The French Court Etiquette

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        Etiquette was originally a borrowed word from French, meaning “ticket”. This more or less means that the French court had had the most strictly regulated etiquette in the history. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a young noble man in Europe would not complete his full education without attending to the French court to learn the tedious etiquette and speaking fluent French. Today, let’s take a closer view of the French court of the late eighteenth century, to know about some details and some interesting anecdote.

        英语中礼仪“etiquette”一词源于法语，由此可见法国礼仪的讲究与重要影响。在法国十七至十八世纪，即其封建社会发展到顶峰之时，法国贵族必须掌握一整套繁冗细致的宫廷礼仪和一口流利纯正的法语。而那些发展到极致的法国宫廷礼仪到底有多么繁琐？里面又隐含多少古典主义时期的趣闻轶事？

        Queens and Kings — No Privacy and No Freedom

        国王&皇后 —— 毫无自由与隐私

        Being a king or a queen sounds so ideal! Yes, when you are the sovereign you have the right to rule the country. However, a French king or queen in fact did not have the basic human rights of privacy. All their behaviors were under many pairs of eyes around the day and night! Everyone who was allowed to appear in the court could watch the royal couple dining together. Imagine that when you are eating, a bunch of people stand in front of you, watching you as if you are a monkey in the zoo every day!

        The king had a male servant who slept next to his bedroom, with a tied string between the king’s hand and the servant’s hand. When the king awoke for toilet in the midnight, the servant would be awakened too and be the assistance. More baloney, The king was not allowed to DIE until he was on his bed! The French etiquette even had a battle with Hades (The god who is in charge of death in Greek mythology)! In May, 1774, when Louis XV was close to his death due to smallpox, he was not in Versailles at that time and the situation was getting really difficult. The king could die at anytime. However, according to the old tradition, he had to die on his own bed! They moved the dying king back to Versailles in that case.

        Well, let me tell you the most ridiculous one. In order to be the witnesses of the birth of the heir of the French Throne, the queen had to start laboring in front of a few nobles. They, men and women, were allowed to attend the queen’s labor and watched her giving birth at a close distance. It is so weird, rude and savage!

        国之君，听上去真的是气势恢宏，但这人中龙凤也真的是不好当呀，尤其是在宫廷礼仪发展到几乎剥夺自由和隐私的法国。在那个时候，几乎二十四小时都有人跟着国王和王后，穿衣、约会、吃饭、甚至睡觉的时候都用绳子套在手上连着仆人……更让人无语的是，为了礼仪，国王还必须驾崩在自己的床上，法国人的礼仪简直是挑战死神的权威。可怜的路易十五，当年因天花生命垂危，还不顾舟车劳顿，赶回凡尔赛宫才能断气，真是一绝！当然，皇后更不容易，分娩的时候还得让人参观与监督，现在听来，这样的礼仪简直让人觉得荒唐。