Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The Bourbon Jewels

Ring with hair from the father of Louis XVI
Badge of the Saint Esprit belonging to Louis XVI's nephew and son-in-law, Louis Antoine, Duc d'Angoulême

Daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, the Duchesse d'Angoulême. All of the jewels in question passed through her hands.
Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre
I am keep discovering more about the Bourbon-Parma collection. So many of the items are connected with people who have been in my novels, such as some medals commemorating the marriage of Berry and Caroline. The Sotheby's website has a great deal of information, as well as some good photos of collection, some of which belonged to the French royal family. The hair rings are particularly interesting and belonged to "Queen Marie Antoinette and were given by her daughter, Madame la Duchesse d’Angoulême, Comtesse de Marnes, to her niece and adoptive daughter Louise de France, Duchesse de Parme, who then gave them to her son Robert I Duc de Parme." And there are several other pieces that would be interesting to those who have read my novel Madame Royale. According to Sotheby's:
In 1792, the Royal family was arrested and imprisoned in the Temple Tower. King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine in January 1793, followed by his Queen, Marie Antoinette in October 1793. Their 10-year-old son, Louis XVII, died in captivity and their only surviving child, Marie-Thérèse de France (1778-1851),“Madame Royale”, was released in December 1795, after three years of solitary confinement. Marie-Thérèse was sent to Austria after learning of the deaths of her mother and brother. After her arrival in Vienna in 1796, she was given her mother’s jewels by her cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. Marie-Thérèse married her first cousin Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, in 1799, who was the eldest son of the future King Charles X, her father’s younger brother. Marie-Thérèse, the Duchess of Angoulême, became the Dauphine of France, wife of heir to the throne of France Louis Antoine, when her father-in-law ascended the throne of France as King Charles X in 1824. She remained in France until August 2, 1830, when King Charles X abdicated the throne and the Chamber of Deputies appointed his cousin Louis Philippe as the King of France. Marie-Thérèse again went into exile in the UK with Charles X, her husband Louis Antoine, her young nephew Duc de Bordeaux, his mother, the Duchesse de Berry, and his sister Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois, where they remained until 1833. Later they moved to Prague and finally to Austria, where they lived until their final days.

Having borne no children of her own, Marie-Thérèse de France bequeathed part of her jewelry collection to her niece and adopted daughter, Louise of France (1819–1864), Duchess of Parma and grand-daughter of Charles X, King of France (1757-1836), who in turn left them to her son, Robert I (1848-1907), the last ruling Duke of Parma. (Read more.)
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