Life at Versailles was highly ritualized, with the king’s daily routine performed in public.
This served 2 purposes : to impress Louis XIV's subjects and to foster trust, as they always knew what he was up to.
Louis XIV's would wake up in this room at 8:30am.
The first person to see him was his valet, who slept at the foot of his bed.
Following this, a group of close courtiers and family members would enter to see him as he washed, shaved, dressed and put on his wig.
Gradually, more courtiers would be invited in.
By the end, more than 100 people would be present.
The king would then go to mass, walking through the famous Hall of Mirrors, where hundreds of people would be waiting for him, hoping to catch his attention.
Afterwards, he would return to his apartments for meetings with his ministers, before often going out for a hunt or a walk.
His dinner would be served around 10pm - and was also conducted in public.
Fun fact : the palace was so large, and the kitchens so distant, that food was often cold by the time it arrived!
A typical meal would include 4-5 different soups, roasted birds, lamb and/or beef, game from the royal hunts, vegetables, enormous quantities of bread and diluted Burgundy wine.
Many of these vegetables came from the Potager du Roi - a vast kitchen garden which is still in activity today!
Louis XIV took great personal interest in it and visited it regularly.
He was particularly obsessed with peas
In a letter to her daughter, the Marquise de Sevigne wrote : 'The chapter of peas goes on forever - the impatience to eat them, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the joy of eating them again are the three points our princes have been discussing for four days...It is a fashion, a frenzy.'
3 evenings a week Louis XIV would host parties for courtiers in the State apartments.
Otherwise, after dinner, the king would return to his apartments and prepare for bed, again in front of hundreds of people.
If a noble carried particular favor, he would be given the immense privilege of holding the king's candle.
Once the audience had left, Louis XIV would go to bed, having shared a secret password with his guards, who slept in the room next door.
Louis XIV died in this room, after 72 years on the throne.
It was also here that Louis XVI and his wife, Marie-Antoinette, were confronted by an angry mob that stormed the palace and forced them to move to Paris - one of the first major episodes of the French Revolution.
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