Product Description

The reign of Athenais de Montespan as principal mistress of Louis XIV corresponds with the most glorious period of the Grand Siecle. Athenais was "the true Queen of France", symbol of a dazzling French culture in the 17th century. As a lover, she risked the disgrace of double adultery to conduct an affair which scandalized Europe; as a patron she supported many of the leaders of the cultural renaissance including Moliere and Racine; as a mother she is the ancestor of most of the royal houses of Europe. The greatest beauty of her day, Athenais' life was lived publicly and sensationally until accusations of witchcraft forced her from power in the "Affair of the Poisons", a mystery which remains unsolved. She fascinates not only because she achieved power at a time when it was denied to most women, but because she achieved that power through her manipulation of a proscribed role.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #260599 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-26
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 339 pages

Times, September 27, 2002
Hilton conjures up the arch, self-satisfied world of Paris salons and the Versailles court with considerable panache.

Daily Telegraph, October 19, 2002
Worth reading. Athénaïs- The Real Queen of France is lively, perhaps reflecting the character of its subject... It conveys the flavour of the age.

Sunday Times, October 20, 2002
Hilton explains just what was so fascinating about Athénaïs. We learn of her role in transforming Versailles and enhancing its splendour.

Customer Reviews

Great as novel, but too many flaws for a serious biography
Lisa Hilton has re-created the Versailles of Louis XIV and the readers are soaked into the world of courtly luxury, glamour and intrigues of his reign. She follows the up and downs of King's mistress career. It is quite colourful, intriguing and an entertaining read.

But this book is supposed to be a serious biography. However, Mrs. Hilton's style of writing a quite bit to novel-like for a serious biography. It seems as if she could not decide what she is wants to write. Another reviewer pointed this already out and I share his view on this.

Furthermore, she is far to one sided and really tries to whitewash Madame de Montespan. Trashing others personalities - and often she is right with pointing out the flaws if these personalities - seems to be no convincing argument for seeing La Montespan in a more favourable light. And stating that she was very much in line with the accepted codes of the time is no help either because one has to ask oneself why this sweeping statement does not apply to the others? And I doubt that this was really true.

The title The Real Queen of France" is rather odd as well and shows in my view a total misconception of Louis XIV and his concept of royalty. The Queen - Marie Therese of Austria, Infant of Spain, - was properly an unattractive and not very sexually appealing person and on top rather stupid, but she was a real princess and the most desirable of all princesses at the time. She was very much part of the King's "Gloire" and only she could bear the heirs to the throne. Madame de Montespan was not in her league and could never ever been queen. A "court star" is something complete different, even if she was mitresse en titre.

As a novel I would have found this book quite good, but as a serious biography it has far too many flaws. It is not a waste of time to read it, but you will find better biographies.

Split personality
Another review describes this book as a "biography that reads like a novel". Exactly so, and the problem is that Lisa Hilton doesn't seem to be able to decide which she is writing. The book, therefore, treads a somewhat uneasy path between serious analysis and breathless, speculative storytelling.
Hilton does provide an overview of 17th century French royal history, starting with the Fronde and dipping into the early years of the 18th century for the death of her principal characters. Her description of the creation of Versailles is useful, and she evokes very well the stuffy and rigid formality of the Court. She also does a good job in rehabilitating her heroine, who (as Hilton coherently argues) is one of the more maligned figures in history.
Where the book starts to come unstuck is in Hilton's eagerness to defend Mme de Montespan by blackening the names of her enemies. Yes, of course Mme de Maintenon was sanctimonious, manipulative and hypocritical. Yes, Louis XIV was selfish, self-obsessed and deeply flawed as man and monarch. Yes, the Duc du Maine was an unpleasant, unsympathetic and unattractive character. However, Hilton, in her novelist's guise, manages to skate over her heroine's faults and her heroine's contribution to the faults of others (in particular her children) and to make the supporting cast one-sided in their goodness or evil. Only at the very end does this slip when, in the most atmospheric piece of writing in the book, Mme de Maintenon is permitted to grieve for her erstwhile friend. Even this is supposition.
Hilton also falls into the trap of presenting an hypothesis (possible but unproven) and then treating it as given fact. The text is littered with comments such as "As we have seen...." when, in fact, we have not seen it at all, except through the very partial window of Hilton's own supposition. Characters are given attitudes and reactions which cannot possibly be known, and only inferred through the same partial supposition on the part of the author. This is fine in a novel, when the author can take whatever liberties are necessary in the development of characters, but is unacceptable in serious historical study.
Hilton adopts a racy style of writing which is certainly easy to read, but often grates, especially when she makes very 20th century, very Anglo-centric value judgements, in very 20th century terms, on the actions of people in 17th century France. She also insists on quoting verses in French (fair enough) and providing her own, not very good, verse translations in the notes. A piece of showing-off that really doesn't come off.

This is an interesting book, and draws together a lot of information about La Montespan into a sympathetic narrative. However, for an example of how to write accurate history that reads like a novel, go to Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette.

My best read for 2002
Brilliant! A biography that reads like a novel-you can't wait to see what happens next. The detailed research brings Athenais, the heroine, alive and reveals fascinating insights into life behind the scenes at the court of the Sun King.

What I found most fascinating were the differences between the public and private lives of the King's mistresses - behind the pomp and ceremony, these women needed to have such stamina and courage to sustain their position.

I can't wait for the next book from this highly-gifted writer.