Tea at Trianon: The Bridal Gown of Marie-Louise

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

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Bridal Gown of Marie-Louise

Madame Delors describes what Napoleon's Habsburg Archduchess, Marie-Antoinette's grand niece, wore at her wedding. To quote:

Like her grand-aunt Marie-Antoinette, Marie-Louise had to strip off her Austrian clothes upon crossing the French border, and was presented with a new, splendid trousseau (complete set of clothing, shoes and undergarments for all occasions.) Caroline Bonaparte, Queen of Naples and Napoléon’s sister, had been put in charge of greeting the bride at the border. Carried away by the zeal of the neophytes, or out of sheer nastiness, Caroline even demanded that Marie-Louise, already terrified at the idea of marrying the man she had been brought up to loathe and call The Ogre, send back her pet spaniel to Vienna.

So Marie-Louise wore the wedding clothes that had been chosen for her in France: a magnificent dress of silver tulle, embroidered with pearls and gold thread, and hemmed with gold fringe. A diamond tiara held a veil of Alençon lace over her blonde hair.

Marie-Louise wore white satin slippers, embroidered in silver thread. There was a minor, or not so minor from her standpoint, problem. Maybe due to a miscommunication between Vienna and Paris, the dainty shoes had been ordered too small and caused the new Empress a great deal of pain.

lara77 said...: So it was necessary for Caroline Bonaparte to insist that Marie Louise leave her pet dog back in Vienna? THAT to me shows again the lack of class of the Corsican Bonapartes. What a step down for the Hapsburgs to marry the likes of the Bonapartes! I realize the political expediency of the marriage; yet chuckle at the nouveau riche attitude of the Bonapartes! All pretentiousness; no breeding or class!; April 13, 2011 at 8:32:00 AM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Utterly pretentious! Poor Marie-Louise! Her life was ruined.....; April 13, 2011 at 8:34:00 AM EDT
Julygirl said...: Still a problem nowadays. Just surf the TV, especially the tacky reality ahows "Housewives of...(fill in the blank). Wearing Manualo Blanco shoes does not a classy lady make.; April 13, 2011 at 11:55:00 AM EDT