Tea at Trianon: Petit Trianon: Hidden From The Public Eye

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

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Petit Trianon: Hidden From The Public Eye

From The Travel:

King Louis XVI presented Marie Antoinette with the gift of Petit Trianon when she was only 19, and it was intended to be somewhat of an escape for her. The gift would, in turn, prove to be exactly that - when her duties were fulfilled to the extent at which they were expected, the queen would often spend time in her 'smaller' mansion, away from everyone else. Petit Trianon was, for all intents and purposes, a smaller estate that shared the same land as Versailles. While the palace was often full of people, Petit Trianon was used exclusively by Marie Antoinette with guests that she allowed at her own discretion. This, of course, stirred up some controversy and gave the queen quite a scandalous reputation, although none of it has been proven true.
The cottages consisted of the windmill which was for decorative purposes and not actually in working order, the Queen's House, boudoir, stove room, and billiard room. Across the water, there was a fully-working farm which included both a working dairy and one that was for show, a barn, the guardhouse, and the fisherman's cottage. The farm itself was there to serve the purpose of education for the children, as they learned what it took to run a farm and how to care for the animals and the dairy. While many assumed the setting was a place where the queen pretended she was not royalty, it was actually a place of serenity and relaxation for her. Walks along these grounds served as a way to offset so much time spent in the public eye and tied to her obligations, which is why the scenery was as lavish and peaceful as it was. (Read more.)