Today we're at one of the most famous places, not just in Paris
but in all the world.
It's the Palace of Versailles. We're going to take you inside a couple of rooms that
hardly anyone gets to see. We are in the Palace of Versailles.
This is Emily, famous guide. It's lovely to meet you. Nice to meet you Brady.
Tell me about Louis the 15th. Louis the 15th and the mistresses of Louis the 15th.
When you say mistresses, I immediately think of something being a little bit
naughty or a little bit secret. No not at all.
But this is not the case with mistresses?
No, mistress it's a very official role in Versailles. And the thing we're going to look at
today are some of the apartments that were used by the mistresses and these
aren't always open to the public at the moment, but we're going to have a look.
Yes, of course.
If you follow me? Please. It already feels a little bit behind the scenes
doesn't it here? This is the backstage.
Yeah. O.K.
Here we go.
Welcome into the Madame de Pompadour apartment. In 1745 when Madame de
Pompadour was introduced in Versailles, into the court in an official function of
mistress, she lived here and the first gift of the King when she became the
mistress was the title of Marquis. So Madame de Pompadour she was friends with
the Queen? She wasn't really the friend of the queen but she was excited because
the Queen had no choice. Madame de Pompadour was very smart because she
understood that to be in Versailles and to have a real official place, it was important
for her to have relationship with the Queen.
Why is she an important woman, what did she do that makes her still important today?
Firstly because she was a prototype of the ambitious woman, she became very
important in the court, but more than that very important in the kingdom, and she
became very important for the Arts, because for the first time a woman used
the Arts as a propaganda. And there is a portrait of her here, should we have a look
at this? She's here.
This is amazing, this is a really lovely portrait. Lovely, amazing and very
interesting because she was represented here as Diana. Diana is a very famous
Goddess. The Goddess of the Hunt.
So this is very much what she would have looked like when she first met Louis
the 15th, when she hunted him!
Yes, it's an interesting comparison. This is the entrance room, but her bedroom is
next door. You know I want to see the bedroom. Yes of course, it's very important.
And this is where she slept?
Yes, she slept here. So Emily, the King would come to this bed to have romantic
time with Madame de Pompadour? Not in the romantic sense we could imagine today.
But it's more on the discussion, sharing of taste, of the Arts and intellectual
things. So after six years she spent as a mistress in Versailles,
she became the best friend and she had the best of the King, because she had the
discussions, she had a perfect apartment downstairs and at this moment she's
chosen as the mistress of the King.
So you're talking about Madame de Pompadour's taste and style and it's
reflected in this room, can you tell me a bit about that? The Roccoco style, it's
the first 50 years of the 18th century and this is the style of the curve.
If you
look around you, you have no real straight lines there
the Roccoco is completely attached with Madame de Pompadour's reign.
What happened to her, did she live a long time? How did she die? She died because she had
pneumonia and she died in Versailles. It's very important because it's a privilege
given by the King to die in Versailles. But was that it, did the King have more
mistresses? After four years looking, he met a new woman
Madame du Barry. Madame du Barry, when she came along she wasn't
here, she had a different apartment. Can we see them? Another mistress! Another apartment.
Let's go and have a look. This is a hidden passage. So this was the passage
the King would have used to get to his mistress?
We're going into the bathroom. It was the bathroom of Madame de Pompadour here.
Transformed into a library for Louis the 16th at the end of the 18th century.
It's a nice bathroom. I didn't think I'd get to see her bathroom!
Shall we continue? Yes but this is closed. Oh we need a key do we?
Have you not got the key?
I haven't the key! We haven't got the key!
Listen to that bell! Can you hear that bell? Isn't it fantastic. I love that. Are we right
near the clock?
Lets go this way.
We really are behind the scenes here. This is amazing.
Here we are into the Madame du Barry apartment and she was the last
mistress of the King at the end of the reign.
This is his final mistress. She was very different, Madame de Pompadour
very ambitious but Madame du Barry was just a young woman in love with the King.
What was the background of Madame du Barry? Madame du Barry was
from the lower people, step-by-step she became a prostitute as in this court today.
But she met a lot of people in this activity. She met Mr. du Barry, who was a
pimp and Mr. du Barry, step-by-step, organised a meeting with the King.
The King took a prostitute as his mistress and this was an acceptable thing obviously?
Yes, it wasn't very official.
A lot of people knew, but a lot of people ignored that.
What the King wants. the King gets! This is just one room in the whole lot of
apartments, should we go and have a look at the rest?
Yes of course!
Emily what happened to Madame Du Barry? Did she die here?
The King died. She left Versailles and she spent a lot of time in Louveciennes, she had a
new lover, but during the French Revolution she was decapitated.
That's not a happy ending! No it's not a happy ending!
It's been really interesting to get to
see these apartments and we feel very lucky because obviously this is not
normally open to the public so thank you very much. It's a pleasure to talk about these
things and tell you these stories.
You've got more stories to tell? Yes of course!
Alright, lets hear some more stories.
For plenty more Art and Culture, you can subscribe to our channel or look at our
other videos, and if you'd like to find out more about the Palace of Versailles
where we've been filming today
they've also got a great YouTube channel, it's well worth a look.