2:1 Unveiling the Secrets of the Palace of St Germain en Laye during the reign of Louis XIV
In La Garde Ecossaise the Palace of St Germain en Laye plays a significant role in the novels as this is the base of the secret unit of elite men, La Garde Ecossaise, who have sworn to protect the life of Louis XIV and innocents from certain death. This is where Hamilton’s office is located and where our narrator of the novels, Robert Meldrum meets Hamilton properly for the first time and is invited to be part of the Guard. Meldrum recounts his first journey through the Palace of St Germain, waiting at the gates and then being taken through the large courtyard and up a narrow staircase to the servant quarters in the attic at the back of the castle. Hamilton’s office is located down a long dark corridor. We get the impression that the office is, unsurprisingly, located in a part of the palace which is little used. Indeed, the door, or entrance, leading to Hamilton’s office looks like the entrance to a storeroom or cupboard. It’s true purpose was concealed. Finally, Alexander Murray who is taking Robert Meldrum to the office, states that St Germain is fast becoming a favourite place for the visiting British and Irish expatriate communities.[1] This podcast will introduce the history of the royal connections of this region which lay to the west of Paris, especially before Louis XIV moves his court to Versailles in 1682. It will explore the Palace of St Germain and paint a picture of life in these residences for those who were part of the Royal household. Finally, it will place the palace in its wider British and Irish context by exploring the British and Irish expatriate community at St Germain en Laye prior to 1682.
The Royal Playground and Place of Refuge: Le Grand Couronne
The modern-day area department of Yvelines in which the royal residences of St Germain en Laye, Rambouillet and Versailles are located are known collectively as ‘Le Grand Couronne’ or the large crown and it acts as an outer ring marking the suburbs of Paris. It is no coincidence that it has been given this name given its history and connections with old regime France. This area was used by successive French monarchs to escape the dirt and grime of Paris in the early modern period. It was often a welcome refuge from Royal pressures and government administration. It could also act as a place of refuge. To understand why Louis XIV moved his court and the French government to Versailles in 1682 we have to understand why this area to the west of Paris was so important for the French Royal family.
The palace of St Germain en Laye which, in actual fact, consists of two palaces, both old and new, played a significant role in the lives of the Bourbon royal family and Louis XIV himself. Louis XIV was conceived around December 1637 when the usually estranged King and Queen spent time at the old chateau at St Germain en Laye. Louis XIV was born at the new Palace of St Germain en Laye nine months later on 5 September 1638, a much longed for and anticipated Dauphin of France. His formal baptism took place in the chapel of the old chateau of Saint-Germain en Laye. King Louis XIII, Louis XIVs father, died at St Germain en Laye in May 1643 and thereafter Louis XIV became monarch.[2]
During the Fronde the Royal family found refuge at the palace of St Germain en Laye at a critical time when there was disorder in Paris. On 5 January 1649 Anne of Austria made a secret plan to spirit the King out of Paris, fearing danger to the King’s person by the crowds and nobles who had revolted against the Crown. Of course, there is an important Franco-British context here because at the same time, Charles I was awaiting trial at the hands of a purged English parliament which resulted in King Charles Is execution on 30 January 1649. We cannot be sure if Anne of Austria saw this added dimension at the time but, considering Charles Is wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, was at the French court, this seems highly likely.[3]
However, we must not underestimate how traumatic this move would have been from the Palais Royale in Paris, where, at that time, Anne of Austria lived with her two sons, to the Palace of St Germain en Laye. This was a real upset for the two young princes who had unsurprisingly grown accustomed to Royal luxuries and protocols. This move was done with the upmost secrecy and at short notice because the palace of St Germain was not prepared for the Royal family’s arrival. It did not escape Louis XIV that the family had to flee under the cover of darkness in the dead of night, to remain safe. At 3 am in the morning, in the bitter cold and darkness Louis XIV was told to get dressed to board a carriage to take him out of Paris. Yet, it was unlikely that he knew of the plans himself and had to follow the instructions given to him by his mother. It must have been distressing and frightening for both him and his brother Philipe. When Louis XIV and his brother arrived at St Germain en Laye they arrived at a cold and empty palace which was wholly unprepared for Royal in residence. As Mme de Motteville describes, the King, the Queen, and the nobles that came with them, found themselves without beds, attendants and without [bed] linen. The Queen slept in a small bed that Cardinal Mazarin had sent to the palace days earlier. There was another bed for Louis XIV and another two military camp beds, one for Louis’s brother Philipe and another