When the Sun King was still a child, he had already mastered every kind of court etiquette.
As a child, he had been free to enter and leave the palace of Anne of Austria, the Queen Regent, but he had not enjoyed a happy childhood like ordinary children, even though he had been born a true prince.
From a young age, he had known the high-ranking officials of the realm inside out. Whenever they had some major event in their lives, he would attend in person. From the age of four, he had officiated at weddings.
Since childhood, he had served as godfather to other noble children. At first, the adults had thought it was some sort of game he had invented. But by the age of five, he had begun accepting oaths of loyalty from the heirs to the highest offices.
Even for a child's game, this had been a little too solemn. Then, on May 18, 1643, he held the first King's Lit de Justice of his life in the chapel where Saint Louis kept the Crown of Thorns.
At the time, the royal palace was still on Île de la Cité, while Versailles was still his father's hunting lodge. After he had removed Fouquet, he began preparing to build a new residence outside Paris, and many artists came upon hearing the news.
The Sun motif had in fact been used by many European monarchs since the sixteenth century, but it was not until Louis XIV that it became the central emblem of the king.
Among the many hydraulic works at the Palace of Versailles was a fountain known as the Thetis Grotto. At night, Thetis let Apollo rest there after driving his chariot all day. The sculpture in the Apollo Fountain depicted the Sun god setting out