I enjoyed
Cadbury's book
The Lost King of France
, although I would never recommend reading it at night, unless stories of small children being brutalized help one to sleep.
Cadbury has a dry, logical style which makes her descriptions of the royal family's descent into hell all the more horrifying, like a police report of a child abduction. I was perturbed when she stated that
Fersen and Marie-Antoinette were probably lovers, without giving any evidence, especially when she was careful to give evidence for everything else. Also, on the cover of the book is most likely a picture of Louis-Joseph, not Louis-Charles (Louis XVII). Everyone says that the book proves the death of Louis XVII on June 8, 1795, but it does not. The DNA merely concluded that the desiccated heart which was allegedly removed from the little victim who died in the Temple was the child of a
Habsburg princess. As anyone familiar with European history knows,
Habsburg princesses were legion; many not having the last name of
Habsburg, but certainly having
Habsburg genes. So it is not quite as simple as the book or the review make it out to be. Not that I am a
Naundorfist, but I try to recall that
Madame Royale herself had doubts, since she had not been allowed to identify the body.
I enjoyed Cadbury's book The Lost King of France
I just read that book and I was tortured by it. I had nightmares for days! You mentioned the "lover" thing that bothered me as well. Also, it bugged me that the authoress kept insisting that Madam Royal learned her faith from her Aunt while they were in captivity - rather then her mother the Queen throughout her childhood. She acted as if Marie Antoinette was not a practicing Catholic. That got under my skin!!
ReplyDeleteI agree, those things irked me as well. Especially when Marie-Antoinette was the one who took her children to daily Mass and taught them their prayers.
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