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Thoughts on Versailles season two, episode six….
Bonjour again. We are half way through season two and left off last episode with our King drawing some lines with his own blood on a plan of his Palace of Dreams. It’s in the walls. Before watching episode six, I was told it would be a bit as if Philippe was King… so I am looking forward to discover…
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Thoughts on Versailles season two, episode five….
Episode five, this means we are half way through the season. Last season things really started to kick off then. I’m thrilled to discover how this new season continues, but before we travel back in time to 17th century France allow me to say something regarding the previous episode. It did get a little ranty… or rather I got a…
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Thoughts on Versailles season two, episode four….
Bonjour. Comment allez-vous? Did something happen last episode? Something dramatic? Like someone getting stabbed? Ah, oui. Fabien got a knife in his chest and we start with him pulling said knife out. He yells for the guards and collapses. It appears the guards found him and he is brought to Claudine. He will live, for it appears his heart might…
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Thoughts on Versailles season two, episode three….
The last episode finished with the screams of Madame de Montespan and the dramatic/mysterious blowing out of candles as a certain Madame Agathe turned her cards. Now we see Louis in his Apollo costume, the one he originally wore during the Ballet Royal de la Nuit. It was first performed in 1653 and took a whole thirteen hours. Louis XIV…
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Thoughts on Versailles season two, episode two….
Here we are again. Back in Versailles with episode two. The last episode finished with a solar eclipse and a beheading, now we start in with a yawning Louis XIV walking through a salon. Our King seems unable to sleep and is nearly hit by a falling chandelier. Bossuet thinks it’s a bit of a sign. The historical Bossuet was quite…
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The two marriages of Philippe de France
A 17th century marriage was more or less a business contract. It was about wealth, titles, patronage, heirs, and if one was a member of a royal house about politics. Everyone involved was aware of it. Monsieur had the bliss, he would probably call it misfortune, to be married twice. As brother of the Sun King it was his duty to…
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Élisabeth-Charlotte du Palatinat, Duchesse d’Orléans
She is known under many names and one of my favourite people in history. In Germany most people know her by her nickname Liselotte von der Pfalz. In France she is Élisabeth-Charlotte du Palatinat or de Bavière, some call her la Palatine or simply Madame. As she was born in Heidelberg on May 27 in 1652, her parents gave her the name Elisabeth…
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Funny And Not So Funny Things That Happened At The Court Of Louis XIV, Part Three
Paule-Marguerite Françoise de Gondi, the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres, cared neither for writing, reading, cards or other amusements. She spent most of her day drinking tea or coffee. When she drank tea, her ladies-in-waiting had to dress in Indian fashion. When she turned her attention to coffee, they were expected to attire themselves a la Turque. The Duchesse switched between the…
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The death of Philippe de France, Duc d’Orléans
On 8 June in 1701, the Château de Marly was the location of a dinner party. It was Louis XIV’s habit to leave Versailles at times and retreat to Marly-le-Roi, where he had built a, compared to Versailles, small château. To be of the ‘Marlys’, meaning to be one of few allowed to follow the King to his ‘summer house’…
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Philippe de Lorraine-Armagnac, dit le Chevalier de Lorraine
Born in 1643 (day and month unknown), Philippe was the second born son of Monsieur le Grand, Henri de Lorraine, pair de France, Comte d’Harcourt, d’Armagnac, de Brionne, and de Charny, Vicomte de Marsan and de Pagny, Grand écuyer de France, Vice-Roi de Catalogne in 1645, grand Sénéchal de Bourgogne, Gouverneur d’Anjou, and Marguerite-Philippe du Cambout. Philippe’s father, Henri, did his first…
