Madame and her brother

[selenak]

One of the many reasons why I'm curious about the tv show Versailles and hope it will show up either in dvd form or on Netflix in my part of the worlds is that the audience favourite is Philippe d'Orleans, aka Monsieur, brother to Louis XIV. This surprised me, to put it mildly, until I realised that a) played by Alexander "Mordred" Vlahos, and b

Comments

[lokifan]

Thanks for this post, it's fascinating! Minette sounds brilliant if long-suffering. And it's fascinating to me that Louis ordered an autopsy - even if it was natural causes, he clearly had his brother's number!

[selenak]

He also was very aware that this could blow his very new alliance with Charles wide apart, and he needed it for his war against the Dutch. Which is why the Ambassador and two British doctors were invited to the autopsy. They did report the "natural causes" result, but the Ambassdor remained convinced for the rest of his life that said result was because no one wanted to risk a French/English war (which Charles might have had to declare if his sister had been murdered

[sonetka]

I've read a bit about Monsieur and both of his Madames (Mesdames) and it sounds like a fascinating and messy story, to say the last! Both of them really deserved better than to be yoked with him (and in fairness to him, it wasn't precisely his choice either, but the power was still of course his). I need to find a copy of Liselotte's letters; the bits I've seen quoted make her sound like someone it would be great to have a few drinks and a gossip with; and of course, she would know ALL the stories.

[selenak]

She would! And I wish you knew German, because there's such a baroque richness and directness in her language, which is part of the fun with the letters, and I'm not sure it comes across to the same degree in a translation.