the Belgian early music ensemble, La Petite Bande, takes its name from Jean-Baptiste Lully's petite bande, a string orchestra at the court of Louis XIV?
the campus of Saint-Cyr, Gravure 1690 (pictured), a French military academy founded by Napoleon Bonaparte, used to be a boarding school for girls, Maison royale de Saint-Louis, during the reign of Louis XIV?
two cannons brought as gifts to Louis XIV of France by the Siamese embassy of 1686 (pictured) ended up being seized and used by revolutionaries in the Storming of the Bastille in 1789?
when the Château de Choisy was built for the Grande Mademoiselle, Louis XIV's first cousin, the garden designer André Le Nôtre's first advice was to "lay low all the woods that are there"?
the levée of Louis XIV, the privilege of removing the king's nightshirt, was a great honour only accorded to a high noble?
the Luxembourg Palace, the meeting place of the French Senate, used to be the residence of Princess Élisabeth Marguerite of Orléans, who gave it to the King of France in 1694?
Alexandre Bontemps, senior head valet to Louis XIV of France, was a rich and powerful figure, feared by courtiers, whose behaviour was reported to him by the Swiss Guard?
Charles Angibaud was the royal apothecary to Louis XIV of France, but left France in 1681 to avoid persecution as a Protestant Huguenot and moved to London, where he was later Master of the Society of Apothecaries?
Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli (pictured) opened a French brasserie in 1686 that was permitted by King Louis XIV?
Louis XIV of France employed a native Chinese librarian, Arcadio Huang, to organize the royal library's collection of Chinese books?