tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534539169157708222.post3397798777352083207..comments2024-03-26T12:19:52.801-04:00Comments on Tea at Trianon: Who is More Tragic?elena maria vidalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17129629173535139807noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534539169157708222.post-73933701780103504872010-11-10T15:06:20.076-05:002010-11-10T15:06:20.076-05:00I would have to sat M-A is more tragic. Alexandra ...I would have to sat M-A is more tragic. Alexandra had her husband and children with her to the end. Marie Antoinette did not. Many of Alexandra's friends (minus her sister and Rasputin) lived on - in M-A's case she had to witness the brutality done to the Princess Lamballe under her window. Until they got to Ekaterinberg, even the Romanov's "house arrest" together in Tobolsk was not without comforts. M-A had none of that.Jack B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10535561070313996833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534539169157708222.post-43431386292791093212010-11-10T14:28:00.081-05:002010-11-10T14:28:00.081-05:00Great post, and great food for thought. As I'v...Great post, and great food for thought. As I've commented before the similarities between these two queens are striking. It is hard to say which is "more tragic" but one must admit that Alexandra's difficulties were somewhat of her own making - namely, her devotion to and elevation of Rasputin. Certainly Marie Antoinette had her own favorites, and the Polignacs were pretty unpopular, but I don't think you can compare the Duchesse de Polignac to Rasputin at all. Alexandra also tended to be quite stubborn and "tone deaf" to the social implications of her behavior, not thinking about how her actions would be perceived by others. I think MA had more of a sense of such things, being the daughter of the great Maria Theresa. Alexandra was a grown woman when she married and didn't have the excuse of youth that MA had. Then again, both Alexandra and MA were criticized repeatedly for breaches of etiquette and a perceived lack of royal propriety, so who can say? The qualities of spontaneity and sentimentality which endeared them both to the members of their inner circle, sadly opened them up to public criticism. <br /><br />Julygirl is right, both of them were despised as foreigners. Compare Marie-Antoinette's nickname "L'Autrichienne" to Alexandra's nickname "Nemka" - essentially the same meaning.Christinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05279960474896005256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534539169157708222.post-27306101427591773442010-11-10T10:47:58.955-05:002010-11-10T10:47:58.955-05:00They were also both considered 'foreigners'...They were also both considered 'foreigners' by the people even though they both embraced their adopted countries and its' people. More importantly they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.Julygirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08113475639726723076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534539169157708222.post-48708365661039033472010-11-10T07:00:39.195-05:002010-11-10T07:00:39.195-05:00Hate to say this, Maria, but neither one of these ...Hate to say this, Maria, but neither one of these likable, thoroughly sympathetic queens had the temperamental make-up to be in public life. <br /><br />The sorry truth is that both these fine women were "non-dominant" or "amiable" personalities- easy-going people who are not vested in manipulating and dominating other people. They were very intelligent, very honest, highly emotional, rather impulsive, and wore their hearts on their sleeves. They were not interested in manipulating other people, but reacted spontaneously and honestly to situations. People like this get destroyed by public life. <br /><br />Successful politicians, on the other hand, are VERY dominant and very manipulative. Marie Antoinette's mother, for example, never said a word nor made a gesture, I'm sure, before considering what effect it would have on other people. She was a very good woman who was also a very dominant personality. <br /><br />Non-dominants are often scapegoated and vilified, because other people around them sense their weakness and go in for the kill like predators on the weaker members of the herd. And when they have to perform in high-profile positions in public life, they get slaughtered, sometimes literally.The North Coasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14292115710427172625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534539169157708222.post-88959044481560238922010-11-10T05:59:13.689-05:002010-11-10T05:59:13.689-05:00Both these women withstood suffering beyound what ...Both these women withstood suffering beyound what any of us can imagine, but I think Marie-Antoinette's story is a bit more tragic. She had to bear the death of her husband and had her children taken from her. Alexandra, at the very least, had her family with her until the end.Jessiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04296618696072504651noreply@blogger.com