Nancy Mitford's biography of Louis XIV reveals her, perhaps unsurprisingly, to be anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic, snobbish and superficial. In many ways this makes her an ideal chronicler of the Sun King's court, which largely embodied the same values (with the exception of the homophobia - nobody seemed too concerned about the exploits of "Monsieur", the King's brother).

Mitford, and the court at Versailles, place a great premium on wit, frivolity and personal attractiveness. Madame de Montespan is forgiven almost everything for the vivacity of her conversation, while better-natured mistresses like Louise la Valliere are dismissed for vacuity.

Nonetheless the study is written with verve and energy, and the protagonists spring to vivid life. The illustrations are excellent too...

If you are an aficionado of the period this is worth a read, even if you have to hold your nose at times; if your interest is more casual there are much better places to start. ( )

Nancy Mitford gives an inspired and vivid description of Luis XIV, the life at the court at Versailles among his relatives and courtiers during his long reign until his death in 1715. The book is richly illustrated and comes with an index, a genealogical table (very necessary) and bibliography of her sources. She writes with passion, a bit gossipy relating intrigues, little about politics but a joie to read as her own voice comes through; attention is needed though, keeping track of names can be difficult as first names are often similar and persons are referred to also by their title or titles. We don’t hear anything about the miserable lives of the common people except that the king hated to be reminded of their plight. (III-18) ( )

New York review of books
organized????in a strange way. he had so many mistresses all called madame last name all of which seemed to begin with m. all characters hard to separate. ( )

Nancy Mitford makes history seem like gossip about the neighbours over tea. The book is compelling from start to finish because she makes these personages come to life. ( )

This is a colourful, engaging and gossipy book about the life of Louis XIV, as its title suggests centred around his famous court at Versailles. As such, there is little analysis of his domestic or foreign policy, and those looking for a scholarly analysis must look elsewhere. The main events of the last 40-50 years of the reign are covered, though, albeit from the point of view of Louis and his relatives more specifically; that said, as the leading autocrat of his day ("L'Etat c'est moi" was not said without good reason), there is a very close identity between the man and his country. The author's style is occasionally a little cruel in terms of her physical descriptions of some of the individuals and her own aristocratic prejudices show through in places. Nevertheless, this is a very engaging read with a large number of (sometimes confusing) names. It reads like a novel, with bizarre events such as the Affair of the Poisons, affairs galore, and tragedy with the deaths of three generations of Louis's own heirs towards the end of his life. Finally, this original 1966 hardback edition (picked up in a charity shop ten years ago) is lavishly illustrated with colour and black and white pictures. There is a list of sources, but not footnotes/endnotes. Finally, a genealogical table would have been helpful. ( )