Versailles no longer echoed with the polished elegance of royal feet or the prattle of perfumed courtiers.
The grand halls were lined with German guards dressed in camouflage uniforms, and carrying assault rifles.
The banners of the Reich had replaced the tricolor.
Outside, the gardens were eerily quiet, no footfall of tourists, no idle gossip of lovers.
Just the hum of armored engines in the distance and the rhythmic thud of jackboots in formation.
Inside the Galerie des Glaces, three men sat beneath the golden murals of Louis XIV's glory:
Wilhelm II, the aging Emperor of Germany, seated with the air of a triumphant Roman senator.
Bruno von Zehntner, dressed as a field officer, and silent as he stood behind his Kaiser like a sword yet to be drawn.
And at the center, in a tailored royal blue coat stitched with golden lilies and a silver sash across his chest, sat Henri d'Orléans, the newly crowned King Henri VI of France.
