Original subtitles

louis xiv so powerful he took his name

from the sun itself so dominant he made

the haughty astera stir Kratz bend to

his will so insatiable that no one

mistress could satisfy him for long

[Music]

throughout a long and turbulent life Yui

sought magnificence in all things he

strived for it in love in battle and in

art but above all he wanted magnificence

at versailles by creating a building so

spectacular it would outshine any palace

on earth taken from intimate memoirs and

official records this is the story of

how a king's obsession created one of

the wonders of the world

[Music]

it started in a swamp it was here in a

stretch of mosquito infested marshland

the Louie the 27 year old King of France

decided to construct his new palace near

a small and unremarkable country town

called Versailles his courtiers were far

from impressed it was almost as though

Louis had deliberately picked the worst

possible site for his magnificent palace

in order to prove to the world that his

will was was greater than nature

[Music]

Louie had a sentimental reason for

choosing Versailles it was the site of

his father's old hunting lodge and as a

boy he played and hunted beer

the original Chateau of Lewis father was

on top of her Hill the problem if you

wanted to turn it into a whacking great

palace was that you weren't going to be

building on flat land Louie was told

this is not a great place for a big

expansion of your father's chateau as a

monarch with absolute power Louie wasn't

used to being told what to do and he

didn't much like it mr. Silverstein

[Music]

O'Donnell's editor from the outset Louie

was thinking big

he started by hiring the greatest

architect of the age Louis Louisville to

transform the hunting lodge into the

palace of his dreams

[Music]

Louis was to devote much of his energy

to his new project but he was always

sure to make time for his other great

passion although married to Queen Mary

Torres he had numerous Affairs his

current mistress was a young

aristocratic beauty called Louise de

l'avenir you know vinegar

Louise attitude towards women was one of

tremendous enthusiasm he really loved

women

he didn't just love them for sex he

loved their company he loved the

conversation he loved their elegance he

loved women who were witty and refined

most of all I think he loved women

because they teased him and made him

laugh he loved he had a tremendous

sexual appetite he would quite often if

his mistress was too slow in taking her

dress off have a turn with her ladies

made while he was waiting or a passing

servant in in the corridor at Versailles

he made love the way he did everything

else with enormous gusto a French King

was expected to have a mistress and it

sort of symbolized the virility of the

nation and you know a hundred years

later pour lui the 16th the French were

furious with him because he didn't have

a mistress was Louise de la Valliere was

near the forty its first official

mistress she was a lady in waiting at

the court she was guileless charming

daughter over good family and she adored

the King and it was irresistible

because she convinced him quite

genuinely that she loved him for himself

and I think this is what the young king

wanted to hear I think he had a very

good time

Louise was very important to him he did

love her they have two children together

he made her a duchess but it was it was

a young man's crush rather than a

profound passion whatever his feelings

for Louise Louie was always careful to

fulfill all of his obligations to his

wife his marriage to Queen Mary to Fez

was politically vital it had ensured

peace between France and Spain for many

years and he needed to father children

with her to ensure that his dynasty

lived on Louie did feel the duty towards

the Queen he made love to her frequently

and she would always have a special Mass

said the day afterwards and everybody

would nudge each other at court because

she looked very pleased as she came into

the chapel he was attentive to her

polite to her they they had children

together but she simply didn't have the

looks or the education or the spirit or

the charm to captivate a man like that

she accepted his infidelity as did most

royal and aristocratic women at the time

as being part of of marriage Louise

mosquito bit and courtiers also had to

accept their King for what he was like

all 17th century monarchs Louis believed

himself appointed directly by God yes

you said she could you know minnekopa me

about it Sean on the ship one cause the

year on the two conceded that very Bruma

and the two deviance nobody could tell

him what to do he was quite simply the

only power in the realm and having had

this consciousness since he was a very

very small child I think it meant that

he was without any arrogance or hubris

of the opinion that he was pretty much a

God himself

Laveau's plans for the remodeling of

Versailles were complete and ready to

present to his demanding boss

[Music]