for the Cardinal himself. All nobles who came with the family, including those of Royal blood, spent the night sleeping on straw. The gates of Paris were shut, and this caused the Royal family and their household major problems. As Josephine Wilkinson, a leading biographer of the Sun King has stated, ‘Louis and Anne were deprived of every necessity. They endured hardship for several days until supplies finally came through’. This spartan existence must have been a shock for the young king and his brother, and this left a lingering feeling of vulnerability that never left Louis XIV for the rest of his days. Furthermore, despite his tender age of ten years, Louis XIV became aware of the monarchy’s fragility. However, for Louis XIV, the palace at St Germain en Laye became associated with safety and refuge, and it became one of the main Royal residences during his reign.[4]
After his marriage to Marie-Therese in 1660 as Queen she would spend the winter months at St Germain en Laye with her two children and Louis XIV used to walk with her. Marie-Therese also gave birth to a daughter at Saint-Germain en Laye. St Germain en Laye was clearly associated with family, away from the court politics and intrigue.[5] It also was a safe place for the family should accidents, illness or death occur, as it did in February 1661 when the Louvre was ravaged by fire. This refuge became all too apparent after the death of his mother, Anne of Austria in 1666, where Louis XIV spent some time at Saint Germain en Laye and at Versailles.[6] Another indicator that St Germain en Laye was an important residence for Louis XIV was that some important ministers, such as Jean Baptiste Colbert and Francois-Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois all owned personal residences and large properties in the town.[7] Another note of interest is that the famous landscaper Andre le Notre is responsible for the garden terrace at the new chateau of St Germain en Laye.[8] By the 1670s Saint-Germain had become the main royal residence as Versailles remained under construction. Even the famous English political theorist John Locke visited St Germain en Laye in 1678 and watched as Louis XIV started his day with prayers and Locke was impressed by the King’s devotion to God.[9]
Exploring the Old Chateau of Saint-Germain
The old chateau of Saint-Germain plays a central role in the La Garde Ecossaise novels because this is where Hamilton’s office is based and where Meldrum meets Hamilton for the first time. Meldrum states:
‘I was taken to a door at the back of the palace and then up a narrow staircase leading to what only can be described as servant quarters in the attic. They were sparsely decorated but functional. It was residential accommodation for many of Louis XIVs servants’[10]
He continues:
‘He [Murray] then led me down a dark corridor, towards a door, a plain door with oak panelling but without any of the famous decoration and style which France at this time was known for.’
Behind this ordinary looking door was the office of Lieutenant-Colonel John Hamilton.
So, what was the Old Palace of St Germain really like? We are extremely fortunate in that Professor Edward Corp has managed to gather some key sources which gives us an idea of how the chateau functioned as a royal residence. These include floor plans which can be found in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, plus the household lists of King James II found in the Carte Collection at the University of Oxford, alongside some French studies on the old chateau of St Germain en Laye which give us a rough idea about how the old chateau was organised. Corp has drawn floor plans of the chateau which show the layout and activities within the palace.[11]
To approach the old chateau Meldrum would have walked up a steep road from the river to the Royal estate and during this walk he would have seen several buildings including royal stables and kennels, plus an old tennis court. He would have walked past the Maison du controller and turned a sharp right and walked across a drawbridge to reach the entrance of the chateau-veux, as it was known.[12] As Meldrum notes in La Garde Ecossaise, he is taken across a large courtyard in the centre of the chateau. Indeed, the old chateau of St Germain was as Corp describes it as ‘an irregular pentagon shape’ with a large courtyard in the middle.[13]
The third floor of the chateau was occupied by staff, including chaplains, barbers, and a physician as well as other senior staff.[14]
The Royal apartments were located on the second floor with public presence chambers for meeting guests and officials, bedchambers, and rooms for guards. The second floor also included a small chapel and a theatre for entertainment.[15]
The first floor contained accommodation for courtiers and senior staff.[16]
The ground floor contained the large chapel where Louis XIV himself had been baptised and also accommodation for chaplains. The ground floor also contained the kitchens, a larder also with accommodation for kitchen staff such as the King’s master cook. There was also accommodation for the guards which stood at the three entrances to the chateau.[17]
The area below stairs contained a woodyard, cellars and a pantry.[18]
