Tea at Trianon: Not Invited

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

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Not Invited

From Fox News:

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's friends have "stopped inviting" the couple to dinner parties because they "frown upon their PDAs," insiders have claimed. According to the Mail on Sunday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex make a point of sitting together at events — even if their host has seated them separately. The paper reports that Duchess Meghan purposefully wants to break long-standing party etiquette as she considers it too "exclusive" and "traditional." Along with ignoring the seating plans, insiders have also claimed that the Duchess is openly affectionate with her husband on these occasions which causes Prince Harry's friends to "roll their eyes" at her "American ways." What's more, Harry's inner circle has "stopped inviting her to dinner" over the "frowned upon" PDAs (public displays of affection) at the dinner table. (Read more.)