It really takes the whole “chosen by God” mandate to new heights. The logo was even inspired by Apollo the Sun God, who in Greek mythology controls the sun’s movements during the day riding his sun chariot. Louis also liked Apollo’s association with the arts, as he saw himself as a ballet dancer. So, he literally is comparing himself to a god. Kind of a delusional view looking at it from today…but it’s still a good logo, though.

If I lived at the time, maybe in a different country and all I knew about the French monarchy was this logo I would be a believer. If you took away the “little” problem of all the starving peasants and ridiculous class hierarchies among many other things, you’d be saying “Long live the King” just based on that logo alone. The point is: every door, every ornate ceiling, contains this logo. You can’t escape it. After you make your way through the house, you go into the gift shop, and guess what’s there: Sun King earrings and Sun King spoons and Sun King tote bags and Sun King crowns. Not much has changed in the love of this logo.  It’s so over-the-top and commercial…I’ll take the spoon and tote bag please! 

All this logo branding is not much different from the Louis Vuitton’s and Chanel’s of modern Paris. While brands like Louis Vuitton put the LV logo on countless bags, King Louis XIV slapped his face with a sun on every door in Versailles. It feels like a very modern idea to slap a logo on everything to increase its’ perceived value. Both are branding associated with wealth and status.

There is appeal to the LV logo; there is a huge market. If I ever doubted the value of this particular branding, I must only walk back over the Champs-Élysées, where tourists wait in an impossibly long lines to have their chance to buy Louis Vuitton at a slightly reduced price than the U.S. Unlike the symbol of the Sun King, anyone with the means can buy Louis Vuitton; they don’t have to be born into a certain family. But most people don’t have the means.

Versailles is still intertwined with this idea of luxury and branding in a modern sense as well. With one look at the website, I found that the Chateau of Versailles officially partners with luxury brands like Saint Louis Crystal and Bernardaud today. And luxury brands like Jacquemus, who did their Fall 2023-24 collection on the grounds of Versailles, show the continuation of opulence and over-the-top wealth even within the grounds of Versailles. And the continuation of branding…

And what about royalty today? Can you not buy King Charles tea (I admit I bought some, it’s a rare edition!) or Queen Elizabeth hand towels in London? I’ve seen both. The English royalty are treated like commodities: to be looked at and to buy into the idea, maybe so much so that you pick up one of those hand towels. If you do, you’ll probably see the coat of arms at the top. Not as interesting branding as Louis XIV but it’ll have to do. The point is that at the end of the day it’s a business; it’s a brand; in the same way a Louis Vuitton or Chanel is a brand. So, to buy their merchandise, essentially is associating with this high-class brand.

I ruminated on all this as I left Versailles.

I thought I had left behind the Sun King logo in Versailles but to my surprise, it made another appearance in the Musée de l’Armée. I wandered through many unbranded Napoleon-era uniforms wondering where his special branding was. Where was the bee symbol so integral in his reign as a symbol of immortality? I didn’t even see his eagle symbol but maybe I missed the military flags of his reign. Where was his branding? My eyes started to glaze over. But then something pierced through the many uniforms: a bright light, a bright gold color. Was it Apollo? No, it was just Louis the XIV and his god complex. And there was the logo again! A huge sun, in gold, with King Louis and his babyface in the center. I felt a bit disgusted at this branding, I must admit. Here were the uniforms of those who went into battle under Louis, perhaps even died for his causes, and somehow, they are all made almost anonymous under Louis’ branding. It is like Louis is saying that they are not the important part, he is.

But as the monarch of strict absolutism, religious intolerance, and dismissing staggering inequality in the face of endless parties, it is only realistic that he would see these soldiers as meaningless in the face of his alleged God-given power. And of course, the logo’s all in gold. Because of course it is.

Sources

Brands. Château de Versailles. (n.d.). https://www.boutique-chateauversailles.fr/en/152-brands

Louis XIV 1638-1715. Palace of Versailles. (2023, February 17). https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/louis-xiv

Napoleon.org. (2004, June). The Symbols of Empire. napoleon.org. https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/the-symbols-of-empire/