Cécile: Gates of Gold

Endless Etiquette

September is quickly passing Cécile by. She spends the days learning etiquette and manners. But yet, every single day at Versailles is focused on the King. Each day, the public watches the King wake up, get dressed, and bathe. He sees visitors in the Hall of Mirrors during mid-morning. Cécile watches dutifully from her post standing behind Madame. She hears courtiers asking the King if they can join him on his next hunting trip to Marly, or asking for some money to help pay back gambling debts. The King always responds with a curt nod or shake of the head.

After he visits, everybody goes to mass. The King built a chapel inside the palace itself, and the King and the other royals sit in the gallery, while the servants, staff, and courtiers sit or stand on the main level. The masses are often two or three hours long, and Cécile’s legs get sore from standing at the back. Madame always falls asleep during mass, and Cécile can hear her snoring away from her seat up in the gallery.

In the afternoons, Madame and Cécile roam the grounds. One day, Madame takes Cécile to see the Ménagerie. She explains that the King gave it to Marie-Adélaïde when she came to the palace to marry the dauphin’s son; she was about Cécile’s age. The Ménagerie houses many exotic animals like giraffes, elephants, ostriches, lions, and flamingoes. The Ménagerie also provides plenty of room for the animals to graze.

When Cécile asks if they raise the animals for food, Madame explains that they’re purely for entertainment. It amazes Cécile that they have enough resources to keep so many large animals just for… entertainment. She wonders if she’d have become a different person if she had come to the palace at such a young age.

Madame explains that the animals can never leave the Ménagerie, and she understands what it’s like to not be able to leave. Madame sometimes wishes she could leave France and go home to visit Germany, but she’s never allowed to leave. Madame came overseas to marry the King’s brother, who has now passed on. But it is her duty to keep the King company, so she must go wherever the King goes. Cécile knows if she expressed a sentiment like this, she could lose her position. She feels immense pressure to do well and be a good servant, as that would honor her father, Madame, and the Sun King. But she’s starting to know duty as a crushing yoke upon her shoulders.