The Sun King (New York Review Books Classics)

I greatly enjoyed this book. To start with, it is a nice size and has many many color reproductions of paintings of the people and places... since they were royalty, this is often great art, so the larger size qualifies it as a small art/picture book.There is, of course, well written, engaging text on the lives of these people and the intertwinings of public and personal history. In this story, we see how the seeds of revolution were sown by moving the royals away from the city, so that two generations later we have people who are completely unfamiliar with real life outside Versailles.Some will find this confusing and frustrating because so often names were similar or honorific titles overlapped. Person A is called "Monsieur" by person B, but person C calls him "Sir John" and person D calls him by his title, the second Earl of the Whoosie. Do be prepared to flip back and forth to clarify whether is is the Duke of Borne or the Duke of Burne (I just made that name up, but you get the idea), especially when they are married to each other's sister, and every other woman is named Marie Thereses or Anne Marie. All this to say it does require some attentiona and committment from the reader.The reward is a rich history where personal piques shaped the lives of hundreds, and in many cases, misshaped the lives more than a corset misshapes the body. The writing is often witty but we see enough of their foibles to care about these folks too. Informative and enjoyable.

Such a king is Louis the XIV. But Milford also goes on to say that "it would be impossible to exaggerate the terror which he inspired." Nancy is familiar with the human side of royalty having lived amongst nobility her whole life. She is a known lover of France. This is a chatty book in many places; Nancy peppers her declarations with notes supporting her declarations. For example she notes that the polite King had precise degrees of tipping his hat. He is known as a "human king." However when he felt he was shamed or threatened, he could be the terror of the kingdom.I am aware that some mistakes are made in the historical facts, although these are addressed in the preface. I enjoyed the linkage to Versailles, probably the most known linkage to the Sun King aspect of his rule. We get a view of a mortal king who is lusty and somewhat promiscuous who also trembles with the possibility of eternal damnation for his sexual life. I enjoy these little references. I think this book endeavors to show a human king who had many sides to his nature. The Kindle edition is well edited although I regret not having the pictures.If you like the seriousness of researched history with many of the daily details of a voyeur, you will enjoy this book.

My package was delivered following my instructions perfectly I was amazed that USPS delivered it actually to my home! Usually it gets messed up and stays in a transit area for a few weeks this time actually followed instructions. The book itself is in great condition. I’m so excited to read about the Sun King and it’s beautifully illustrated and I love Nancy Mitford I think the way she writes about this period Of French history is amazing🦋

Sun king was very informative but the author for me was too wordy. Having similar names was a bit confusing so a tree chart would have been helpful. I would only recommend this book to someone that is interested in history.

Nancy Mitford is best known as an author of witty, elegant novels like The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. In the 1950s and 1960s she also produced a number of historical works, of which The Sun King is one of the best.The Sun King is a personal biography of Louis XIV. It does not deal in great detail with the political, military, or economic issues of Louis XIV's reign but primarily focuses on his personal life and that of his family. Louis married his double first cousin Marie Therese of Spain (she being his genetic sister for all intents and purposes, the reader is amazed that his family turned out as strong and healthy as they did). He also had three major mistresses and a string of casual acquaintanceships which produced a number of illegitimate children. His numerous relations also produced a quantity of children and had many extramarital relationships.A major part of the book deals with the construction of Versailles. Indeed the book seems almost to be a biography of the chateau. The profuse illustrations, including many photographs of the chateau and its grounds, add immeasurably to the pleasure of reading this work.But the most compelling reason for reading The Sun King is to enjoy Mitford's elegant, witty, prose style, which is as much in evidence here as in her novels.

An original view of history from inside the court. Obviously, given the peculiar personality of Louis XIV, his relations to his mistresses, and their relations to the rest of the court form a large part of the narration. We learn very little about policy, but that is from the start the story deliberate parti-pris !

I've been reading books of French history for years, having been raised by a Francophone mother, and looked forward to the admired novelist's take on le Roi Soleil. I gave up by page 45. The book felt like drudgery, an assemblage of facts and anecdotes lacking an animating spirit or driving narrative--and I've been to Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte and other places she describes. Mitford is no Antonia Frasier, Alison Weir, or Alistair Horne to name just a few fine historians and biographers. It doesn't help when she opines that blacks had no stamina and Louis XIV's one bad feature was his father "Jewish" nose. Yes, there are amusing moments here or there, but the book feels thin and shallow in conception. Perhaps it was "an ideal marriage of author, subject, and format" fifty-odd year ago--but it's pretty dated.

Funny, informative, poingnant. Nancy Mitford at her best.

Extraordinary . Loved it . Full of fun and brings you right back to Versailles in its heyday

Nancy Mitford's review of the social life of Louis XIV's court at Versailles is masterly. She has researched the multifarious contemporary and later works on this era with loving care. While it is fascinating to learn the details of the building of the palace, with its attendant parks and gardens, it is also revealing to discover that, in spite of some people urging of him to take care of the poorer French citizens, he never undertook that necessary task. Indeed, Mitford points out that he seemed to think his various adulteries were greater crimes than his neglect of the needs of the people.The voluptuous life of the court was kept far apart from the "canaille". it is no surprise that the French people eventually rebelled. Perhaps, if Louis XIV had made some effort to help those in need, the Revolution might never have happened.Nevertheless it is impossible not to be carried away by the details of the courtiers' lives, with their various scandals - not just their amours, but the vicious cycle of poisonings of those who were deemed to be in the way.The details of the medical "skills" of the time are also mind-blowing. The violent surgical "cures" must have killed as many people as they saved. It was a tough era.Mitford does not review the political ethos of the time, merely mentioning that - after a career of yearly wars against his neighbours - Louis advised the great-grandson who followed him on to the throne: "Do not copy me in my love of ... warfare: on the contrary, try to live peacefully with your neighbours." He, on the contrary, had spent the winters in hunting - which was the main sport of the nobles - and the summers in sending armies to fight the other European countries.It is an era which, thankfully, has now vanished: but Mitford's book allows us a glimpse into the opulent and violent world of Versailles.

Very readable, rather gossipy account of life in the court of Louis XIV. The style is understandably dated and I'm not sure what a professional historian (which I am not) would make of its rigour. Nevertheless, it's very entertaining, and I felt better prepared for a trip to Versailles immediately after I'd read it.

Très intéressant et très instructif : cette aristocrate intellectuellement supérieure est bien placée pour exposer un roi exceptionnel sans vexation ni indulgence