Much has been made of Antoinette's refusal to speak to the royal mistress, but really, it was the kind of power play and petty misunderstanding that happened in courts all over Europe. I sometimes wonder that if Antoinette had lived to be an old lady and had died peacefully in her bed, if anyone in posterity would have given the incident between her and Madame du Barry a second thought. But because Antoinette died stripped of all human dignity, after being destroyed in every way a woman can be destroyed, just about; her reputation in shreds, people are always looking for reasons that led to such a dreadful fate. Hence the focus on the early rift with Du Barry, which but for the debacles that followed, would have been forgotten.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Madame du Barry
Much has been made of Antoinette's refusal to speak to the royal mistress, but really, it was the kind of power play and petty misunderstanding that happened in courts all over Europe. I sometimes wonder that if Antoinette had lived to be an old lady and had died peacefully in her bed, if anyone in posterity would have given the incident between her and Madame du Barry a second thought. But because Antoinette died stripped of all human dignity, after being destroyed in every way a woman can be destroyed, just about; her reputation in shreds, people are always looking for reasons that led to such a dreadful fate. Hence the focus on the early rift with Du Barry, which but for the debacles that followed, would have been forgotten.
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