Now, I would not want to minimize the dangers Mitt faced during his service as a missionary in France. Teaching Mormonism to the wine, tobacco, and coffee loving French cannot be easy and it is not difficult to imagine a rude reception from time to time.
He also didn’t live in the palace until his second year there, when he was president of the mission. He evidently shared the spartan accommodations of the lesser missionaries his first year. Even the latter were palatial compared to the average in-country hooch, though.