Tea at Trianon: A Fairy Tale Wedding

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

Monday, February 28, 2011

A Fairy Tale Wedding

Grace Kelly and the Prince of Monaco.

Grace Kelly had a seven year contract with MGM at the time of her marriage, which was irksome as Prince Rainier was insisting that she give up acting as soon as she was married. This wasn’t unusual at all – it was still generally accepted at this time that women should give up work when they became wives and the duties of a Princess of Monaco would be particularly time consuming. Okay, maybe Rainier went a bit far when he banned Grace’s films from being shown in her new country but it was important to him that his wife should be fully respected by his people. Remember how Marie Antoinette’s harmless amateur theatricals with her closest friends harmed her reputation and dignity in France?

As part of the conditions of her release from MGM, Grace had to agree to the wedding being filmed for distribution worldwide as a film. Grace hated the intrusion of dozens of cameras filming what was supposed to be the best day of her life, but I am sure cinema goers of the time and the estimated thirty million people who watched on television loved the spectacle of celebrities turning up to the star studded event before the bride herself appeared, followed by her husband.

MadMonarchist said...: The video of the wedding MGM did was great I thought. I last saw it in 09 during TCM month-long tribute to Princess Grace. You certainly could not tell she was less than enthusiastic about it. It was not very long but I thought it was very well done, showing her arrival, a little tour of her new palace and the wedding.; February 28, 2011 at 8:25:00 AM EST
May said...: Stunning lady!; February 28, 2011 at 10:06:00 AM EST
papabear said...: If only this year's royal wedding could have the same sort of religiosity and symbolism as that between Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier.; February 28, 2011 at 1:48:00 PM EST