King’s Private Apartments

The King’s Private Apartments occupy smaller spaces behind the large public rooms. Their scale and decoration suited activities such as study, displaying collections and receiving a limited group of people. The arrangement developed over successive reigns, as corridors, stairs and rooms were changed to give the monarch more ways to withdraw from the formal court. Louis XV added rooms fitted with fine carved wood panelling. These interiors should be read individually, since a private chamber or collection room served a different purpose from the ceremonial bedroom. They belong to a separately guided visit. The main palace circuit does not continue into them through an unmarked door.