Tea at Trianon: Herrenchiemsee Palace: The Grandest Palace In Germany

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

Saturday, February 12, 2022

Herrenchiemsee Palace: The Grandest Palace In Germany

A delightful post, with the best pictures I have ever seen of Herrenchiemsee. From Hand Luggage Only:

Ironically, King Ludwig II was not one for crowds and was something of a loner so didn’t really have guests over. (I think it was either his cousin or some actor that stayed over once). The same actually applies for most of Ludwig’s other castles. They were never built for public consumption – they were his masterpieces that he built just for himself – apparently almost bankrupting his household in the process. That’s the other thing about this too. Ludwig never used state money to build his palaces. He used his private fortune to build all of this and his extravagance was much to the chagrin of the German Chancellor who thought he should be using his fortune more to do something for the state...(Read more.)

julygirl said...: Awesome!! If it were not for the monarchs of Europe as well as the Roman Catholic Church we, today, would not have the glorious structures so enjoyed by millions.; February 12, 2022 at 2:31:00 PM EST