# Fontainebleau explained — The Vicomte de Bragelonne > Chapter companion for The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas. ## What happens At the lavish fêtes of Fontainebleau, Madame Henrietta has become the true queen of the court, eclipsing both Maria Theresa and Monsieur. The king showers her with attention, while Colbert manages the enormous expenses. Monsieur, neglected and jealous, discovers the queen mother and young queen weeping over the king's infatuation. He confronts Anne of Austria, confesses his jealousy of the king, and in a rage, whips a groom and destroys his own porcelain before taking to his bed. ## Themes in this chapter ### Court Intrigue and Deception Monsieur's eavesdropping and the queens' secret complaints reveal the hidden tensions beneath the glittering surface of the fêtes. ### Power and Ambition Madame's rapid rise to influence and the king's deliberate neglect of the queen and Monsieur demonstrate the shifting power dynamics at court. ### Greed and Corruption Colbert's horrified accounting of the fêtes' expenses—a hundred thousand francs for fireworks alone—highlights the extravagant cost of royal pleasure. ## Character check-ins ### Philippe d'Orléans Monsieur, neglected and jealous, confronts the queen mother about the king's attentions to Madame, then flies into a violent rage. ### Henrietta of England Madame is the heroine of the fêtes, enjoying the king's devotion and the adulation of the court. ### Louis XIV The king devotes himself to pleasures with Madame, ignoring the queen and Monsieur. ### Anne of Austria The queen mother consoles the young queen and later confronts Monsieur, dismissing his jealousy as madness. ### Jean-Baptiste Colbert Colbert manages the enormous expenses of the fêtes with sleepless economy, horrified at the mythological costs. ### Le Chevalier de Lorraine The Chevalier distills drops of gall into every wound Monsieur receives, exacerbating his melancholy. ## Key lines > every wound the latter received. The result was, that Monsieur—who had at first been in the highest spirits, and completely restored since Guiche's departure—subsided into his melancholy state three days after the court was installed at Fontainebleau. The Chevalier de Lorraine's constant poisonings reopened Monsieur's wounds, so that his initial joy at Guiche's exile faded within three days of arriving at Fontainebleau. _Monsieur's mood swings are driven by the Chevalier's influence._ > The happy pair, hand in hand, imperceptibly pressing each other's fingers, drank in deep draughts the sweet beverage of adulation, by which the attractions of youth, beauty, power and love are enhanced. The king and Madame, subtly holding hands, savored the flattery that magnified their youth, beauty, power, and love. _The intimacy between Louis and Henrietta is publicly displayed and reinforced by courtly praise._ > Monsieur snatched a long whip from the hand of a stable-boy, and began to pursue the poor devil of a groom all round the servants' courtyard, whipping him the while, in spite of his cries and excuses; then, quite out of breath, covered with perspiration, and trembling in every limb, he returned to his own apartments, broke in pieces some beautiful specimens of porcelain, and then got into bed, booted and spurred as he was, crying out for someone to come to him. In a fit of rage, Monsieur grabbed a whip and chased a groom around the yard, beating him; then, exhausted and sweating, he went to his rooms, smashed his porcelain, and climbed into bed fully dressed, shouting for help. _Monsieur's violent outburst reveals his impotent fury at being sidelined._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_vicomte_de_bragelonne_se/chapters/110-fontainebleau - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_vicomte_de_bragelonne_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_vicomte_de_bragelonne_se/chapters