Tea at Trianon: The Queen in Black

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

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

The Queen in Black

From Mental Floss:

In case a relative passes away while family members are traveling, every person must pack a single, all-black outfit, The Independent reports. This guarantees that they’ll be dressed respectfully when seen in public after the announcement.

The sensible policy arose after a real-life snafu in 1952, which fans of Netflix’s The Crown may recall having been depicted during the first season of the series. Then-Princess Elizabeth had been visiting Kenya with her husband Prince Philip when her father, King George VI, passed away from lung cancer. The young couple promptly returned to England, but Elizabeth didn’t have any appropriately somber clothing in her suitcase. She stayed on the airplane until somebody brought her a black outfit.

The Independent explains that newscasters must also travel with a black outfit, in case they have to report on the death of a royal family member while abroad. (Read more.)