The King's Chamber at the Palace of Versailles

Tradition required that the king sleep at the very heart of his royal domain, so the rooms of Louis XIV lie at the center of the château, making the private chamber easy to find. Visit the King's bedchambers along with the royal apartments of French monarchs such as Louis XIV, and you step into the most symbolically charged space in the whole palace.

The daily preparations of Louis XIV were a true spectacle. Idealized and almost deified, the Sun King absorbed all the attention of the court, and when he rose in the morning the rituals unfolded before the eyes of onlookers. The King's chamber was in fact divided into seven visible ceremonial rooms designed to impress nobles and distinguished visitors, and it was moved to the southwest wing of the château in 1701.

In the King's bedchamber and the hallways of the royal apartments, it was not uncommon for rumors to grow and shape the course of France's great history. These sumptuously decorated rooms were far more than private quarters. They were the nerve center of the court, where a single word could alter the fortunes of those who served the king.