Why The King Became a Party Pooper
August 17 1661 It was the party to end all parties.Held in a magnificent new chteau the 6000 guests including a king were handed gifts such as diamond brooches for the ladies and thoroughbred horses for the men.A spectacular fireworks display took place in glorious gardens and a play especially written for the occasion by the playwright Molire was performed.But the French king who was supposed to be flattered and impressed by it all Louis XIV was appalled.
He had already been tipped off that the host his finance minister Nicolas Fouquet had amassed his vast wealth by cooking the books.Invited as guest of honour at the celebrations held to open Fouquets new chteau named Vaux-le-Vicomte Louis was soon infuriated believing that the festivities demonstrated how much wealth his minister had amassed at the expense of the state.He considered this to be the case after being told so by Jean-Baptiste Colbert a bureaucrat who quietly wanted Fouquets job.He had revealed to the king irregularities in the ministers accounts and accused him of creating financial schemes principally designed to enrich himself.Armed with the accusations and outraged by Fouquets display of unashamed and audacious luxury the king ordered his arrest.His trial for embezzlement lasted an astonishing three years the articulate and intelligent Fouquet conducting his own defence and winning much public sympathy in the process.
After his guilt was finally proclaimed the king hoped for the death penalty but the judges instead ordered banishment.Then for the first and last time in French history the monarch over-ruled the court and changed the sentence.Fouquet was jailed for life his wife was exiled and his glorious chteau taken over by the state.
He died in prison 16 years later at the age of 65.Born the son of a wealthy shipowner and royal administrator Fouquet had risen to become the most wealthy and powerful man in France.The writer Voltaire commented On 17 August at six in the evening Fouquet was the King of France at two in the morning he was nobody.The palace of Vaux-le-Vicomte located at Maincy 55 kilometres (34miles) southeast of Paris was the largest private chteau in France with 1235 acres of gardens.It is now a privately owned tourist attraction luring at least in pre-covid times about 300000 visitors a year.It has been featured in many fashion shoots television shows and movies including the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker and the 1998 film The Man in the Iron Mask.In 2004 Vanisha Mittal daughter of British-Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal was married at the chteau to Amit Bhatia the British-Indian economist and businessman.
It is said that Kylie Minogue was paid 330000 to sing at the wedding.The India Today magazine reported that over 35 craftsmen were flown in from Mumbai to erect a mandap on a pond in the sprawling gardens of the estate.Elephants made of fibreglass minarets and a huge reception hall done up in pink were also put up.
A lotus was designed in the pond and petals of all colours and shapes scattered over it.Craftsmen were jetted in from India and florists from Holland.Nicolas Fouquet would undoubtedly have approved.
