THE COURT OF FRANCE 1789-1830, by...

THE COURT OF FRANCE 1789-1830, by Philip Mansel (Cambridge University Press: $19.95, illustrated). This recherche history chronicles the curiously resilient institution of the royal court, the elite society that surrounds the person of the king and enhances his prestige. For centuries, the French court set the standard for elegance and refined taste, and monarchs throughout Europe aped French manners. Even under Louis XVI, who loathed pomp and ceremony, the court was larger than the central government of France: “There were in all about 2,500 people in the King’s household in 1789; in comparison, there were approximately 660 officials in the government ministries (war, foreign affairs, finance, marine, justice and the maison du Roi ).” Drawing on contemporary letters, memoirs and government records, Mansel shows how the court endured the reversals and upheavals of the stormiest period in French history with only minor adaptations. Louis XVI, Napoleon I, Louis XVIII and Charles X all had courts, and a surprising number of individuals served more than one of those rulers, despite their radically different policies.