Tea at Trianon: Inside Althorp House

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

Monday, October 26, 2020

Inside Althorp House

From Hello!:

Princess Diana grew up at Althorp House in Northamptonshire until she married the Prince of Wales in 1981. The property, which was previously owned by Princess Diana's father Earl John Spencer, is now owned by her brother Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer. It has 90 rooms and 550 acres and is also home to some of the finest European furniture and art you'll ever see. Take a look inside…Charles recently posted about the library on his Instagram account, calling it his favourite room in the house. It features wooden floors with three large patterned rugs, cream walls with endless shelves of books, and a selection of red armchairs and sofas. There are also several palatial chandeliers. (Read more.)