Tea at Trianon: Louise of the Rhine

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, September 8, 2014

Louise of the Rhine

The niece of Charles I and the sister of the dashing Prince Rupert, Princess Louise was the subject of a wonderful novel called The Bride by Margaret Irwin. From History and Other Thoughts:

Born at the Hague in the early hours of the morning of 8 April 1622, Princess Louise was the sixth child and second daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and his wife, Elizabeth Stuart. The baby, which was christened eight days later in the Klooster-Kerke, was named Louise after her paternal grandmother and Hollandine as a homage to Holland, which had welcomed the couple in their exile. The country also gifted the newborn princess with a life pension of two hundred pounds a year.

Despite the shortage of money, Louise knew how to have fun. She, like her siblings, loved sports, hunting, masquerades, balls, and just generally having a good time. But Louise was also clever and, although not a classical beauty, very charming. According to Carole Oman, "her nose, had it not belonged to a princess, must have been termed impertinent, but she managed to make people think her a beauty, for her auburn hair and eager expression were highly attractive. In colouring she resembled her little brother Philip, but in gait and carriage she was very like Rupert." Rupert was her elder brother and the member of her family Louise was the closest to. (Read more.)