Louis XIV
Sun King / Roi Soleil
Louis de Bourbon

Louis XIV (1638 - 1715)
Louis XIV was the 3rd Bourbon King of France.
He was the grandson of Henri IV (1553 - 1610), first Bourbon King of France
Louis XIV was the 3 x great grandson of Margueritte de Navarre (1492 - 1549).
Louis XIV was the great grandfather of Louis XV, 4th Bourbon King of France.
and the 3 x great grandfather of Louis XVI, husband of Marie Antoinette.

The childhood of Louis XIV spend at the Hotel de Villeroy (VB) is at the origin of many legends
around Cremerie de Paris and VB. These legends have fascinated many people like
Empress Eugenie (1826 - 1920), King Louis II of Bavaria (1845 - 1886),
the Romanov Children, Vincent van Gogh, Coco Chanel (1883 - 1971) and many others.

The aura of Louis XIV might also have had an impact
on the more recent Invention of the Phone Book of the World
and the arrival of many famous brands that bypass each other
with the creation of the most spectacular Pop Up Store Expos
at the still existing VB location.



Before the birth of Louis XIV


Villeroy's grandfather, Nicolas IV de Villeroy was already a minister
for Henri IV, grandfather of Louis XIV.
According to the legend
Henri IV had a permanent guestroom at the Hotel de Villeroy,
also called Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon or VB mansion.


Young Louis XIV
& Cremerie de Paris



Louis XIV was born in Saint Germain en Laye in the Pavillon Henri IV
1638 september 5.
His birth was considered as miracle since his parents
Louis XIII (1601-1643) and Anne of Austria (1601-1666)
had been married for 23 years without having a child
and heir to the throne of France.



1643 Anne d'Autriche becomes the regente after the death of Louis XIII.
She moves from the Louvre to the opposite Palais Cardinal / Palais Royal.
Louis XIV becomes the 3rd Bourbon King of France.
The painting shows him with his mother
and his young brother Philippe d'Orléans.



1646 Nicolas V de Villeroy is chosen to be the governor / educator of the young king.
Villeroy and his family lived on rue des Déchargeurs / rue des Bourdonnais
at the Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon /  Cremerie de Paris.





The children of the VB mansion
François de Villeroy and Catherine de Villeroy become life time friends
for Louis XIV.
Louis XIV is particulary attached to François (1644-1730) who is only two years old
when the young king comes to VB.


The Villeroy and the Bourbon children love to climb the railings of the escalier d'honneur.



Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon is 10 minutes walking distance from the Palais Royal
walking down rue Saint Honore and passing by rue du Pont Neuf and Cremerie de Paris N°9





The engraving from 1649 shows Louis XIV
and his brother Philippe with his teacher Nicolas V de Villeroy
and his uncle Gaston d'Orleans.



The historic gate of the Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon
at the entrance on rue des Déchargeurs.
The small images show young Louis XIV on the left side next to his teacher Nicolas V de Villeroy
On the right side there is Nicolas IV de Villeroy, grandfather of Nicolas V de Villeroy
and King Henri V, the grandfather of Louis XIV.



Young seven years old Louis XIV standing in front of the gate
of the Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon (VB) around 1646.

While the gate is still identically the same, the Pavillon des Drapiers / Pavillon de la Mode located on the right side
of the 11 rue des Déchargeurds has been repaced by a new building in 1869.
Cremerie de Paris N°1 is located in both houses
making the Cremerie's history very rich.

Since the times of Louis XIV
"all what needed to be done was to open the windows".

If ever you should come to Paris
have a look through the window to see the courtyard
through the Cremerie de Paris
and have a look into "the history of the Kingdom of France"
(more at the end of this article).

The interview shows the editor of this article
talking a little about the Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon / VB mansion
at the same time you have a view into the historic courtyard.
The interview was made by Emmanuel Duprat from Adraqh
with the help of Nicolas Martin Lalande.


165? today nowbody knows for how long Louis XIV
stayed in our house. according to Christiane Schraepler de Devise
not so much is know about his childhood.
It is one of the many mysteries around Cremerie de Paris.

1654 june 7 coronation of Louis XIV at the Reims cathedral .
Philippe acted as dean placing the crown on his brother's head.




Louis XIV, 16 years old performing a theater play.


1660 june 9 wedding in Saint Jean de Luz with Marie Therese of Austria (1638-1683).
Maria Theresia, is the daughter of the King of Spain and twice a cousin of Louis XIV.
Louis XIV an Maria Theresia are 22 years old,
Maria Theresia is 5 days younger.

