Tea at Trianon: Death of Mary II

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, December 29, 2014

Death of Mary II

From Madame Gilflurt:

Mary was always fit and energetic so it must have come as a terrible shock to courtiers to discover that this most vibrant queen had contracted smallpox towards the end of 1694. The infection was virulent in England at the time and Mary immediately recognised her illness what it was and took steps to ensure that it didn't spread unduly. She went into seclusion at Kensington Palace and dismissed any members of court who had not previously suffered from the infection. Mindful of the danger, she refused to see even her closest family members for fear of their contracting smallpox too.

Mary did not linger and swiftly declined, dying in the small hours of 28th December, leaving her husband to rule on alone. The people of England mourned their queen throughout a bitter winter and she was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey on 5th March 1695. William declared that he would never recover from her death and he passed away less than a decade later, leaving no children to take the throne. (Read more.)