Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King (63 page)

Louis XIV adored his sporting dogs: Bonne, Nonne and Ponne are here shown; he fed them himself in the luxurious closet known as the Cabinet des Chiens with biscuits specially made by the royal chef.

Interlaced double L is taken from the wood-carving round the windows of the King's chamber at Versailles.

Appartement
was a designated evening when theatricals, card games, billiards and music were enjoyed at Versailles; the orchestra can be seen in the box behind the ladies; the Duc de Chartres (later Duc d'Orléans Regent of France) performs with his sister Marie-Élisabeth (later Duchesse de Berry).

Tobacco was a taste enjoyed by women as well as men, including the illegitimate daughters of Louis XIV, although it scandalised their elders that ladies should smoke pipes ‘like sailors'.

The cascade at Marly, the pleasure-house of Louis XIV, where formalities were minimal and invitations were coveted.

The most famous image of Louis XIV in later years, by Hyacinthe Rigaud in 1701. The heroic beauty of his youth has vanished while leaving an air of impregnable majesty tinged with melancholy.

FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, NOVEMBER
2007

Copyright© 2006 by Antonia Fraser

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York.

Anchor Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Fraser, Antonia, 1932–

Love and Louis XIV : the “women in the life of the Sun King / Antonia Fraser.

p. cm.

1. Louis XIV, King of France, 1638–1715—Relations with “women.

2. France—Kings and rulers—Biography. 3. Favorites, Royal—France.

4. France—Kings and rulers—Paramours.

5. France—History—Louis XIV, 1643–1715.

6. France—Moral conditions—History—17th century. I. Title.

DC129.F73 2006

944'033092—dc22

[B] 2006044674

eISBN: 978-0-307-48775-9

Author photograph © Susan

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