1661 Construction of the chateau de Versailles begins.

1671 jan Anticipating the opening of the Chateau de Versailles
Nicolas V de Villeroy sells his VB mansion / Hotel de Villery Bourbon
to the postal entrepreneurs Louis Rouillé et Leon Pajot.
Spirit of Telecommunications arrives in the house.

The Villeroys move into a new Hotel de Villeroy in St Germain en Laye.


1682 Opening of the Chateau de Versailles.
Louis XIV and his childood friends from the Hotel de Villeroy
François de Villeroy and Catherine De Villeroy / Catherine Harcourt Lorraine move
to the brand new Palace.

Old Louis XIV
& Cremerie de Paris

1708 Louis Leon Pajot becomes the maitre des postes
of the Pajot & Rouillé postal company, owner of the Cremerie de Paris.
Louis XIV estimated Pajot for the reliability of his postal services.


1710s getting older Louis XIV returns to
the former Hotel de Villeroy Bourbon / VB mansion on many occasions.
Whenever a letter is really important for the King
he insists giving it to Louis Leon Pajot in person.


If he does not feel well Louis Leon Pajot meets Louis XIV in Versailles
to pick up a letter.

Louis XIV likes to come to the VB mansion,
to give a letter to Pajot. This reminds him of his childhood.
Sometimes he watches the Pajot & Rouillé horses leave
on a long distance journey carrying mail to
one of the 900 Pajot Rouillé offices as remote as Venice or Rome
or to the Postal palaces of the Thurn & Taxis family in Brussels or Francfort.

1715 Louis XIV dies in Versailles.


1715 Great-grandson Louis XV becomes the 4th Bourbon King of France.
In his will Louis XIV designates his childhood friend
from the times spent at the VB mansion,
François de Villeroy (on the left in the painting) to become the tutor of  Louis XV.
Philiipe II d'Orleans becomes the regent of France.

1738 the Postal company operating from Cremerie de Paris is very succesfull.
The Pajot and Rouille family becomes one of the richest families in Paris.
Louis XV and his ministry of finance, Cardinal Fleury become jealous.
Having absolute powers they withdraw the Postal license overnight
making an end to the Pajot & Rouillé postal services apreciated by Louis XIV's (his great-grand-father).

Telecom genes stay in the walls of the old VB mansion ...
One day they are reactivated
with the invention of the Phone Book of the World ...



1789 with the French Revolution a lot of documents are lost.
Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Louis Philippe II and the Villeroys were killed.





150 years later / 160 ans ago
The aura of young Louis XIV
has an impact on
Empress Eugénie

1852 almost two hundred years later, the aura of Louis XIV is still around.
Napoleon III has the project to renovate the centuries old Les Halles foodmarket.
A project his uncle Napoléon Bonaparte did not have the time to finish.
He plans to build a new avenue, rue des Halles
connecting the foodmarket with the newly erected rue de Rivoli
and the Boulevard de Sebastopol.

Emperess Eugénie, wife of Napoléon III
interferes with the project.
She changes about everything
and convinces her husband and the Baron Haussmann
to change the axis of the future rue des Halles,
so that the historic VB mansion can stay in place.

1870 Once the constructions are finished
and Les Halles becoming the world's most beautiful market,
France is attacked by Bismarck.
The lost Franco Prussian war forces Eugénie to leave France.


The aura of young Louis XIV
has an impact on
the Romanov Children


1880 Exiled in the United Kingdom
Eugénie transmits the fairytales of the VB mansion and les Halles
to children, among them a young girl, Alix Hessen.
The aura of Louis XIV fascinates the little girl,
grand-daughter of Eugenee's friend Queen Victoria.

1894 Alix Hessen marries Nicolas Romanov and becomes the last Tsarina of Russia.

1896 Alix and Tsar Nicolas II travel to Paris,
Alix eclipses from the official protocol and discovers sees VB mansion
known from Empress Eugenies childhood stories.



1910 it's was turn of the "young girl's" children and their cousins
to listen to the Cremerie de Paris and Louis XIV stories.
This happened in Russia and Germany.

