S01E01 Welcome to Versailles
In 1667 in France, Louis XIV is a young king who wants to impose his power whereas he is traumatized by the Fronde (the revolt of nobility during Louis XIII's reign) and despite the attacks...
Versailles
Those who come after us will think that they are just fairy tales...
S01E05: Bow to Your King
Philippe returns to Versailles, a super-confident war hero, ready to challenge his brother as the peace treaty with Spain is signed. Louis plans a celebratory party but the attacks on the highway continue and Fabien believes there could be another attempt to kill Louis. Suspicious of Cassel, who refuses to attend the party,as being behind the attacks, the king sends glamorous mistress Athenais de Montespan, accompanied by naive young Sophie de Clermont, to tell Cassel that he must turn up or host it at his own expense. Dangling Sophie as bait Athenais succeeds in forcing Cassel's attendance and obeisance to the king. However the sound of fireworks has a traumatic effect on Philippe, recalling gunfire whilst Sophie shocks her ambitious mother with an unwise liaison and Cassel returns to what is left of his home to find the king has well and truly beaten him.
Overview
The story of a young Louis XIV on his journey to become the most powerful monarch in Europe, from his battles with the fronde through his development into the Sun King. Historical and fictional characters guide us in a world of betrayal and political maneuvering, revealing Versailles in all its glory and brutality.
Episodes
S01E02 I Am the State
The Queen gave birth to the first royal baby and it triggers some rumors. Besides, Louis XIV's counselors advice him to go to war in order to impose his power. Furthermore, Louis XIV's brother Philippe...
S01E03 Mirror for Princes
Louis XIV wants the nobility to live at his side in Versailles. But noblemen and noblewomen have to prove their noble origin to obtain this privilege. Montcourt is one of them, but he can't prove...
S01E04 The Road
Cassel's brigands continue to slaughter visitors to Versailles including the king's god-daughter though Fabien has his suspicions as to their identity and arrests a likely suspect, aiming to trap the murderers. Philippe is declared a...
S01E05 Bow to Your King
Philippe returns to Versailles, a super-confident war hero, ready to challenge his brother as the peace treaty with Spain is signed. Louis plans a celebratory party but the attacks on the highway continue and Fabien...
S01E06 Invalides
Ex-soldiers working on construction at the palace feel aggrieved at their treatment and down tools. On advice from gardener and confidant Jacques, who suggests a war hero act as intermediary, Louis is nonetheless jealously intransigent...
S01E07 Revelations
Louis is struck down with fever and, whilst the official version is that he has had a hunting accident, the courtiers are suspicious and Philippe lets slip to Rohan that, if his brother dies, he...
S01E08 Diplomacy
With his lover in prison and his wife Henriette surviving a miscarriage Philippe is not a happy man but Louis, buoyant at overcoming his enemies, is keen for an alliance with England for an invasion...
S01E09 Etiquette
Louis believes to triumph diplomatically when his queen Henriette negotiates an alliance with England against the Dutch for cash and a guard for her brother, English king Charles II, but when William of Orange personally...
S01E10 Bring the Garden Here
Duchess Henriette becomes suddenly ill when she returns from a visit to her brother in England. They fear she might have been poisoned, so King Louis XIV shuts all access To Versailles.
Cast
George Blagden
Louis XIV
Alexander Vlahos
Philippe d'Orléans, aka 'Monsieur'
Tygh Runyan
Fabien Marchal
Stuart Bowman
Alexandre Bontemps
Elisa Lasowski
Queen Marie-Thérèse of Austria
Anna Brewster
Athénaïs de Montespan
Evan Williams
The Knight of Lorraine
Maddison Jaizani
Sophie de Clermont, Duchess of Cassel
Steve Cumyn
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Joe Sheridan
François de Louvois
Pip Torrens
Cassel
Noémie Schmidt
Henriette d'Angleterre
