What Hygiene Was Like at The Court of Versailles

I don’t understand how they were able to build such elaborate palaces like this yet couldn’t figure out how to make a tooth brush, or some form of deodorant.

Still to this day, in French, a way to say, “I need to go to the bathroom,” can be said as,” J’ai besoin du petit coin/I need the little corner.” It’s an expression from Versailles and the urinating nobles.

And yet these people had the nerve to call Native Americans “uncivilized”

It's been said that Marie-Antoinette was horrified when she saw - and likely smelled - Versailles. She essentially dragged bathing etiquette with her from her native Austria and it was another notch against her to the courtiers, as she was seen as eccentric and even vain due to her regular bathing. Modesty dictated that she wear a linen chemise while submerged in what might be called a fragrant broth. Flowers, oils, perfumes, even pine nuts. Post bath, she would rub sweet almond oil into her skin for a moisturizer, often cut with neroli or violet. Let me tell you, if you suffer from dry skin in the winter, sweet almond oil is the best thing I've ever used.

so it's a palace for the filthy rich......literally

I read somewhere sometime ago that "Paris is known as the capital of perfumes because it was filled with stench that its people would create different kinds of perfumes just to cover up the stink" and now I know that this is 100% true in the terms of logic.

I loved this! Most documentaries just talk about how elegant the place was, the gardens, the architecture, fashion, etc. I have heard about how the introduction of a lot of sugar had a huge effect - people's teeth falling out, deaths from diabetes - and it took them quite some time to make the connection.

I went to Versailles 10 years ago. It’s in a forest kind of in the middle of nowhere. I can confirm that it is odorless now. While picturing people hauling water by hand in and out of the various apartments, dealing with all the waste etc., is wild to think about, it baffles me why the king didn’t try to reduce the amount of people living and visiting there to help keep it cleaner.

modern people tend to underestimate how easily people can become desensitized to bad smells after prolonged exposure

I can’t believe people lived like this back then yet alone rich people. Explains why life expectancy was so much lower back then cause they were gross.

When Queen Catherine came from Spain to live with Henry, she was disgusted how filthy it was in England. She had adopted the bathing almost every day from the Muslims in Spain.

When visiting Versailles with a tour group many years ago on a rainy day there was heavy smell of old wet wood. I guess that was a heavenly scent compared to what occupants endured in the 1700's.

The visual artists were having way too much fun making this video.

In researching for a thesis, I ran across several traveler's letters of that period that commented on the terrible odor of Versailles wafting in the breezes from was miles away. I researched it myself, and read a number of these accounts of courtiers relieving themselves in hallways and public corners, thousands of people living there and only 2 actual" bathrooms" , one being Louis' and one, his favorite of the moment. When I referenced them in a the comments on a You Tube video about Versailles, I was attacked viciously by a number of commentators who assailed my sources, called me a liar and accused me of making it all up. I was offended and am grateful for this vindication.

Can you imagine going back in time thinking its gonna be awesome like the TV shows and movies. Only to see this?

That is disgusting 😭. Even the tudors in England, they called Catherine of Aragon “over privileged” for bathing with water and fragrant herbs everyday. The spanish brought that tradition here in the Philippines that's why we take a bath every single day even centuries ago.

Versailles during that time looks like a sims house I built that one time when I forgot to put toilets and all my sims were just crapping everywhere.

I think it’s funny that the French thought Marie Antoinette was “eccentric” because she liked to bathe a few times a week. People in Tudor England only washed their faces and hands every day. They also believed it was their clothes were the only things that got dirty. So they would only change their clothes. And barely ever washed their hair.

An inverted siphon system, along with glass covered clay pipes, was used for the first time in the palaces of Crete, Greece. It is still in working condition, after about 3000 years. The Ancient Romans had bath houses and indoor plumbing. Hygiene was very important. Honestly, I think in Versailles case. It was a cultural thing. They just didn’t give a crap (no pun intended) All that sexing, drinking, eating was taking its toll. There wasn’t too much put on formality or priorities. Excess opulence. Hence the reason why France 🇫🇷 is now a republic.

It's incredible how people in Versailled used to adopt the culture and the habits of Discord Mods so well