The children were Dmitri Romanov (1891 - 1942), Olga Romanov (1895 - 1918),
Philipp Solms (1895 - 1918), Tatiana Romanov (1897 - 1918),
Maria Romanov (1899 - 1918), Anastasia Romanov (1901 - 1918),
Carl Solms (1903 - 2003), Alexei Romanov (1904 - 1918) and Friederike Solms (1905 - 1993)

Our great aunt Anastasia is the best know
as her possible survival of the Revolution was beleived by some
and inspired Hollywood to produce several movies.



The aura of young Louis XIV
is transmitted to Russia
and returns to Paris
resulting in the reopening
of Cremerie de Paris

The ones thet survived the year 1918 transmitted them ...

Dmitri to Coco Chanel.
She fell in love
with both Romanov and Cremerie de Paris ...
what is left from their story is N°5 and a little jewel.

Carl and Friederike to their little nephew and his sister Cynthia ...
what is left from their baby sitting time
was the idea to reopen the forgotten Cremerie de Paris
and the magic legends around the childhood of Louis XIV.


1986 The stories were so fascinating they resulted
in the reopening of the Cremeries, closed since 1969,
time of the departure of the Les Halles foodmarket.

The mission was not that easy
as nothing was left from the Romanov fortunes ....
Nothing exept a bit of magic:

The magic was called Akio Morita,
who allowed us to sell / repair his phones and walkman,
the products we started with.


The magic was also called Aimee de Heeren,
a "James Bond girl" and former WW2 secret service agent
and her friend Coco Chanel who had left her the little jewel.


1993 The sale of the little jewel from Coco Chanel
made it possible to get a bank loan
so Cremerie de Paris N°1 could reopen
as if "Mademoiselle" had decided to continue the story ...

awakening the forgotten legends around young Louis XIV ...

The aura of young Louis XIV
has an impact on
the assistant of the inventor
of the .com domain system

15 / 20 years ago
US Technology Pioneers

"V" for Villeroy
"B" for "Bourbon"
in a unique Two Letter domain name

1993 during the early years of the internet
the same place transited from a Sony Boutique
to the first Internet cafe in France.
At that time Hotels in Paris were not yet connected
and the need of an internet connection brought rather unusual people
to our cafe at the VB mansion.
Almost everybody was from the United States.

Talking to some of them had an impact on our future.

One visitor looked rather "scientific".
He was dressed "so wild"
the Ritz Hotel who send many internet clients to the cafe
would not have let him walk through the door.

We only got connected to our wild looking visitor
because of our dog "Electrica".

Electrica had a lot of charme
and knew how to ask web surfing clients for biscuits.
As our dog liked really liked our "wild looking" client we got to talk to him
not realising that
he was the personal assistant
of Dr Jon Postel, the inventor of the .com system.


Our visitor was very interested in history.
He loved the stories about the old Villeroys and the Bourbons
that had been to our house long before 1776 july 4
United States Declaration of Independance.

He was so fascinated by our links with Louis XIV
he called his boss Dr Postel and passed him over to us on the phone
so that we should talk to him in person.

The 676 domains are mostly in the hands of American Corporations,
the country where Internet was born.
HP.com was the first one to get one back in 1986.

More recently the big Brands from China buy everything they can get
from smaller firms or domain investors.
They now hold about 30% of all the 2 Letters.
Look at the VB.com Internet Hall of Fame
to get a list of the brands having a 2 Letter.

Only 2 Two Letters are in France,
VB.com is at the old VB mansion with Cremerie de Paris,
once a destination of avant garde American web users.

The other, SE.com at Schneider Electric in Rueil Malmaison.
Unfortunately none of the famous French fashion brands
was internet saavy enough to get their acronym as a .com.



The aura of young Louis XIV
has an impact on
the man from the Moon
When you work in a historic Hotspot
you run into all kinds of unusual people.
During our internet cafe years
we met many people from the United States.



1998 - 2005 One of them was a space traveller.

The first picture was taken by Neil Armstrong.
The second in the parc of Versailles next to the Grand Trianon,
the third one in the lobby of the Trianon Palace Hotel, right next to the gardens.

1969 july 20 he used the Apollo 11 to go to the moon.
Buzz Aldrin loved the stories about Louis XIV so we decided
to take him to Versailles to walk around the parc Louis XIV has left.

Louis XIV would certainely have loved to join us,
travelling to the moon was something quite un thinkable at his time.



According to Memo von Sachsen Gessaphe,
a great, great, great ... nephew of Louis XIV,
interior designer, mainly for Hotels like Hotel Terre Blanche
and a friend of Cremerie de Paris
his great, great, great ... uncle has watched every step
of our trip to the parc of Versailles with the atronaute.
See Memos link to Louis XIV and a bit of Bourbon genealogy here

The aura of young Louis XIV
is still there ...


