The Guards
The second event was our meeting with two dignified, thoughtful-looking officials, dressed in long green coats and three-cornered hats, holding something in their hands which Miss Lamont wrote of in 1901 as possibly being staves. In response to our enquiry for the Petit Trianon they coldly directed us forward.
There are no officials so dressed at Trianon now. At present they wear black, with tricolour rosettes in their hats; in summer they have white trousers.
In 1904 we were told by fully-informed persons at Versailles that it was “impossible” that we should have seen such uniforms, “unless they were worn by masqueraders,” for green was a royal livery, and no one wore it now at Trianon.
Supposing them to have been masqueraders, the dress may have been that of gardes de la porte. The ceremonial overdress of the gardes de la porte, as was that of part of the gardes du corps (gardes de la Manche), was green, with gold and silver embroidery and red stockings: they carried halberds.[[10]] But the officers had galon instead of embroidery, and no red stockings: they carried an ebony cane with an ivory ball.[[11]]
The livery of the Comte d’Artois, who was colonel-général of the gardes Suisses was green; and those of the gardes du corps and Suisses who were in his service had green uniforms.[[12]]
There is evidence of a much quieter dress without even galon, called the “petite livrée,” which was probably green, as it was worn by the Suisses, piqueurs, gardes de la porte, and the garçons jardiniers.[[13]] The traditional dress of those royal servants who filled the minor parts in the Royal Theatre at Versailles is still to be seen at the acting of the Barbier de Séville in the Comédie Française, which is the descendant of the Royal Theatre. This dress (except for the added red stockings) is the same as the one we saw in 1901.
In 1908 we learned that the porte du jardinier at the Petit Trianon was always guarded ‘dans le temps,’ and that on October 5th, 1789, the guards were two of the three Bersy brothers who, with Bréval, were generally on duty whenever the Queen was in residence at Trianon. From their writing and spelling they were evidently well educated.[[14]] In 1910 we found that they had the title of garçons jardiniers de la Chambre, and they are said to have been stationed in “la pepinière proche la maison.” The most ancient pepinière was close to the gardener’s house.