Tea at Trianon: Introducing "Tea at Trianon Radio"

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, May 22, 2015

Introducing "Tea at Trianon Radio"

On Saturday May 23 at 3pm Eastern Time, I will be launching "Tea at Trianon Radio" which will be dedicated solely to discussions about Marie-Antoinette, her life, her times, her family, and her legacy. In the first live broadcast we will be discussing the truth behind the legend of Queen Marie-Antoinette's romance with the Swedish Count Fersen. The legend has been featured in novels, films and even many biographies. But is there any historical evidence of an affair? Did the Queen really love Fersen? What were her feelings for her husband Louis XVI? Such questions and more will explored in a thirty minute segment based upon scholarship both old and new. Listeners may call in at (347) 945-6858.

julygirl said...: I listened to your broadcast and learned an enormous amount I did not know. Thank you. Look forward to it next time.; May 23, 2015 at 3:29:00 PM EDT