In the above picture you see our historic courtyard from inside Cremerie de Paris N°1
walking by rue des Dechargeurs (on the axe from subway exit 1 Chatelet les Halles to Samaritaine)
you can look into the courtyard.
The picture you see our Video maker David Aaron Benali in action working
on a video you can also find on 75001.fr.
Little Louis XIV and his teacher Nicolas V de Villeroy (in the pictures) are watching him.

In the above picture you see our Web designer Louis Henri Schlumberger.
The view into the courtyard includes the Pokemon Cafe Aki imagined by Celio.

While hosting the Celio Pop Up Store
we did not realise the company already had a link with our old VB mansion.
Maurice Grosman, founder of Celio
and grandfather of the young woman that organised the event, is also a writer.

He published from the same Hotel de Villeroy
"N'habite plus à l'adresse indiqué"
a book about his childhood surviving WW2
as a young jewish boy in the age of little Louis XIV.


Marguerite de Navarre, Madeleine de l'Aubespine (Dame de Villeroy),
Pierre de Ronsard and Catherine de Medici
all writers who came to our house long before Louis XIV was born
would be very impressed by Maurice Grosman's story.



Since the childhood of Louis XIV the above map had already know some changes.
Drawn in 1756 during the reign Louis XV
rue de la Ferronnerie had been enlarged with the 1677 construction of Cremerie de Paris N°6, N°7, N°8,


In this map from 2020 the city landscape has changed a lot.
Empress Eugenie designed rue des Halles built under Hausmann in the 1860s
Europe's largest subway station Chatelet les Halles was build in the 1970s
the futurustic main metro exit Marguerite de Navarre opened 2017 May 5.
While writing this article Samaritaine is getting ready to reopen ...



The aura of Louis XIV's
has an impact on
the World's most famous Brands ...

They organise "Very Beautiful" events.
Sometimes they are so spectacular
they become part of
the long VB history







The VB building still exists ....
374 years after Louis XVI first came to the house
and 305 after he went for the last time .

The Sun King was very artistic.
He might have liked that his beloved Cremerie de Paris
has reopened and turned into a world class expo hotspot
where the best and most talented designers or event planners
have worked, among them:
Antoine Leca, Deborah Yde Savarin, Laetitia Crampe, Carla de Barros, Carlos Ghosn, Yaniv Abittan,
Anne-Lise Menard, Julie Joie, Mathilde Champion, Marie Hélène Galet,
François Linh Hoang, Julien Bouaziz Brainwash, Manuel Tocanne, Maxime Le Toquis,
Thierry Bisseliches, Chris Schörnig and Rebecca Albanese,

Above Videos show the Pop Up Stores for
Amazon, Badoo, L Oreal, Nike, Pokemon by Celio,
Renault, Shein, Siemens, Starbucks,

Pop Up Stores / Brand Expos.




map of the center of Paris
facing sortie 1 of Chatelet les Halles
on the way to Samaritaine and the Louvre
the Cremerie de Paris Pop Up Stores and Pop Up Cafés.



If one day you come to Paris
take a metro to Chatelet les Halles, exit /sortie 1
take the direction of the Louvre Samaritaine
70 m from the Metro exit, 150 m before Samaritaine
11 rue des Dechargeurs 75001 Paris
you have the window
with a view into our historic courtyard.


Rest a moment
have a view into our the courtyard...
rest a moment, meditade a little
and suddenly behind the windows of Cremerie N°1,
you might has the impression the children are still around ...

As the scenography of the always changing Pop Up Stores
is different every time,
it's not always sure the view to the courtyard is open.

sometimes the view remains open
Badoo installed a dating bar
Celio a japaneese cafe to go with the Pokemon
Nike a Barbershop T-Shirt store.
Siemens set up a kitchen with a famous chef,
Sodexo a photo studio.


sometimes the view is closed
Amazon operated a smoke making machine to pack Xmas presents,
L'Oreal added thousands of pink ribbons for picture shooting.

Arcane / League of Legends created spectacular windows for the launch of Arcane

Little Louis XIV and the other children would have loved it ...


connected articles:
same article in France on Cremeriedeparis.com/LouisXIV
Cremerie de Paris on Instagram
Chateau de Versailles
Chateau de Versailles on Instagram