Tea at Trianon: Queen Charlotte's Ladies

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

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Queen Charlotte's Ladies

From English Historical Fiction Authors:

Queen Charlotte was never one to cause a scandal. Search for her in the history books and you will find a pious, sensible, good-humoured woman. She clung to propriety like a life-raft. Her political enemies once tried to spread a rumour that she was sleeping with the Prime Minister, William Pitt, but the gossip fizzled out instantaneously: no one would believe it.

With such a mistress, you would think Charlotte’s ladies in waiting and maids of honour must be paragons of virtue. You could not be further from the truth.

Almost immediately after her arrival in England to marry George III, Charlotte ran into difficulties with her staff. Two beloved servants, Mrs Haggerdorn and Mrs Schwellenberg, had accompanied her from Mecklenburg-Sterlitz and naturally had a special place in her heart.

However, jealousy began to brew between the English and German factions. Schwellenberg did nothing to help matters with her pride and overpowering manners. She insisted upon being called “Madame”, though she was nothing but a bedchamber woman. Through bullying and aggression, she rose all the way to become Mistress of the Robes in the young Queen’s household. Taking rooms right next to Charlotte’s, she ensured no one could gain access to the royal presence without her permission. From old affection and a desire to keep her countrywoman beside her, Charlotte endured it all without censure. Her husband took it less kindly.

George would have dismissed Schwellenberg and sent her back across the sea, but Charlotte entreated him in the presence of her mother-in-law to let the servant stay. Grudgingly, he conceded, provided Schwellenberg changed her behaviour. She never did. (Read more.)