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Photo above: Philip Mansel, © Neil Spence.
From the moment Louis XIV began to entertain at Versailles, English people were among the most favoured guests and admiring visitors. They particularly enjoyed liked the gardens, the Galerie des Glaces and watching mass in the royal chapel and the royal family at dinner. Lord Chesterfield wrote that an hour at Versailles was worth more than three hours in a study with the best books ever written. Marie Antoinette’s English friends included Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Versailles transformed English architecture, furniture and fashions. The last court ball at Versailles was given by Napoleon III in honour of Queen Victoria. Afterwards she wrote: ‘The union of the two countries and of the two sovereigns is of the greatest importance…May this happy union ever continue for the benefit of the world!’
Ball given at Versailles by Napoleon III for Queen Victoria, 1855, by Victor Chavet, Royal Collection
Philip Mansel is a historian of France and the Middle East, and has lived in Paris, Beirut and Istanbul. His books on French history include Louis XVIII (1981); The Court of France 1789-1830 (1989); Paris between Empires (2001), a history of Paris as a European capital under the restoration and the July Monarchy; The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon (reprint 2015); and most recently King of World: The Life of Louis XIV (2019). His books Constantinople: City of the World’s Desire (1995) and Levant (2010) on Smyrna, Alexandria and Beirut, stress the importance of French diplomacy and culture for those cities. Seven of his books have been translated into French, including King of the World, published by Passes Composes in 2020. He has written frequently for, among many other magazines, the Spectator; History Today; the TLS; and Cornucopia.
In 1995 he was a co-founder of the Society for Court Studies (www.courtstudies.org), designed to promote research on courts and dynasties, and in 2010 of the Levantine Heritage Foundation, dedicated to the study of the history and cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean. In 2012 he received the London Library Life in Literature award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Literature, and President of the Conseil scientifique of the Centre de Recherche du Chateau de Versailles.(CRCV).
In 1995 he was a co-founder of the Society for Court Studies (www.courtstudies.org), designed to promote research on courts and dynasties, and in 2010 of the Levantine Heritage Foundation, dedicated to the study of the history and cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean. In 2012 he received the London Library Life in Literature award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Literature, and President of the Conseil scientifique of the Centre de Recherche du Chateau de Versailles.(CRCV).
Boughton House, Northants, designed for a former English ambassador to Louis XIV, Ralph Montagu, and still full of his French furniture and objects.