The main character of the novel John Hamilton is in the attic out of the way of the King, his courtiers, and senior staff. Of course, this is to allow his Garde Ecossaise to maintain secrecy as to their activities, but it was not unusual for ordinary staff to receive accommodation in the attic and this was certainly the case at Versailles.[19] Indeed, we are told by Robert Meldrum that the room is down a long dark corridor, presumably away from the other rooms. We are given the impression that Hamilton and his men are in one corner or section of the attic, within the chateau with a narrow staircase leading to these rooms. Yet this staircase is concealed by a door, and it leads directly up to Hamilton’s part of the attic. Again, this is to underscore the secrecy of his unit and his understated presence at court.[20]
British and Irish Exiles in St Germain en Laye before 1688
In La Garde Ecossaise Murray explains to Meldrum that Saint Germain was becoming a favourite place amongst the British and Irish expatriate communities. What did he mean? Although King James II and his household did not arrive in France until 1688, St Germain en Laye was a place that many British and Irish visitors to France had lived in or visited. In the 1640s and 1650s St Germain en Laye was home to a diverse community of Royalist exiles who were still loyal to the House of Stuart and thus could no longer live in Britain and Ireland. St Germain en Laye was a particular draw to this community because this is where the household of the exiled Queen Henrietta Maria was located, as well as the exiled household of her son Charles, Prince of Wales, later crowned King Charles II of Britain, and Ireland at Scone palace in 1651. Charles IIs household was firmly established in October 1651 after the defeat of the Royalist-Presbyterian forces in September 1651. Therefore, St Germain en Laye was home to a significant number of British and Irish subjects at this time. It was truly a diverse British and Irish community which included government ministers and soldiers, some of which were Irish Catholic exiles, physicians, and Anglican chaplains, in fact, a wide array of household staff were present as well as Charles IIs closest friends The court of Charles II and that of Queen Henrietta Maria shuttled between the Louvre and St Germain en Laye. Charles IIs court remained in Paris until 1654. Some exiled royalists, such as Jermyn, Berkeley and Percy, chose to stay in St Germain en Laye on a permanent basis, Berkeley and Jermyn were attached James, the Duke of York’s household, the Duke of York later became King James II in 1685.[21]
Life in the royal households were not trouble free as it was often a place of factionalism and infighting. As Geoffrey Smith points out, this was certainly the case for the household of James, Duke of York, where Henrietta Maria alienated many in the household with her interference and Berkley and Jermyn fought over power and influence. As it consisted of those forced out of their native country by circumstance it was a very unhappy community, as men bickered for a limited number of employment opportunities, battled xenophobia from the French and often had shortages of money, food and accommodation which resulted in duels to redeem their reputations from slander and insults. Sometimes these duels could be between the Royalists themselves or sometimes between Royalists and the French nobility.[22]
Some of the courtiers and government ministers in the court of Charles II in St Germain en Laye spent their exile pursuing their intellectual interests and their own networks, and the most famous amongst these was Thomas Hobbes, author of the famous political treatise Leviathan which, at the time of Charles IIs exiled court in the 1650s, was being prepared for publication.[23] Besides the political and philosophical intellectual networks there were religious and theological networks driven by a sizable Episcopal community who had been driven into exile by the outlawing of Episcopacy by the English Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters. Indeed, the religious community did not stand still and those ministers who wanted to be ordained in the episcopal church came to Paris and were directed by Richard Browne within whose chapel many of the services for ordination were undertaken.[24]
The household of Queen Henrietta Maria was multifaceted, especially in the 1640s during Britain’s civil wars when it became a fundraising centre for the Royalist cause, as well as a centre of diplomacy for the Royalist court. It also became a military operations centre as the exiled Stuarts gave their blessing for military endeavours for their cause undertaken by Irish, Scottish and English Royalists.[25] These courts also ran a network of agents and spies in the 1640s and 1650s who would gather intelligence on events for the Royalist court in Britain and Ireland. Sometimes these murky networks could contain double agents such as Colonel Joesph Bampfield who seemingly had Royalist sympathies but fed a constant stream of information back to John Thurloe, head of intelligence for Oliver Cromwell and the English Republic. Bampfeild was a key inspiration behind the character Timothy Gray in the La Garde Ecossaise novels.[26]
Of course, these exiles returned to Britain and Ireland when the monarchy returned in 1660. Yet, because Charles II had spent a significant amount of time in St Germain en Laye, many of the connections forged in the 1650s continued throughout the 1660s and 1670s. Furthermore, by the 1670s Louis XIV had made St Germain en Laye his principal residence and many British and Irish visitors came to St Germain en Laye.
