8. Things Start to Go Wrong, And the Histrionics Begin to Flow
During a preliminary dinner a few days before the royal banquet, there were more guests than expected. As a result, two out of twenty-six tables had to go without roast. A mortified Francois Vatel wept that he had lost honor and could not bear the shame.
Reassurances from the Grand Conde that the dinner had gone great, and that King Louis XIV was pleased, did little to assuage Vatel. He kept obsessing about the tables that had gone without roast. Later that night, a grand display of fireworks flopped because fog and low clouds descended, which lowered Vatel’s spirits even further.