WHEN ALEXANDER VLAHOS heard that the role of Philippe, in bawdy French drama Versailles was up for grabs, it was the character description that sold him on the role. “The script described him as a 17th-century David Bowie,” the Welshman recalls, “and that was an immediate hook. I was surprised that someone like him actually existed at that time.”
Actually, it’s safe to say there was no-one else like Philippe, just as there’s never been anyone quite like Bowie. Imagine, if you will, Aladdin Sane being allowed to romp around the French palace, marrying a woman to fulfil his duties as second-in-line to the throne (Philippe was Louis XIV’s younger brother), fathering children but dressing up in female attire whenever the fancy takes him, bedding younger men and embarking on an affair with a French nobleman.