Axel von Fersen the Younger the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. In contrast to Versailles, the dress and manners at the Petit Trianon were simple and down-to-earth; her guests were personally invited and treated equally, as friends. However, the private festivities often caused jealousy among those who were excluded from them. In the 1770s, the American Revolutionary War began with the passage of the Intolerable acts, and the battles of Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill. von Fersen told Beaumont that in France "it is the fashion to rhapsodize over the Americans' rebelliousness against England". France had officially declared war against her "natural enemy"
Subsidiary structures of the Palace of Versailles (botanical gardens) in the area that is now the Hameau de la Reine. The Petit Trianon was intended to be used when the king was engaged in his botanical avocation. It would be, however, under Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette that the Petit Trianon would be immortalized. Shortly after his ascension to the throne, Louis XVI presented the Petit Trianon to Marie Antoinette. Immediately thereafter, the queen ordered modification—largely under the direction of Richard Mique—to the Petit Trianon and its gardens. The house was remodeled, which necessitated the removal of the dumbwaiter system that Louis XV installed that allowed the