Tea at Trianon: Louis the Dauphin

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, September 6, 2021

Louis the Dauphin

An article about the father of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X from Salon Privé Magazine :

Louis Dauphin of France was the first son of Queen Marie Lesczynska and King Louis XV of France. He was born on the 4^th of September 1729 at the Palace of Versailles located in Paris, France. Louis had three sisters who are older than him and one younger brother who died at a young age. He was baptized by Cardinal Armand de Rohan as an infant.

On the 27^th of April 1737, when Louis was already 7 years of age, he was given the names Louis Ferdinand during his public baptism. Louis, Duke of Orleans, and the Dowager Duchess of Bourbon, the widow of Louis III, were his godparents. Jean-Francois Boyer was the preceptor, the Count of Muy was named the under-governor, and the Duke of Chatillon was named his governor.
Louis Dauphin of France and King Philip V of Spain’s daughter, Maria Teresa Rafaela, tied the knot on the 13^th of December 1744. This wedding was held in Madrid, Spain by proxy on the 18^th of December 1744 and was personally celebrated on the 23^rd of February 1745 at Versailles in Paris, France. The couple had a happy married life. However, Louis’ wife died on the 22^nd of July 1746 several days after she gave birth to Princess Marie Therese of France, their only child, and daughter.

However, Louis Dauphin Of France had the obligation to produce an heir to his French throne so he had to remarry as soon as possible. He was married for the second time to Maria Josepha of Saxony, daughter of Frederick Augustus II, King of Poland, and Prince-Elector of Saxony. (Read more.)