A Year at the Chateau: As seen on the hit Channel 4 show

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The King and Queen learned of the Storming of the Bastille in Paris on 14 July 1789, while they were at the palace, and remained isolated there as the Revolution in Paris spread. The growing anger in Paris led to the Women's March on Versailles on 5 October 1789. A crowd of several thousand men and women, protesting the high price and scarcity of bread, marched from the markets of Paris to Versailles. They took weapons from the city armory, besieged the palace, and compelled the King and royal family and the members of the National Assembly to return with them to Paris the following day. [114] Unfortunately a very predictable, anticlimactic ending. Not worth the long drawn-out hours of reading. Lacaille, Frédéric (2012). Versailles – 400 ans d'histoire. Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-044430-4. The Grand Trianon". en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 23 November 2016 . Retrieved 7 August 2021.

By 1687, however, it was evident to all that Versailles was the de facto capital of France, [71] [99] and Louis XIV succeeded in attracting the nobility to Versailles to pursue prestige and royal patronage within a strict court etiquette, [91] [96] [100] [b] thus eroding their traditional provincial power bases. [96] [97] [102] It was at the Palace of Versailles that Louis XIV received the Doge of Genoa, Francesco Maria Imperiale Lercari in 1685, [103] an embassy from the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1686, [104] and an embassy from Safavid Iran in 1715. [105]Following the end of the Franco-Dutch War with French victory in 1678, Louis XIV appointed as First Architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, [25] [66] an experienced architect in Louis XIV's confidence, [67] who would benefit from a restored budget and large workforce of former soldiers. [64] [68] Mansart began his tenure with the addition from 1678 to 1681 of the Hall of Mirrors, [69] a renovation of the courtyard façade of Louis XIII's château, [70] and the expansion of d'Orbay's pavilions to create the Ministers' Wings in 1678–79. [71] Adjacent to the palace, Mansart built a pair of stables called the Grande and Petite Écuries from 1679 to 1682 [72] [73] and the Grand Commun [ fr], which housed the palace's servants and general kitchens, from 1682 to 1684. [74] Mansart also added two entirely new wings in Le Vau's Italianate style to house the court, [75] first at the south end of the palace from 1679 to 1681 [76] and then at its north end from 1685 to 1689. [18] Near the Trianons are the French pavilion, built by Gabriel in 1750 between the two residences, and the Queen's Theater and Queen's Hamlet, built by architect Richard Mique in 1780 and from 1783 to 1785 respectively. These were both built at the behest of Marie Antoinette; [229] the theater, hidden in the gardens, indulged her appreciation of opera and is absolutely original, [214] and the hamlet to extend her gardens with rustic amenities. [229] [230] [231] The idea sounds crazy, but each of the friends have their own private space in the Château, so although they live together they can have some me time. The Ambassadors' Staircase [ fr] ( Escalier des Ambassadeurs) was an imperial staircase built from 1674 to 1680 by d'Orbay. Until Louis XV had it demolished in 1752 to create a courtyard for his private apartments, [144] the staircase was the primary entrance into the Palace of Versailles and the royal apartments especially. [145] It was entered from the courtyard via a vestibule that, cramped and dark, contrasted greatly with the tall, open space of the staircase – famously lit naturally with a skylight – so as to overawe visitors. [146] [147] The palace still serves political functions. Heads of state are regaled in the Hall of Mirrors; the bicameral French Parliament—consisting of the Senate ( Sénat) and the National Assembly ( Assemblée nationale)—meet in joint session (a congress of the French Parliament) in Versailles [232] to revise or otherwise amend the French Constitution, a tradition that came into effect with the promulgation of the 1875 Constitution. [234] For example, the Parliament met in joint session at Versailles to pass constitutional amendments in June 1999 (for domestic applicability of International Criminal Court decisions and for gender equality in candidate lists), in January 2000 (ratifying the Treaty of Amsterdam), and in March 2003 (specifying the "decentralized organization" of the French Republic). [232]

The apartments of the King were the heart of the château; they were in the same location as the rooms of Louis XIII, the creator of the château, on the first floor (second floor US style). They were set aside for the personal use of Louis XIV in 1683. He and his successors Louis XV and Louis XVI used these rooms for official functions, such as the ceremonial lever ("waking up") and the coucher ("going to bed") of the monarch, which was attended by a crowd of courtiers.The queen's apartments served as the residence of three queens of France – Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche, wife of Louis XIV, Marie Leczinska, wife of Louis XV, and Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI. Additionally, Louis XIV's granddaughter-in-law, Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, wife of the Petit Dauphin, occupied these rooms from 1697 (the year of her marriage) to her death in 1712. [c] Ambassador's Staircase [ edit ] Model of the former Ambassador's Staircase A Year in the Chateau is a lighthearted and entertaining tale following 9 friends as they move to a run down chateau in the French countryside, looking for a new pace of life as they reach/approach retirement age. As you can imagine, their adventure is not all wine, Camembert and roses. Not only do they have dodgy plumbing and a leaky roof to contend with, there's also the elderly former owner of the chateau who has no qualms in pinching anything that isn't nailed down! As the friends come to terms with mounting expenses and simmering tensions, they can't help but ponder whether their plan of an idyllic French life was too good to be true... The Palace of Versailles ( / v ɛər ˈ s aɪ, v ɜːr ˈ s aɪ/ vair- SY, vur- SY; [1] French: Château de Versailles [ʃɑto d(ə) vɛʁsɑj] ⓘ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about 19 kilometers (12mi) west of Paris, France. I really enjoyed this novel by Sarah Long; maybe it's because the idea of living in a historic chateau in France sounds appealing, maybe it's the small community with the numerous boulangeries, delicatessens and roadside cafes were you can wile away a few hours people watching. Or is it the romantic notion of France having a more relaxed approach to life? I didn't care as I was sold with the dream as soon as the word chateau was mentioned!

Spawforth, Antony (2008). Versailles: A Biography of a Palace. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-35785-6. Palace of Versailles | palace, Versailles, France". Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 28 August 2017. Four sets of couples are fed up with their habituous London life. As they all retire they decide that moving to a large country house together would allow them the freedom, fun and experience they are craving. The only property they find suitable is in France. This is the story of their life for the first year in their chateau. Will they survive? Or will this test their love? Blanning, T. C. W. (2002). The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture: Old Regime Europe 1660–1789. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227458.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1982-2745-8.Thank you to Compulsive Readers Tours and Zaffre Books for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. André Le Nôtre". en.chateauversailles.fr. Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. 2 November 2016 . Retrieved 8 July 2021. This is my first introduction to the work of Sarah Long and after reading A Year in the Chateau I am keen to catch up with her other books.