Louis certainly knew that what he wanted

was a building which had that shock and

awe effect there's absolutely no doubt

that he wanted a building that would be

sensational Laveau's model was

impressive but had a major flaw he

planned to destroy the old hunting lodge

selamat Iman telmanovo the idea with the

four enables to keep always little

shadow of his father so that was a

problem for an architect because

architects prefer to destroy everything

and to build the new new building so

Louis and the architect away and he told

him I want this Sutra to preserved with

the constrain anacondas so la víctima de

Virginia no please leave a like animal

demo Perez also to Cocoplum preservation

chateau

[Music]

with Laveau sent back to the drawing

board Louis turned his attention to the

landscape he wanted to expand the

existing garden adding ornamental lakes

and groves lined with dazzling fountains

but he'd picked an awful sight there

were no views it's hemmed in by the

sides of Valley and also Versailles

wasn't naturally endowed the region with

the sort of trees which Lily wanted for

his garden Louis chief gardener was the

century's most celebrated landscape

designer on trail or not versailles

would be the greatest challenge of his

career but the Sun King did not want to

wait for his earthly paradise all of his

trees to grow from saplings Luther 14

wanted results and he wanted them fast

this was really a theme of the whole

sort of project fair sight and the

solution was to uproot mature trees from

other parts of France and bring them in

in a special contraption was invented a

horse-drawn contraption which would

allow these mature trees to be

transported on and you can imagine these

terribly bad roads from other provinces

[Applause]

with major new building work on hold

Louis instructed Laveau to upgrade the

interior of FSI on his inspection tours

knew he was accompanied by his entourage

including mistress Louise de la Valliere

but Louise now had a rival

and then a futuristic as real as my plus

it's a poem Adam came a class again to

report on the pseudo vote

softly Radomir world of innocent Libya

world avenues NEPA the computers

[Music]

dr. McGuire

the former that obstinacy damage is a

companion after a while he became quite

bored with Louise and she hung around at

court desperate to try and get his

attention back she never really did so I

think she probably suffered quite a lot

I think the king could pick and choose

power is a great aphrodisiac and a crown

even more so

so naturally I think he picked very

beautiful women Louie liked to display

his power after winning a war against

Spain he celebrated with a huge party in

the gardens of si

[Music]

it was also a chance for the King to

show off the woman who had now replaced

Louise as his favorite mistress

her name was Madame de Monte small and

she was one of the most beautiful women

in France Louis like my gosh you could t

result adequately give us a majestic

pamper that don't come before it is even

not despise such an attractive figure I

think she was a tremendous goer she

loved everything to do with pleasure

she loved jewels and she liked marvelous

clothes she liked food flowers gardening

and above all she liked sex you see and

he did too so he found but they are

absolutely the right maitre Santi for

him

[Music]

and she knew about having wonderful

feastin about having entertainments so

she was exactly the kind of person Louie

envisaged as being suitable same time

she was so beautiful that ambassadors

thought she contributed to the legend of

the sound King the Sun Kings festivities

were about more than pleasure

they had real political significance

Louis was slowly turning his new palace

into the most important and the most

fashionable seat of power in Europe

the party's at Versailles they've been

described as pagan masses fireworks

rides along the canal in gondolas balls

for 3,000 people under the stars plays

ballets with a hundred dancers by Lully

everything you could possibly imagine

all at once in the Ennis tremendous

circus of celebration for the King the

Kings former mistress Louise eventually

gave up trying to win him back after

years of neglect she decided to enter a

convent leaving behind the children

she'd had with lewy I don't think she

felt guilt about leaving them behind

because she knew that they were going to

be very well treated

so I don't think she felt that kind of

guilt because I think her big guilt she

wanted to expel which with penance and

fasting and all that in the convent and

when she finally got away I think she

was much happier

she became a very hard like nun you know

hair cut hair shirt praying and

repentance and typical generally ended

her life more or less in the area of

sanctity because Louie was spending more

and more time at their side he decided

to move his entire government there to

accommodate the new officials Laveau

suggested a brand new idea keeping the

old hunting lodge but enclosing it with

massive new buildings on three sides the

design was known as the envelope

the Chateau was preserved but it was

enveloped in this new building in a

completely different star which looked

like a palace what he also did with

Laveau was to build pavilions for his

ministers now this was very important

what this meant was that for the first

time

Versailles could function as a seat of

monarchy a place from which the king

could govern

[Music]

