Tea at Trianon: "The French Queen" and the Duke of Suffolk

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

Friday, June 7, 2013

"The French Queen" and the Duke of Suffolk

Susan Abernethy discusses Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon. To quote:

Mary was Suffolk’s third wife. Due to the debt they owed Henry, they seemed to suffer financial problems throughout their married life. He had two daughters from his second marriage that Mary brought up as her own children. Together, Mary and Suffolk had four children. Henry Brandon was born in 1516 but died in 1522. They had another son, also named Henry born in 1523 and he also died in 1534. Their two daughters, Frances and Eleanor, born in 1517 and 1519, both survived and made successful marriages. Frances married Henry Grey, Marques of Dorset and had three daughters, Jane, Catherine and Mary. Lady Jane was to reign as Queen of England for nine days. We will visit her story later. Eleanor Brandon married Henry Clifford, Earl of Cumberland and had one daughter.

While Mary lived, she was never called the Duchess of Suffolk but “the French Queen”. She spent most of her time at her private home Westhorpe Hall in Suffolk. Mary’s relationship with King Henry was strained in the 1520’s because she didn’t support Henry’s efforts to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon whom Mary had known for many years. She never liked Anne Boleyn. She basically lived a quiet life away from court. (Read entire post.)