Tea at Trianon: Madame Royale in Old Age

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

In 1851, the year she died, the Duchesse d'Angoulême was visited at her villa in Frohsdorf, Austria by the Comte de Falloux. The Comte described the aged daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette as follows:

Madame la Dauphine was, if I may express it, pathos in person. Sadness was imprinted on her features and revealed in her attitude; but, in the same degree, there shone about her an unalterable resignation, an unalterable gentleness. Even when the tones of her voice were brusque, which often happened, the kindness of her intention remained transparent. She liked to pass in review the Frenchmen she had known; she kept herself closely informed about their family events; she remembered the slightest details with rare fidelity: 'How Madame loves France!' I said to her one day. 'That is not surprising,' she replied. 'I take it from my parents.' At Frohsdorf she was seated nearly the whole day in the embrasure of a certain window. She had chosen this window because of its outlook on copses which reminded her a little of the garden of the Tuileries; and if a visitor wished to be agreeable to her, he remarked upon the resemblance.

Lucy said...: I just can't wait to receive this book. It's countdown time;-); February 10, 2009 at 9:04:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Thanks, Lucy, I can't wait to hear what you think.; February 10, 2009 at 10:43:00 AM EST
lara77 said...: What an incredible life Her Royal Highness had led! Madame knew the heights of happiness to the deepest depths of sadness. I thought of her losing her parents so horribly; the deaths of her two brothers and little Sophie Helene. She even saw her beloved aunt taken to the guillotine. What faith she must have had in God to keep herself so grounded in this life. I cannot imagine the joy when she finally was reunited with her beloved parents and family.; February 11, 2009 at 8:33:00 AM EST
Passages to the Past said...: The artist captured her underlying sadness very well.; February 11, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Lara, that is a very accurate summary of the whole thing.

Yes, Amy, her sadness is evident.; February 11, 2009 at 12:28:00 PM EST
May said...: I was excited to start "Madame Royale" but then I had to put it aside for a while...it was a bit too much for me coming right after "Trianon." It is all so heart-rending. But I'm looking forward to learning more about her!; October 13, 2009 at 7:22:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Matterhorn, many of my readers tell me that they have not been able to dive into Madame Royale right after Trianon because they are so overwhelmed by the tragedy. You'll be able to get back into it eventually.; October 13, 2009 at 8:07:00 PM EDT