building the envelope was a massive task

requiring thousands of workers

[Music]

the largest number workers were 40,000

people at the same time it was a very

dangerous place also because the the

work to be done was not done in a secure

way of course it was with accidents and

people dying

Louis was impatient to get the job done

quickly work went on day and night there

was no health and safety regime and the

workers who were most at risk were the

ones who were working high up so for

instance the roofers the carpenters we

do know that there were a lot of

accidents on site

[Music]

there were times when the death rate the

mortality rate was high and in order not

to demoralize the workforce the corpses

would be removed at night

[Music]

Louise mistress Madame de Montespan

was already married but that didn't stop

her spending most of her time with the

king and he made sure she got the VIP

treatment she had a suite of 20 rooms

whereas the Queen had to make do with

eleven

they were gorgeously appointed and he

spent a lot of time in them they

included a bathroom most unusual for the

time in which apparently he in my own

demand his fall spent many happy hours

despite her elevated status Montes pond

find it hard to share lui even with his

own wife Ellen I love the Oval as they

boast you'll fall in love

[Music]

incivility I don't think she was really

jealous of the Queen because after all

she had everything of Lewis real love

and she knew it

but I think she made scenes about the

other mistresses when they came along as

the years passed and I think there are

some men possibly louia among them who

rather like it if a woman is jealous and

shows signs of caring you know she's

certainly complained like mad if she

felt he was strayed from what was in

fact an illegitimate relationship Louis

kept a close eye on the building works

but one inspection visit brought a nasty

surprise

a mother angry at the death of her son

killed on the site was waiting for him

[Music]

we're told that she just let fly at

Louie the 14th I mean he was very

surprised he said what does that me as

been a dhenuka September

this was a courageous thing for this

mother to have done because there were

guards everywhere and of course as soon

as she had said this she was very

quickly hustled away for her punishment

administration delicious exist unanimity

father says a phantom Azad remember

nemesis existed to the talk acceptance

of omotenashi is a different a personal

opposite over some happenin

[Music]

Lynott has ambitious plans were finally

taking shape and Louie's dream of

creating the most spectacular Palace in

Europe was slowly becoming a reality

Louie's great gardener his real gift was

for rearranging the landscape basically

and dividing it up on a grid and then

you treat the units within the grid

essentially as outdoor rooms and then

you would bring in all sorts of other

people water engineers sculptors

architects essentially to furnish these

rooms

[Music]

and you're gonna sent a quad

will impose a deadly geometry Magellan

order a new IV in the SAP of terrabona

[Music]

the envelope around the old hunting

lodge was complete

Louie's ministers were installed in

their new apartments and the King began

governing from Versailles

[Music]

now Louie decided he would make the

palace his permanent home and insisted

that leading French Nobles come and live

there too hello the atomic norm Quinn

took a disposition polka backside the

Vienna Demelza what a fuss there's no

question that for Louis the nobility but

really the great court nobility were an

essential aspect of his kingship they

surrounded him with glory like status

[Music]

this is a state where the ultimate

decider on granting favor or refusing

favors in the hands of the king if you

were looking for a military command if

you were looking for favors for many of

your client supporters and family then

the way to achieve this was by getting

access to Lois

and to a lesser extent by gaining access

to the ministers around Lily but housing

all the nobles would mean yet more

building work Lewis Finance Minister

jean-baptiste Colbert worried about the

cost you go come on

ll Jimmy D fed some sort of a tooth of

laplace killer via physical bear to

squeeze on the left side Jehan to

several phones some personal touch the

noblesse

[Music]

