“Those who come after us will think that they are just fairy tales...”
The story of a young Louis XIV on his journey to become the most powerful monarch in Europe, from his battles with the fronde through his development into the Sun King. Historical and fictional characters guide us in a world of betrayal and political maneuvering, revealing Versailles in all its glory and brutality.
Where to Watch
Streaming, rent and purchase options
Episodes
1. Welcome to Versailles
In 1667 in France, Louis XIV is a young king who wants to impose his power whereas he is traumatized by the Fronde (the revolt of nobility during Louis XIII's reign) and despite the attacks of conspirators. Then, Louis XIV decides to establish the seat of the power out of Paris, in Versailles. At that time, Versailles is just a hunting lodge but Louis XIV radically wants to transform this castle.
2. I Am the State
The Queen gave birth to the first royal baby and it triggers some rumors. Besides, Louis XIV's counselors advice him to go to war in order to impose his power. Furthermore, Louis XIV's brother Philippe dreams of glory and wants to be on the field of the future battles.
3. Mirror for Princes
Louis XIV wants the nobility to live at his side in Versailles. But noblemen and noblewomen have to prove their noble origin to obtain this privilege. Montcourt is one of them, but he can't prove his noble rank. Then, Montcourt meets a strange Duke called Cassel to help him. Besides, Louis XIV asks the Queen to welcome Annaba, an African prince.
4. The Road
Cassel's brigands continue to slaughter visitors to Versailles including the king's god-daughter though Fabien has his suspicions as to their identity and arrests a likely suspect, aiming to trap the murderers. Philippe is declared a hero, following his actions at the siege of Cambrai and Louis sends his brother's lover the Chevalier to join him though not before Chevalier has played the king's mistresses against him as several ambitious women arrive at court. Louis visits his brother on the eve of a battle and is taught that, of the two of them, Philippe is clearly the better soldier.
5. Bow to Your King
Philippe returns to Versailles, a super-confident war hero, ready to challenge his brother as the peace treaty with Spain is signed. Louis plans a celebratory party but the attacks on the highway continue and Fabien believes there could be another attempt to kill Louis. Suspicious of Cassel, who refuses to attend the party,as being behind the attacks, the king sends glamorous mistress Athenais de Montespan, accompanied by naive young Sophie de Clermont, to tell Cassel that he must turn up or host it at his own expense. Dangling Sophie as bait Athenais succeeds in forcing Cassel's attendance and obeisance to the king. However the sound of fireworks has a traumatic effect on Philippe, recalling gunfire whilst Sophie shocks her ambitious mother with an unwise liaison and Cassel returns to what is left of his home to find the king has well and truly beaten him.
6. Invalides
Ex-soldiers working on construction at the palace feel aggrieved at their treatment and down tools. On advice from gardener and confidant Jacques, who suggests a war hero act as intermediary, Louis is nonetheless jealously intransigent when Philippe offers his services. The king's bullying also extends to his refusal to allow ex-mistress Louise de la Valliere to leave for a convent whilst Athenais conducts her own agenda and Cassel, his home burned to the ground, is forced to move into the palace from where he continues to scheme. Louis is ultimately forced to bring Philippe in for a public relations exercise as he breaks the strike, after which Philippe makes his own plans to leave Versailles.
7. Revelations
Louis is struck down with fever and, whilst the official version is that he has had a hunting accident, the courtiers are suspicious and Philippe lets slip to Rohan that, if his brother dies, he will be regent. When the delirious Louis runs round the palace in his night shirt the facts become visible and the queen, Cassel and others meet secretly to plan ahead should he not survive but Louis recovers, thanks to Claudine Masson, daughter of the late court doctor whom Louis now appoints as his physician. Due to Fabien's spy network he also exposes the conspirators, in particular the CHevalier, and orders arrests to be made whilst finally releasing Mademoiselle de Clermont to become a nun on her request.
8. Diplomacy
With his lover in prison and his wife Henriette surviving a miscarriage Philippe is not a happy man but Louis, buoyant at overcoming his enemies, is keen for an alliance with England for an invasion of the Netherlands and sends Henriette to London to see her brother Charles II and negotiate terms. Cassel and others plot to kill her but the conspiracy is denounced to the king by Montcalm, anxious to be reinstated at court. Fabien survives an attempt to kill him whilst Louis has a job offer for Philippe.
