Tea at Trianon: Marie-Antoinette's State Apartments Reopen

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

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Marie-Antoinette's State Apartments Reopen

From Royal Central:

After three years of extensive renovations, Marie Antoinette’s elaborate apartments will reopen to visitors at the Palace of Versailles. The public can tour The Queen’s Bedchamber, The Nobles’ Room, The Royal Table Antechamber, and The Queens’ Guard Room from 16 April. “The work that has been done by all the craftsmen who worked on this site has led us to revisit this room and show it off in its glory,” Catherine Pégard, president of the Palace of Versailles, told the BBC. “We feel like we are rediscovering a room that we had almost forgotten.” The official Château de Versailles Instagram and Twitter accounts have been following the restoration, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the work. The public can view up-close glimpses of the rooms, like Marie Antoinette’s intricate bedding, details of the chandeliers, or her initials carved on a fireplace. (Read more.)

Visit the Versailles website for more information, HERE.

More HERE, HERE and HERE.