Tea at Trianon: The Return of the Maxwells

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, December 26, 2019

The Return of the Maxwells

For those wondering about Jeffrey Epstein's consort Ghislaine Maxwell and her aristocratic connections, it is all in the archives of the Tatler. From the Tatler in 2000:

To analyze all the Maxwells’ new businesses and deals would require pages of geek-speak, but even explaining their motives isn’t that simple. Sure, the money comes into it, and the buzz of the deal, but what else? The the trade money press comes has called Christine 'one of the two most powerful women on the lnternet. Her father was more interested in power than money – are the children the same?

Christine is very grand in her response. She quotes Jung, ‘power is the privilege to influence’ – and declares: ‘It’s an unbelievable responsibility to have influence over issues that can have an impact on millions of people's lives and livelihoods.' Wearing her ISOC hat, she adds: 'When one has worked in the Internet for a long time, when one has a wants to give something back. My drive has to do with helping people, so that they can help themselves.' Meanwhile, Ghislaine is half-reflective, half-joking. claiming that her frantic activity, always changing business, provides her with both ‘a refuge’ and ‘something to talk about to my brothers and sisters’. And Betty says: ‘It’s better that they work like this than get into trouble.’ (Read more.)

From the Tatler, last August:

Epstein and Ghislaine’s unusual relationship went through various phases – at first, they were supposedly romantically linked (which fizzled out) but the two remained unquestionably close (as all the photography suggests – Ghislaine never more than an arms length away, simmering, lurking in the background). Epstein once even described Ghislaine as his ‘best friend’. With her address book, she became his facilitator, making the connections that wealthy Epstein sought – trips to Sandringham as the Duke of York’s guests and regularly jetting to private birthday parties aboard Epstein’s jets and to Little St James, his island off the coast of St Thomas. (An island reportedly dubbed the ‘Island of Sin’ and ‘Orgy Island’ by locals, according to The Independent). It’s thought that Ghislaine’s role evolved to become something of a ‘lady of the house’ – running his properties, ingoings and outgoings and various ‘errands’.

It’s now thought that the relationship had a more sordid side – an unproven thought, but still one that shows no sign of abating. Court documents state that it is ‘an undisputed fact that multiple witnesses’ have testified that Miss Maxwell operated as Epstein’s ‘procurer of underage girls’ for his elusive massages – a claim that she fiercely denies. Virginia Giuffre, a woman who claims to have served as Epstein’s teenage ‘sex slave’ leads the charge. It’s a tangled web that gets increasingly complicated as more information is brought to the table.

It’s now that Epstein has gone that Ghislaine faces the world’s glare as desire for justice for the alleged victims mounts. She quietly disappeared from the party circuit in 2016 and had been running TerraMar, a non-profit environmental organisation, even addressing the UN on ocean matters – until, it was announced last week, that the charily would cease operation.

Now – it’s suggested that she’s been living under the radar with a boyfriend, fourteen years her junior, inside a $3M oceanfront mansion in Manchester-by-the-Sea, outside of Boston. The boyfriend in question is tech CEO Scott Borgerson. She reportedly hasn’t been seen in public for three years and hasn’t left the house amidst the new focus on the Epstein case. A source familiar with Ghislaine’s new life told The Daily Mail: ‘She’s become a real homebody; she rarely ventures out. She’s the antithesis of the woman who travelled extensively and partied constantly with Epstein.’ Ghislaine was ever-present in those photographs, always in attendance at those parties – but, now she is really needed, will she emerge and shine light on what actually went on? (Read more.)