Louie wanted the nobility at fair side

in order that he could keep an eye on

them the message he wanted to give to

his Nobles was this you don't need to

rebel to get what you want what you have

to do is come and pay your court to me

the vasila Chateau and Philippa

[Music]

original architect Louisville died

before his project was complete his

replacement June mansaf had ideas of his

own

Massa advocate idea to have big wings

each side of the envelope to make some

accommodation for the princes and the

court so it was a huge design and I

think he had a great idea of what would

be a great palace for a great king

Seibert furnish a state-administered

ended up in the supports or indefinite

el vira along ' solli-tangen

man sows most ambitious proposal was to

build a fabulous gallery lined with

mirrors on a fishes solid near the

celadon a gallery in early spring open

plaza LUMO and attitudes of visually

Zarda

[Music]

but samosa is a question we don't know

but ha see yes

[Applause]

however magnificent the plans

Louise experienced with his builders was

a familiar one everything took much

longer and cost far more than the

estimates and they made a terrible mess

[Music]

nothing is more false than these

gracious pictures of their saying it

shows the stately place of everything

perfect and everybody gliding about

actually it wasn't a huge building site

all of court ladies complained about it

the workmen starting at 6 a.m.

my dear the dust and the smell of wet

plaster which got into their hair it's

exactly like today exactly like what we

feel on a tiny scare when our neighbours

go building must be not an amazing sight

I mean the first day in at Versailles

everybody stopped jostling jostling

jostling for bigger rooms of better

rooms in a better position in the

meantime the lesser folk you know they

were trying to get down from the attics

get better rooms always to get as near

as possible to the pink

the lavatory arrangements were pretty

kind of basic servants would think

nothing of relieving themselves in the

corridors of Versailles so you have this

extraordinary attention on outward

appearances and magnificent clothes but

alongside you have all these smells I

mean you could have been in a farmyard

Louise desire for magnificence extended

to every aspect of his life especially

his wardrobe he dressed in the finest

cloth and expected his courtiers to do

likewise

and when his hair began to recede he

adopted the fashion foreign laborat

a half inch of lace on a cuff a gold or

a silver button whether your pearl was

here on your collar or here these could

mean life and death to the court his

fashion was hugely important and it was

a very important way for the aristocracy

to distinguish themselves from the

ordinary people

Loui influenced fashion to some extent

when he was a young man he dressed quite

flamboyantly lots of Cavalier silks and

laces and ribbons he was a bit on the

short side so he introduced a fashion

for high-heeled shoes his mistresses

perhaps were more influential on fashion

Madame de Montespan

invented various outfits including one

the glorious d'azyr ba which was a sort

of a tunic worn over trousers and she

invented this because it was very easy

to take off normally a lady's dress

required two women to stand behind her

to undo all the strings and of course

Louie was an impatient man he couldn't

be bothered waiting so she invented this

outfit so that he could undress her

discreetly and easily in private with so

many court years now craving his

attention

Louie kept them busy by turning his

daily activities into public rituals

when he gets up in the morning that's

the Royal Levay with a great queue of

great nobles who hand him different

articles of clothing at night it's all

reversed it's the Royal coucher and he

takes things off and gives them to

Nobles great Nobles would follow with

one another as to which of them had the

right to hand him he should because it

had to be the person of highest rank in

the room they couldn't go off to the

country on their estates and start

raising armies meddling I mean that they

had to stay there quarreling about whose

turn it was to give the king his napkin

even the Kings meal times turned into a

performance where the nobles stood and

watched the King eat waiting for him to

speak to them one of the phenomena of

Versailles was the sight of leading

Nobles adopting these very deferential

poses this was actually a very very

powerful signal that the monarchy was

back in charge for the courtiers

flattery became a way of life for

instance one courtier a great nobleman

in his province Louis says to him when

is your wife's baby due and this

nobleman says when your Majesty wishes

it

as well as accommodating thousands of

courtiers and officials there psy was

also used by the king to promote France

itself there was a deliberate intention

to create a showcase for French

manufactures and to rival or outdo Italy

above all which was the great source of

taste in the 17th century

the magnificence of the interior of

course it was all about the splendor of

the monarchy and the splendor of louie

xiv louis personally loved rich

materials and fine craftsmanship but it

was also a careful orchestration of

louis xiv france's claim to lead europe

in terms of taste

and the arts as building progressed

Louie commissioned hundreds of paintings

sculptures and other decorations many

containing images of himself as the

embodiment of French strory

this was no accident if you compare

