Overview

Libert?, ?galit?, fraternit?Today the French monarchy is best known for its bloody demise: Louis XVI, the French Revolution and the advent of the guillotine.In the late eighteenth century it was an institution in freefall; brought into disrepute by an incompetent captain at the helm. But this was merely a blip in the long and complicated history of France's kings and queens and produces a distorted vision of their legacy as a whole.If you doubt this, just take one look at the mighty Palace of Versailles and stand corrected. Like the Pyramids of Giza and the Tower of London, it could have been the product of only two things: wealth and power galore.So what went wrong for France's blue-blooded autocrats?Find out the answer to that question - and many, many more - inside.