Tea at Trianon: Serving the Queen

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, October 1, 2022

Serving the Queen

From Social:

The Queen reportedly employed hundreds of staff. She had people to clean rooms — of which there are an eye-watering 775 in Buckingham Palace alone! But of course, a vast property requires roles of all kinds. Reporting on the Palace’s employment situation in 2016, Forbes magazine mentions the kind of jobs you might expect, such as footmen. Yet it also refers to engineers, and even vase polishers. Yes, you read that correctly!
Of course, Elizabeth owned some pretty rare and expensive vases, hence why a specific individual was needed to keep them looking their best. Was a vase polisher the best position from which to obtain a behind-the-scenes view of her secret life? Possibly not, we’re thinking. Yet others worked at closer quarters, and would have seen more than most. (Read more.)