Get ready to travel down one of the roads less traveled of French royal history.
In this exclusive tour with Google, correspondent Brady Haran gets a very special look inside the famous Palace of Versailles, where the French royal court ruled from the mid-17th century up until the French Revolution in 1789. While much of the palace is open to the public, including the rooms of the palace’s last royals, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, a few rooms are kept behind closed doors. Namely, those of the old King Louis XV’s mistresses.
The role of mistress to the king was a powerful and official one with a title, and the king’s mistresses played powerful roles in the kingdom, in the arts, and in the overall design of the palace. It could be said that this institutionalization of infidelity in the French royal court manifests itself even today in French society — let’s not forget the infamous debate over which first lady former French president François Hollande would bring to dinner at the White House.
So take a click to find out just who these fascinating women were, and what lasting remnants of theirs still leave their mark on France’s gaudiest château.
