Tea at Trianon: Empress Maria Feodorovna

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, April 12, 2019

Empress Maria Feodorovna

From Historic Women Daily:

Maria Feodorovna (née Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) (25 October 1759 – 5 November 1828) was Empress consort of Russia as wife of Emperor Paul I (son of Empress Catherine the Great). Maria Feodorovna and her husband Paul had 10 children together, including: Alexander I (Emperor of Russia), Nicholas I (Emperor of Russia), Anna Pavlovna (Queen of the Netherlands), Alexandra Pavlovna (Archduchess of Austria), Catherine Pavlovna (Queen of Württemberg), Maria Pavlovna (Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach). She had 4 sons and 6 daughters. She was a good and loving mother, and despite the fact that Catherine the Great took over her two eldest children in their early years, Maria Feodorovna managed to maintain close relationships with them, as with all her children. They remained genuinely attached to her.

During reign of Paul I Maria Feodorovna had a great and beneficial influence over her husband. She was clever, talented, purposeful and energetic, and was a nearly perfect Imperial consort. Maria Feodorovna loved all the arts and supported them generously, she also devoted energies to the great charities and educational institutions. After her death in 1828, Maria Feodorovna’s memory was revered by her children and grandchildren and her successors as Empress consorts looked up to her and used her as a role model. (Read more.)

There is a section about Maria Feodorovna in my book, Marie-Antoinette, Daughter of the Caesars.