Louis with rulers before it is

remarkable how he had professional

advice so he's not presenting his image

by himself there was a whole backup team

of intellectuals writers this is a real

innovation that there should be a small

committee of people who are simply

working on how to present the Kings

image in the most grand manner possible

with a great French painter shall upon

was recruited to the cause he's a senior

suppose you see our second row Susie the

legality obscurity allow me the Fox

article I like to add a lot or I do be a

property on the sunshine

Louise image-makers liked art that

presented him as a conquering hero

drawing on figures from ancient

mythology like Jupiter and his favorite

Apollo

the association with the image is a very

powerful man of the past were part of

the strategy of being the best King and

the most powerful and most important

king of the time

[Music]

Louise public image may have included a

fair amount of 17th century height but

he was certainly a remarkable man he

goes hunting three times a day he goes

to council meetings three times a day is

a very hard working he makes love three

times a day we must conclude the man had

amazing energies

[Music]

fortunately there was enough glass to

furnish the palaces most ambitious

development the result of six years

intense work this was man Safin LeBlanc

most stunning achievement their size

hall of mirrors

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

nobody's you Sekhmet among Kalkaji moons

and gallery in Italy and people I think

the effect of the canary is more a dream

wonderful life given by the mirrors and

it's I think it's it very impressive and

astonishing this is undoubtedly one of

the great palaces

no he would have wanted us to think of

the chateau as an integrated whole not

to focus on specific items where the

Hall of Mirrors or the great Canal and

as an integrated unit it completely

outshines I think almost every other

palace ever conceived or built

[Music]

Kalka shows the pitiless Amarista

totally rockin woman upon me

before in new playmakers and gallery so

to get to public arrest Alicia to edit

Rhonda in soon a few tell you I own the

house zuly pathogen

Louis said of his house Versailles

similar do it was Versailles he was his

house if we understand one we understand

the other the King wishes to assert his

authority and maintain his position he

has to do it through display Versailles

is an ideal theater set on which he can

act out what he regards as his royal

duties Versailles from this point of

view fulfills his requirements better

than long as any other building that

could be imagined Louie's love affair

with his palace lasted longer than any

of his human relationships after 14

years nine pregnancies and seven

children Montes pond was beginning to

lose her looks and her hold on the king

Madame de Montespan began to fall out of

favor because inevitably after nine

pregnancies her figure wasn't quite what

it was she became rather blousy she

drank too much she gambled too much she

made a nuisance of herself with her

tantrums and I think as happens to a lot

of women the more she felt her man

slipping away from her the more needy

and clingy she became and the more needy

and clingy she became the more she drove

him away because she thought she was

everything but I think Louie was also

undergoing quite a significant personal

transformation he was becoming much more

religious Madame de Montespan was a

married woman committing adultery with

an unmarried woman was one thing but

double adultery was sacrilege it was a

tremendous scandal and he was becoming

conscious of the fact that his way of

life was was really compromising the

state and compromising his kingship

Louis turned to a very different woman

Madame de Maintenon

governess to his illegitimate children

maintenant was pious quiet and

intelligent qualities that a middle-aged

Louie had come to admire

[Music]

poor madam the mountain I had to do

everything she had to act as a cook a

plumber a gardener as well as a teacher

and a nursemaid it was exhausting and

she did this so well that Louie began to

pay attention to her he noticed this

this intelligent woman this calm

presence slowly slowly Madame de

Maintenon began to seduce the king

rejected mistress Montes bong was

distraught did we a Duke as a majesty I

see the city air

helium polish analyst ed mailable day I

think it was the rise of mountain Oh in

the first place which really riled her

because she van she'd made a mistake

she'd underestimated another woman and

North was poor at a widow and did not

curious and very pleasant from the

intelligent and she didn't spot that

Louie might actually fall in love with a

woman like that you know and it might be

a very seductive thing to him in quite a

different way from her own seductive

paths and I think for a couple of years

at least she was extremely angry when

Louise long suffering Queen Mary Torres

died he was free to marry again and he

turned to the quiet governess she'd not

only won his heart she convinced him she

could help save his soul the 17th

century mentality was very different the

attention paid to salvation dying in a

state of grace so you didn't go to hell

was enormous and Louie who in some ways

was quite simple took this very very

seriously

and I think Manton or persuaded him that

she could help him towards his salvation

as Manton was a commoner the king could

only marry her behind closed doors

[Music]

