Private Retreats

With the court at Versailles growing year by year - both in buildings and inhabitants - the monarchs found it increasingly hard to live constantly under the watchful eyes of their aristocracy. Even Louis XIV, who had created this very system, retreated more and more to smaller, more private places where he could gather those closest to him.
This particular sections focuses on the small estates that belonged to the royal family and not the other palaces such as Saint Cloud, Fontainebleau etc.