Tea at Trianon: Royalty: Childbirth Complications

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, June 13, 2019

Royalty: Childbirth Complications

From Unofficial Royalty:

Until the advent of modern medicine, childbirth was a danger to women, both royals and commoners. Many women died from puerperal fever or childbed fever, a bacterial infection. The majority of childbed fever cases were caused by the birth attendants themselves. With no knowledge of germs, it was believed that hand washing was unnecessary. Other women died from problems that caesarean sections now prevent. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for those women who died in childbirth. Without the modern caesarean section, my two children, who were both breech babies, and I may not have survived.

Maternal deaths due to childbirth complications, although infrequent, still occur, and I would like to remember an online friend who passed away shortly after giving birth. I was an AOL Royalty Community Leader from 1998-2005 when the Community Leader program ceased to exist. During that time, I met many people on AOL who were interested in royalty via the message boards and chats I hosted. One of them was ALMACKS, whose real name was Dana Sherman. I remember Dana as a person who had strong opinions on royals and was not afraid to express her opinions and defend them. She always wanted to go to London and did so by herself during the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. In February of 2003, after giving birth to her second child, Dana passed away. I dedicate this article to the memory of Dana. (Read more.)