he did need a secret church wedding a

morganatic wedding as they're called in

the presence of clergy and witnesses

after that he's all right with God in

the church he can go to communion it's

all perfectly okay and it's interesting

that Louie never declared the marriage

because she wasn't a princess he had his

own values that is he would have his

private life but in public he was

solitary

[Music]

in public louie concentrated on running

his palace

and his court life at Versailles became

ever more formalized

vetting the establishment of the full

court of Versailles we turned it into

the great social political power broking

center of France

Versailles was exciting if you thought

like a French nobleman because loo xiv

was your house you would spend the

evening in the physical presence of the

king of France you would be admitted to

his gaming table you would be invited to

dance in front of the king now for

Nobles this was an enormous ly

prestigious an enormous ly flattering

thing

[Music]

you

[Music]

the court of Si could be seen as a cross

perhaps between Royal Ascot and the

dealing floor of futures exchange

combination of very socially elite group

who already know each other and can

interact with each other and at the same

time a group of hardened professionals

who have their own language and their

own codes who know how to strike deals

and to extract the best possible

advantages from a particular situation

[Music]

thus I was the original hotbed of

scandal the phrase with which everyone

began their conversation was on D it's

being said they're saying this they're

saying that all day these whispers of

rumor would travel about the palace

people would send each other little

bulletins by sedan-chair to report on

what was going on in in the different

rooms and that of course made it a

tremendously claustrophobic place to

live you couldn't do anything about

everybody knowing about it

there was this extraordinary networking

Center everyone who was anyone in France

was now at their side so to be excluded

was disastrous for a French nobleman

the worst thing that a courtier could

hear from the king was he's a man I

never see people would spend literally

years trying to hear one word or have a

gesture from the king

[Music]

with the nobility now so dependent on

him Louis could fully immerse himself in

the role he was born to play he emerges

as this absolutely consummate performer

the whole regime at Versailles hinged on

your having this extraordinarily

charismatic figure who could perform in

all the right ways for this enormous

audience which he had assembled around

him but Louie was only human and after

years of good health he began to suffer

from a serious medical problem an anal

fistula this was an extremely serious

condition in the context of the 17th

century the risk of it becoming

gangrenous the pus would seep into the

rest of the body and in fact was very

great indeed untreated it would almost

certainly have killed the king the only

way that it was likely to be cured was

through invasive surgery such surgery

had had a very poor success rate but

Louis instructed his doctors to go ahead

his senior physician devised a new

instrument especially for the operation

the doctors involved in the operation

practiced on a number of others who had

anal fistulas beforehand but it was

nonetheless still a very risky operation

in the 17th century the doctors were

much more likely to kill you than cure

you

huge effort was made at Versailles to

keep the details of this secret because

it was felt say likely that the king

wouldn't survive that the diplomatic

repercussions of this would sweep

through Europe

[Music]

Magister

mr. Cheryl's there but they welcome to

one or the mr. J and see what comin Papa

be a majestic

[Music]

