French Bread Moments Part 3...Living the Good Life

We spent today at Versailles, the amazing palace built during Louis XIV’s 72-year reign.  Louis, known as the Sun King, brought absolute monarchy to its height.  He excelled at internal and foreign affairs, and established a glittering court.  French culture, French manners, French fashion, even those crazy powdered wigs were all the rage.  Everyone who was in the know spoke French.  Versailles would have been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.  Commoners and peasants came to gawk and wander around inside the golden gates.  Hawkers sold souvenirs and food on the palace grounds.   

Other European monarchs in the 18^th century strove to emulate the splendor and the pageantry of the French way of life at Versailles.   The opulent palace chapel was built to glorify God, and the family attended Mass there every day.  But the rest of the palace was built to glorify the Sun King himself.  He was a Renaissance King long after the Renaissance—charismatic statesman, athlete, scholar, lover.   

The Royal family had the best of everything.  But would you choose that kind of life?  The daily ceremonies—the Getting Up Ceremony and the Going to Bed Ceremony—probably would have gotten on my nerves.  But then, who is to say?  If I never knew anything different…

But let’s get to the part everyone knows…or thinks they know:  Louis XVI and Marie­-Antoinette.  Marie-Antoinette, the youngest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, was from Austria, and had been brought up to believe it was her destiny to be Queen of France.  She was 15 when she married the Crown Prince in 1770.  At the age of 19, her destiny was realized.  But then what??  Was she really the spoiled brat we’ve heard about? 

Her husband was weak, not at all like his great-great-great grandfather, Louis XIV.  Marie’s greedy friends enjoyed every sort of privilege, and took advantage of her generosity.  The Queen’s posse all wanted to spend, spend, spend, and when Marie recognized the country’s financial crisis and tried to cut back by eliminating positions in the royal household staff that were based solely on privilege, the nobles began talking bad about her.   You know how rumors get started. 

And that nonsense about “let them eat cake” may not be true either…several noted biographers attribute that quote to Marie-Therese, Louis XIV’s wife.  Marie-Antoinette was extravagant, but she was not oblivious to the plight of the poor.  I wish we could set the record straight for her, because she’s got a pretty bad rep as a callous, wasteful queen.  Until you dig a little deeper.

The palace at Versailles was ransacked in 1789, at the start of the French Revolution, and things…ended badly.  Marie showed herself before the people in an attempt to quell their rage, but the royal family was put under house arrest in Paris for two years.  After a failed escape attempt in 1791, Louis and Marie were arrested, separated, and later convicted of crimes against the state.  They were beheaded, Louis in January and Marie in October of 1793. 

Most of the palace furnishings were stolen during the Revolution, and though some pieces have been recovered, most have been replaced with reproductions or similar pieces of the period.  The décor in the Chateau today reflects mostly the period of Louis XVI, and was unbelievably opulent.

We toured the Chateau’s public rooms and the apartments of the king and queen.  The Hall of Mirrors, with its 17 windows and 17 matching mirrors, was used as a ballroom and for parties, but was mostly just a ‘pass through.’  Mike, Daphni and I took a photo while looking in the same mirrors that reflected Marie-Antoinette.  Pretty freakin’ cool.

After the Chateau, it was on to the grounds, which are expansive.  Daphni tried to get a picture of the gardens, but it was impossible to get it all into one shot.  Then turned back and tried to take a picture of the Chateau, but that was impossible too.   In winter, most of the statues are covered, and the earth is bare, but one could imagine how beautiful it would be when everything is in bloom, and all the fountains spraying. 

We set off across the grounds, bound for the Domaine of Marie-Antoinette.  The Queen had a peasant village built on the palace grounds, which included a working dairy, a water mill, some farms, and real, live peasants.  She had a theatre and a small house built for her use in the Domaine, and apparently she was fond of dressing in a plain white gown and straw hat and “supervising” her peasants as they worked. 

The Domaine was a 30-minute walk from the Chateau, and we stopped at a stand and bought lunch along the way.   The weather was overcast, but not cold.  It was a great day to be outside in late December. 

Once we arrived at the Domaine, we spent an hour there, following the winding village paths, taking pictures of the thatched-roof buildings and farm animals. 

And that village, which could be viewed as a foolish indulgence for a spoiled queen, looked pretty good to me. 

I wondered what it would be like to be observed every minute of my life.  What if there were always people around--maids to help me choose what to wear, members of the court and commoners to gawk as I ate—members of my staff to listen in if I had to speak to Mike for his own good.  People to repeat everything I said, whether I meant it or not.  Whether I said it or not.

I can see why Marie-Antoinette wanted to escape to the country every now and then. 

Regular, working people in 18^th century France did not have easy, pleasant lives.   But the perceived simplicity of the country life had to appeal to her. 

Like many of our rich and famous now, Marie-Antoinette existed in a bubble.  Reality for royals was far-removed from reality for regular folks.  That was a large part of the problems that had started long before the teenaged Marie-Antoinette was crowned Queen of France.  Problems that led to the Revolution and the fall of the monarchy.

I have toured European palaces in Vienna, Berlin, Madrid, London, and Paris.  And I always come away feeling glad to be me.  Just me.  Middle-class me in a middle-sized city in the middle of America.  Life is very, very good.

Poor Marie-Antoinette.  Seriously.  Not just for the way she died, but for the way she lived.