VERSAILLES, France—While President Donald Trump dined with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron at the Palace of Versailles on Thursday night, the White House press pool was treated to a tour of the storied palace.
After arriving at the Paris Orly airport following his attendance at the G7 in Évian-les-Bains, Trump gaggled with reporters on the tarmac, telling them he would try to secure them a tour of the palace.
The pool was ultimately not invited on the president’s tour with Macron. But while leaders dined afterward, the staff at the Palace of Versailles offered Breitbart News and the rest of the press corps a tour. The nighttime excursion began in the Coronation Room, which is dominated by paintings of Napoleon and Josephine.
One painting called the Coronation, the size of which resembles a movie theater screen, depicts Napoleon crowning the empress Josephine in a grand ceremony meant to demonstrate the legitimacy of Napoleon’s empire.
The copy of the Coronation at the Palace of Versailles. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
Our guide noted that at this particular point in history, a pope would crown an emperor to convey the legitimacy of his reign, but a pope would never crown Napoleon because of the manner of his ascent to power. The Coronation serves as a workaround, with the scene suggesting Napoleon’s empire was a legitimate one that had been around decades, if not centuries, though this was not the case.
The original Coronation hangs in the Louvre, and Versailles obtained the copy currently in the Coronation Room in 1947.
We moved from the Coronation Room to Marie Antoinette’s opulent bedroom in her apartments, adorned with chandeliers, a bed hanging, and an extravagant jewelry cabinet. Marie Antoinette was sleeping in this bedroom in October 1789 when a crowd marched on the palace and eventually gained entry into her apartments via the Royal Courtyard.
Marie Antoinette’s bedroom at the Palace of Versailles. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
A guard protecting the queen was killed, but she managed to retreat into King Louis XVI’s apartment. However, the couple was forced out of the Palace of Versailles that day, never to return, and were subsequently executed by guillotine in 1793.
From Marie Antoinette’s apartments, we were led to the Hall of Mirrors, which connects her quarters to the king’s. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in the Hall of Mirrors on June 28, 1919, to officially end World War I. During our tour, the White House revealed that Trump had physically signed the memorandum of understanding struck days earlier with Iran, nearly 107 years to the day after the Treaty of Versailles was inked.
The Hall of Mirrors during the press pool’s tour of the Palace of Versailles. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
After a stop in the King’s apartments and a visit to see the Great Organ of the Royal Chapel, the tour concluded, and the press was ushered back to the Royal Courtyard in anticipation of Trump’s departure from the palace. After a brief time, the president emerged with Macron and the first lady of France and made his way toward his presidential limousine, “the Beast.”
“It’s signed. I signed it in Versailles. I just signed it,” Trump told reporters as he entered the vehicle. From there, the president, his staff, and the travel pool motorcaded to Air Force One, which took its final flight as the president’s plane back to Joint Base Andrews after nearly four decades since joining the presidential fleet under late President George H.W. Bush.