the fistula that mr. magisteria ride

with Matt now in for PA Priscilla

totally over and that night he took a

council meeting extraordinaire very pale

was from sheen of sweat but he made it

louia recovered his health but other

troubles were looming his fame and

success had earned him many enemies two

years after his operation France began a

costly war against Spain England and

Sweden as the fighting dragged on some

of their size silver was quietly removed

and melted down to pay the Qing soldiers

unable to win the war you assigned an

unfavorable peace treaty conceding

territory to his enemies

the Sun King was finally in decline and

although he continued to make small

improvements to his Great Palace he lost

much of his enthusiasm

Genichiro lupertazzi Sara cannot reverse

Aida not a news report on a samosa fat

not invention preparedness masala no

successor

after just four years of peace a new

crisis threatened the Spanish king died

leaving his empire to Louise grandson if

Louie accepted on the boy's behalf he

knew the other European powers were

tried to stop him but if he refused the

territories would go to France's rivals

in Austria he was in an impossible

situation Louie was damned if he did

damned if he didn't faced with an issue

which concerns the honour of his dynasty

he perhaps not surprising that he opts

for the acceptance of the Spanish offer

but he never to be therefore provokes

war with the other major European powers

this the most grueling war of Louie's

reign lasted for 12 years and brought

France to the brink of ruin

as Louis grew old and frail he fell

evermore under the influence of his

devout wife and now shunned the lavish

amusements that had once filled his

beloved palace

I think Versailles became a chilly

tedious place in many respects once time

Antonin got louie into her grip

it became this sort of rather dreary

world where whatever the King of France

was doing you could set your watch by

you could look at the clock at any hour

of the day and know exactly where Lewey

was and his whole life became this this

endless choreography of etiquette and

ritual with Madame de Maintenon sitting

there in the corner like some sort of

holy spider watching it all

safe activity any physical exertion

abilities difficulties a seizure who the

consistently

Manta noir was a comfort to Louie when

he needed it the most

illness took the life of many members of

his family including a son and grandson

and he was haunted by the legacy of his

Wars I think you know it was a tragic

figure in his final days I think the

tragedy began with the sudden deaths of

so many of his nearest and dearest knew

he had Manton all by his side but she

said about him that sometimes he would

be alone with her shut the doors and

then he would just weep but the way

things had gone I think it was a very

sad old age you know outliving his

descendants and having led france into

these wars which seemed so wonderful

when he was winning them and became so

costly when he wasn't

aged 76 and after 72 years on the throne

Louie was once again taken seriously ill

[Music]

no one expected noon the 14th to live as

long as he did when Louis finally

weakens in the last year of his life its

result of a gangrenous infection which

gradually spreads from his leg to the

rest of the left side of his body even

Louie's own death became a public

performance

[Music]

I'm here

in spite of their long intimacy Manton

all wasn't actually at the Kings side

when he died and that was not the

practice by her own wish she went off to

a convent to be among ladies who would

be succor her and sympathize with her

leaving him to priests and ultimately to

God he died rather slowly and so she

came back once I think twice and to be

with him again but ultimately it was

time for her to go the heir to the

throne was a really tiny child the

little five year old boy and he's

brought in to see his grandfather and

his grandfather sort of tells him to be

a good king but says I have loved war

too much

very sad dying words from Louie the 14

certainly true

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

throughout his long reign Louis sought

to bring glory to himself and his

country

that lifelong devotion expressed in the

extraordinary palace he built at

Versailles is the reason he's become

part of the very essence of France

[Music]

he didn't just leave glorious monuments

beautiful buildings fabulous paintings

he left a sense of identity which has

endured until today

he certainly embodies I think the idea

of the greatness of France he was the

king and you were the subject and there

was never any doubt about that

he imposed his will on the world so

splendidly in every respect

[Music]

he wanted to impress everybody any

Atticus exceeded the scale of the vision

is breathtaking

no one did it like Louie

[Music]

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[Music]

louis xiv

so powerful he took his name from the

sun itself so dominant he made the

haughty Asteras de Kratz bend to his

will

I'm so insatiable that no one mistress

could satisfy him for long

[Music]

throughout a long and turbulent life Yui

sought magnificence in all things he

strived for it in love in battle

and in art but above all he wanted

magnificence at Versailles by creating a

building so spectacular it would

outshine any palace on earth taken from

intimate memoirs and official records

this is the story of how a king's

obsession created one of the wonders of

the world

[Music]

