Adieu, Louis: France's royal deaths

Despite his illness, the Sun King carried on his daily business until two days before his death. Considering that he'd always conducted a good part of his political affairs from his bedroom, he still had the opportunity to rest.

Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715. He had been on the throne for 72 years and 110 days, and still holds the record for the longest reign in any major European country. He had six children with his wife Marie-Thérèse. Since two of them were boys, he thought he didn't have to worry about an heir. But just before the Sun King died, things all started to go wrong.

Louis XIV's eldest son, known as the Grand Dauphin, died in 1711. The following year, his eldest son, also called Louis, also died. The crown passed to Louis XIV's great-grandson, who became Louis XV. Pictured is an oil portrait of the Sun King himself.

The day after the king's death, his body was cut open and divided into three parts (body, heart and entrails). It was embalmed by doctors and surgeons in front of the principal officers of the court. The process was recorded in this official document.

The Duke of Berry, one of the royal lineages in France, built some of the greatest castles and palaces in the country, perhaps the most splendid of which was in Bourges. One of his constructions was the chapel pictured here, built at the Louvre, which was the seat of the King of France. It was King Louis XIV who moved the throne to Versailles in 1682.

"The King is Dead" exhibition also touches on the burials of other French kings. Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Duke of Berry (1778 - 1820) was the third child and youngest son of the future King of France, Charles X. He was assassinated at the Paris Opera in 1820 by an anti-royal Bonapartist, and his elaborate funeral procession is depicted here.

One of the most famous royal deaths in France was that of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Thir beheaded bodies were thrown into a mass grave at La Madelaine in Paris after their execution but, in January 1815, after the restoration of the monarchy, their remains were exhumed and transferred to the necropolis of French kings at the Basilica of St Denis.

"The King is Dead" exhibition in Versailles Palace also touches on the deaths of later French kings. Pictured is the Chapel of King Jerome (1784 - 1860), who was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as King of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813. He was buried, as Napoleon Bonaparte eventually was as well, in Les Invalides.

The luxurious palace built by Louis XIV and famous for its exquisite gardens was the seat of French royalty from 1682 to 1789, when the French Revolution began. Today, however, it is one of the most-visited sights near Paris. The exhibition "The King is Dead" runs though February 21, 2016.