Tea at Trianon: A Royal Wedding Reception at Nymphenburg Palace

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, May 29, 2023

A Royal Wedding Reception at Nymphenburg Palace

From Tatler:

He is a Bavarian prince who will one day become head of one of Germany’s most influential noble families. So it was only fitting that Ludwig of Bavaria celebrated his recent nuptials with a spectacular reception at Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss Nymphenburg) – one of Europe’s most opulent royal residences. Following a Catholic service in the heart of Munich (during which the bride reportedly fainted), Prince Ludwig and his Dutch-Canadian wife, Sophie Evekink, celebrated with a reception hosted at the palace by Ludwig’s cousin and Head of the House of Wittelsbach, Duke Franz of Bavaria. Dressed in their finest hats and sharpest suits, family and friends congregated beneath a cloudless sky in the sprawling grounds to toast the newlyweds. Among their number were the Prince and Princess of Prussia, the Margrave and Margravine of Baden, and Hereditary Prince Ernst August and Hereditary Princess Ekaterina of Hanover. Later, a white tie ball was held. (Read more.)