The year 1666 marked a turning point in the French monarchy. The queen mother, Anne of Austria, died at the Val de Grâce. Everyone remembers the exit of Monsieur, brother of Louis XIV. The church struck five in the morning on January 22, he had cut through the crowd looking serious, without a word, without a tear, paying no attention to anyone as his shock was immense. He began to walk, refusing his beautiful golden coach and had taken a horse when he was not wearing boots but Italian heels, no jacket, just a doublet, all ribbons in the wind. He had galloped like this as far as Saint-Cloud to cry all the tears in his body. Then after this mourning, everything resumed its courtship, as before. The Court of France was the largest in Europe and the most famous. People came from everywhere to tread the gardens of Versailles, to try to see the King, even to speak to him. Balls, apartment evenings and plays punctuated the daily life of the Court.
