Tea at Trianon: The Real Josephine

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

Thursday, November 16, 2023

The Real Josephine

Of course, Josephine spent more money in one year than Marie-Antoinette did in her entire life. Yet she was always beloved by the French people. From Tatler:

Joséphine first met Napoleon in 1795 at a society ball, hosted by Paul Barras, the Vicomte de Barras, her then lover. At the time, though he was serving as a major-general in the military, he was not quite the Alexander the Great-esque conqueror he would soon become. She was put off by his somewhat socially awkward demeanour but the two would eventually fall in love. Seven years his senior, they married the following year in 1796. While Napoleon was undeniably smitten with her, she was more reserved in her own affection towards him.
In 1804, once Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France, Joséphine would be known as the Empress of France. She also became Queen of Italy, since Napoleon had taken control of the country's government in 1805. It was a marriage of hardship, where the Emperor would often be away for months on end due to his military conquests. Both with involved in numerous affairs, with Joséphine engaging in a relationship with French army officer Hippolyte Charles. Napoleon would have his own excursion with Pauline Fourès, the wife of a cavalry officer. They also never had children together, a source of great discomfort for the Emperor. (Read more.)