it started in a swamp it was here in a

stretch of mosquito infested marshland

that Louie the 27 year old King of

France decided to construct his new

palace near a small and unremarkable

country town called Versailles his

courtiers were far from impressed

it was almost as though Louie had

deliberately picked the worst possible

site for his magnificent palace in order

to prove to the world that his will was

was greater than nature fulfill all of

his obligations to his wife his marriage

to Queen Mary to Fez was politically

vital it had ensured peace between

France and Spain for many years and he

needed to father children with her to

ensure that his dynasty lived on Louie

did feel a duty towards the Queen he

made love to her frequently and she

would always have a special mass said

the day afterwards and everybody would

nudge each other at court because she

looked very pleased as she came into the

chapel he was attentive to her polite to

her they they had children together but

she simply didn't have the looks or the

education or the spirit or the charm to

captivate a man like that she accepted

his infidelity as did most royal and

aristocratic women at the time as being

part of of marriage

Louise mosquito bitten courtiers also

had to accept their King for what he was

like all 17th century monarchs Louis

believed himself appointed directly by

God yes you so she could you in a minute

upon me about it Sean on the Chevron

calls a year honor to come say did that

cheb rumor and the cookie fianc nobody

could tell him what to do he was quite

simply the only power in the realm and

having had this consciousness since he

was a very very small child I think it

meant that he was without any arrogance

or hubris of the opinion that he was

pretty much a God himself

Laveau's plans for the remodeling of

their son

Louie's attitude towards women was one

of tremendous enthusiasm he really loved

women

he didn't just love them for sex he

loved their company he loved the

conversation he loved their elegance he

loved women who were witty and refined

most of all I think he loved women

because they teased him and made him

laugh he loved he had a tremendous

sexual appetite he would quite often if

his mistress was too slow in taking her

dress off have a turn with her ladies

made while he was waiting or a passing

servant in the corridor at Versailles he

made love the way he did everything else

with enormous gusto a French King was

expected to have a mistress and it sort

of symbolized the virility of the nation

and you know a hundred years later poor

Louis the sixteenth the French were

furious with him because he didn't have

a mistress

louise de la Valliere was near the fort

in its first official mistress she was a

lady in waiting at the court she was

guileless charming daughter over good

family and she adored the King and it

was irresistible

because she convinced him quite

genuinely that she loved him for himself

and I think this is what the young king

wanted to hear I think he had a very

good time

Louise was very important to him he did

love her they have two children together

he made her a duchess but it was it was

a young man's crush rather than a

profound passion whatever his feelings

for Louise Louise was always careful to

[Music]

Louie had a sentimental reason for

choosing Versailles it was the site of

his father's old hunting lodge and as a

boy he played and hunted beer

the original chateau of Lewis father was

on top of a hill the problem if he

wanted to turn it into a whacking great

palace was that you weren't going to be

building on flat land Louie was told

this is not a great place for a big

expansion of your father's chateau as a

monarch with absolute power Louie wasn't

used to being told what to do and he

didn't much like it never professed an

optimist editor from the outset Louie

was thinking big

he started by hiring the greatest

architect of the age Louis Louisville to

transform the hunting lodge into the

palace of his dreams

[Music]

Louis was to devote much of his energy

to his new project but he was always

sure to make time for his other great

passion although married to Queen Mary

Terez he had numerous Affairs his

current mistress was a young

aristocratic beauty called Louise de

l'avenir

no dignity

unless I were complete and ready to

present to his demanding boss

[Music]

Louis certainly knew that what he wanted

was a building which had that shock and

awe effect there's absolutely no doubt

that he wanted a building that would be

sensational Laveau's model was

impressive but had a major flaw he

planned to destroy the old hunting lodge

selamat Iman telmanovo the idea with the

four enables to keep always little

shadow of his father so that was a

problem for an architect because

architects prefer to destroy everything

and to build a new new building so Louis

and the architect away and he told him I

want this Sutra to preserved with the

consumer not want his soul of a demon

division no pleasure Vivek animal demo

purpose also to Cocoplum preservation

Chateau with Laveau sent back to the

drawing board

Louie turned his attention to the

landscape he wanted to expand the

existing garden adding ornamental lakes

and groves lined with dazzling fountains

but he'd picked an awful sight there

were no views its hemmed in by the sides

of Valley and also Versailles wasn't

naturally endowed the region with the

sort of trees which Louie wanted for his

garden Louie's chief gardener was the

century's most