As Louis XV’s Queen Marie Leszczynska had died, Marie-Antoinette was given the Queen’s apartment when she arrived in France, even though her husband was still only the heir to the throne.
The boiseries and paintings of the previous queen were preserved. Marie-Antoinette added the fireplace and bought new furniture. As with all the queen’s beds, it was much larger than that of the King. The King did not sleep with women in his bed but always went to their bed (which given the love life of previous kings was probably quite practical).
The beautiful silk bedcover was sold during the Revolution. In 1959 Versailles was able to buy it back so what we see on the bed is actually the original. Fortunately the destruction of the bedcover shown in Sophia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” movie did not take place.
Doors concealed in the walls both sides of the bed lead to a series of smaller private rooms, passageways and staircases.
The Queen’s New Apartment
When Louis XV died, his grandson Louis XVI allowed his three surviving daughters, Adelaide, Victoire and Sophie, to keep their spacious apartments on the ground floor. The new king referred to them as “Mesdames Tantes” (aunts).
Madame Sophie died in 1782. Marie-Antoinette took the opportunity to convert Sophie’s ground floor apartment into her own “little apartment on the marble courtyard”.
There was already a suite of small private rooms behind the official bedchamber which had been there from the time of Marie Leszczynska and which Marie-Antoinette redecorated. She had also taken over the rooms above on the second floor to create even more “by invitation only” spaces, including a salon, dining room and boudoir as well as rooms for her staff.
The new apartment on the marble courtyard was different in that it was the same idea as the private bedroom of Louis XV and XVI. It was a personal bedroom and bathroom, separate from the courtiers.
This new apartment was very much in keeping with the idea of Louis XV which had been followed by her husband Louis XVI to have a private apartment. Official ceremonies still took place in the Queen’s bedchamber but this private apartment was where she liked to spend her time. It was referred to by the staff as “the Queen’s new apartment”. The green damask bed she had used for the birth of her first two children was modified and placed there. As childbirth for the Queen could not be private, she gave birth to her third and fourth children in her official bedchamber on the first floor.
Marie-Antoinette’s new bedroom was on the right hand side and the bathroom was on the left. Between was a library. The apartment was destroyed by Louis-Philippe when he turned Versailles into a museum. The bedroom and bathroom have been restored but the central part is now displayed as the vestibule it was in the time of Louis XIV.
All bathrooms contained a day bed to take a rest following the bath. The bed in Marie-Antoinette’s ground floor bathroom is the original from Louis XVI’s bathroom at Compiegne.
In case you were wondering, the toilet is in the room behind the bath. You can see the doorway that leads to it.
In 2011 there was an amazing exhibition by Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrove which brought to life Marie-Antoinette’s bathroom. The reason the fabric is different on the bed is that everything the artist does is in paper!!
For the exhibition they recreated a bath. The door on the left leads to the toilet.
Behind the bath there was a two way mirror, allowing light into the toilet area.