One of the most enduring symbols of friendship between Louis XIV and King Charles II that continued to connect them both to St Germain en Laye was Louis XIVs Scottish guard which, of course, has a particular significance for the historical fiction novel La Garde Ecossaise. There were a number of units with Scottish connections that had served the Bourbons throughout the early modern period, most notably in the 1660s, when the Scottish regiment under Lord George Douglas followed French standards of conduct. Although they served Louis XIV, their ultimate loyalty was, in fact, to King Charles II. Lord George Douglas, despite his Scottish lineage, was treated like any French noble or solider. He was seen as a courtier and moved amongst the Royal circles in Paris. Like the Royalist exiles in the 1650s he managed to get involved in a serious duel which by all accounts could have ended his life. [27]
There was also some continuity in the diplomacy too and William Lockhart, who had served as the head diplomat between France and England in the later 1650s, continued to serve in France under King Charles II and was a well-known face at the French court in the 1670s.[28]
St Germain also had its fair share of British visitors, one of whom we already know, John Locke, the famous political philosopher and author of the treatises of government who visited France in the 1670s. Louis XIVs rising and dressing in the morning was very much a public affair full of ritual and ceremony to project kingly authority and as long as visitors were well dressed, they could have access to the palace grounds. Some of the British visitors to St Germain may not have been as entirely wholesome as Locke as Charles II had his agents and spies in France reporting back on the activities within the French court.[29]
In the novel Hamilton’s men in La Garde Ecossaise fit within this wider context of British communities at St Germain en Laye and Paris which continues and grows with the arrival of King James IIs to St Germain en Laye in 1688.
That concludes episode 1 of season 2 of the La Garde Ecossaise podcast. Please remember that the historical fiction novel can be purchased from all online bookstores. Next week we will be exploring early modern warfare and in particular its codes of conduct and rules of engagement.
Until then au revoir and a bientot.
[1] MacKenzie, La Garde Ecossaise 44-45
[2] Oliver Bernier, Louis XIV (Paris, 2018) [Kindle] Loc 169; Philip Mansel, King of the World: The Life of Louis XIV (London, 2022) p.16-18, 25.
[3] Bernier, Louis XIV [Kindle] Loc 637-654
[4] Bernier, Louis XIV 645-659; Josephine Wilkinson, Louis XIV: The Real King of Versaillies (Stroud, 2019) [Kindle] 683; Mansel, The King of the World 42.
[5] Wilkinson, Louis XIV [Kindle] Loc 2643; Nancy Nicols Barker, Brother to the Sun King, Philipe Duke of Orleans (Baltimore, 1989) 86.
[6] Mansel, King of the World p. 129; Geoffrey Treasure, Mazarin: The Crisis of Absolutism in France (London, 1995) p.307.
[7] Mansel, King of the World p. 114; E N Williams, The Ancien Regime in Europe: Government and Society in the Major States 1648-1789 (London, 1970) p. 206.
[8] Nancy Mitford, The Sun King (London, 1996) 40.
[9] David L Smith, Louis XIV (Cambridge, 1992) 101; Tony Spawforth, Versaillies: A Biography of a Palace (New York, 2008) p.9.
[10] MacKenzie, La Garde Ecossaise p. 45.
[11] Edward Corp, A Court in Exile: The Stuarts in France 1689-1718 (Cambridge, 2004) 76-103.
[12] Corp, A Court in Exile 78.
[13] MacKenzie, La Garde Ecossaise 45; Corp, A Court in Exile 80.
[14] Corp, A Court in Exile 87.
[15] Corp, A Court in Exile 82-84.
[16] Corp, A Court in Exile 86.
[17] Corp, A Court in Exile 85.
[18] Corp A Court in Exile 88.
[19] This is Versailles Blog This is Versailles: South Wing (Attic) (thisisversaillesmadame.blogspot.com); Corp, A Court in Exile 91.
[20] MacKenzie, La Garde Ecossaise 45
[21] Geoffrey Smith, The Cavaliers in Exile 1640-1660 (Basingstoke, 2003) 67-74.
[22] Smith, The Cavaliers in Exile 70-72
[23] John Stubbs, Reprobates: The Cavillers of the English Civil War (London, 2011) 417.
[24] Kenneth Fincham and Stephen Taylor ‘Episcopalian conformity and non-conformity 1646-1660’ in Jason McElliogot and David Smith eds., Royalists and Royalism during the Interregnum (Manchester, 2010) 25, 30.
[25] Geoffrey Smith, Royalist Agents, Conspirators and Spies: Their Role in the British Civil Wars, 1640-1660 (Farnham, 2011) 4.
[26] Smith, Royalist Agents, Conspirators and Spies 96, 177.
[27] Glozier, Scottish Soldiers in France 102-103, 125=126.
[28] Ekberg, The Failure of Louis XIVs Dutch War 92.
[29] Smith, Louis XIV 37, 39, 101,