The Cult of the King

Abstract

I HAVE EVERY REASON to be satisfied since the very Christian king has treated me most civilly and others have done all that they can to give me pleasure….” Thus wrote Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark to tell his father of his trip to the court of Louis XIV. His letters are a charmingly naïve account of the parties, balls, and court functions that seemed only slightly dampened by the war that raged in Flanders, the Rhineland, and Italy. He was extremely happy to have his princely rank recognized by the right to an armchair in the presence of the king and the dauphin even though he was “incognito.” He visited most of the châteaux of the royal family, including the Palais Royal, Marly, Versailles (for a Mardi gras ball), and on his departure Louis urged him to stop at the Condé château at Chantelly, “where the gardens and the waters merit a visit.“ He must have been well treated, indeed handsomely so, for in one of his letters he tells his father that he has enough money, and needs no more. Surely this has happened to few enough tourists in Paris.