9. Etiquette
Louis believes to triumph diplomatically when his queen Henriette negotiates an alliance with England against the Dutch for cash and a guard for her brother, English king Charles II, but when William of Orange personally comes question the Stuart 'reunion', Charles offers him a princess's hand. Rohan continues to elude Marchal's efforts to dismantle the secret society in Orange's service, even arranges the escape of a traitor locked up for torture. Marchal, who is losing Louis' confidence, proves the Pau ladies frauds, discretely executes the mother, his 'lover' and the poison monger, and chases the daughter. Chevalier convinces Philippe not to resent Louis' demand to devise elaborate court etiquette but to enjoy becoming the aristocracy at court's puppeteers, while Louis proudly radiates as a heliocentric sun.
10. Bring the Garden Here
Duchess Henriette becomes suddenly ill when she returns from a visit to her brother in England. They fear she might have been poisoned, so King Louis XIV shuts all access To Versailles.
Cast & Crew
George Blagden
Louis XIV
Alexander Vlahos
Philippe d'Orléans, aka 'Monsieur'
Tygh Runyan
Fabien Marchal
Stuart Bowman
Alexandre Bontemps
Elisa Lasowski
Queen Marie-Thérèse of Austria
Anna Brewster
Athénaïs de Montespan
Evan Williams
The Knight of Lorraine
Maddison Jaizani
Sophie de Clermont, Duchess of Cassel
Steve Cumyn
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Joe Sheridan
François de Louvois
Pip Torrens
Cassel
Noémie Schmidt
Henriette d'Angleterre
Amira Casar
Béatrice de Lorraine, Madame de Clermont
Sarah Winter
Louise de La Vallière
Gilly Gilchrist
Jaques
Anatole Taubman
Montcourt
Alexis Michalik
Louis de Rohan
Lizzie Brocheré
Claudine, King's doctor
Story & Production Details
Reviews & Thoughts
Using the spectacular estate of Versailles as a backdrop, these three seasons follow the lives of King Louis XIV (George Blagden) and his brother Philippe, Duc D'Orléans (Alexander Vlahos). The former has been king since he was about five years old, his brother a much more entertaining, flamboyant and sexually fluid individual for almost as long. The first season sees the King alight on their father's old hunting lodge and decide it is to be his new grand palace. Aided by his faithful valet "Bontemps" (Stuart Bowman) and ruthless police chief "Marchal" (Tygh Runyan) and facing the duplicity of the likes of the Duc de Cassel (Pip Torrens) he must assert his royal authority before his kingdom crumbles away. The King also must reconcile the aspirations of his wife, Marie-Thérèse of Austria with his string of mistresses including the Marquise de Montespan (Anna Brewster) and the Princess Henriette (Noémie Schmidt) - who just happens to be the rather unfulfilled bride of his sibling. Philippe, meantime, is enjoying a life of frills, shoes, booze and having a lively relationship with the Chevalier de Lorraine (Evan Williams). As the plots thicken we move to a second series that, with the characters all pretty much defined now, sees the younger brother determined to do something just a bit more meaningful with his life, and he assumes command of the army as it starts to battle the ambitions of William of Orange (George Webster). Plots and intrigues at home and abroad keep the plot moving along well enough and into a third series that rather loses it's impetus for the character of Louis but does offer Philippe half a dozen episodes as he stumbles upon a man in an iron mask. Who could it be - and what does "Bontemps" know about it all? Simultaneously, public unrest is growing and the hitherto loyal "Marehal" is beginning to wonder if he's on the right side. On balance, Vlahos probably does rather better as his persona has much more meat on it's bones, but Blagden is competent enough in his regal role and there is quite a solid supporting cast of regulars and guests - including Greta Scacchi, the always maniacal Ned Dennehy, Ken Bones as a manipulative Cardinal, Jessica Clark's long suffering and quite shrewd Princess Palatine (Philippe's second wife) and Catherine Walker as the ambitious "Maintenon". The attention to detail, costumes and sets is easily the stuff of big budget Hollywood and the writing, though a bit stolid at times, delivers a cleverly woven series of intricate tales of duplicity, treason, peril, romance and sex amidst a precarious political environment dominated by two brothers who didn't always see eye to eye. It does end rather abruptly, so clearly season four was never on the cards - but it's still an enjoyable romp through French history at a time when the Sun King was at his full pomp.
