europe.
Madame de Pompadour
When Madame de Pompadour stopped being the King’s mistress, she moved from her apartment on the second floor above the King’s private apartment. She took over the Penthièvre’s apartment on the ground floor overlooking the northern parterre. They moved into a reduced space with the Countess of Toulouse.
Madame de Pompadour occupied the apartment until she died there 13 years later. Louis XV was devastated by the loss of the woman who had been his “friend for twenty years.” Her apartment remained closed.
Louis XV’s son and heir died unexpectedly the year after Madame de Pompadour. He decided to renovate Madame de Pompadour’s apartment for the widowed dauphine Marie-Josèphe de Saxe.
While work was being carried out, she moved into an apartment on the second floor. She died there before the renovations on her ground floor apartment had been completed, although they were sufficiently advanced for her to lie in state there.
The apartment then became the domain of “Mesdames”, Louis XV’s daughters who remained there until the French Revolution.
