Tea at Trianon: The Most Powerful Queens in History

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

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

The Most Powerful Queens in History

Marie-Antoinette is mentioned in this list although during her lifetime she had little or no personal power except what went along with being the royal consort. She was perceived by her enemies as having much more power than she actually had. Part of the reason she dressed in fashionable and flattering gowns is that she wanted people to think she was her husband's mistress as well as his wife and therefore had power like a Pompadour. She did on many occasions try to influence the policies of her husband Louis XVI but he always did what he thought was best. He listened to her more during the Revolution when they were abandoned by so many family and friends. From MSN:

The great Nefertiti was married to the monotheistic pharaoh Akhenaten. Immortalized by a famous bust, she set the standard for beauty in the ancient world. Her importance in ancient Egyptian history is not limited to her physical appearance, however. Frequently represented in works of art, Nefertiti wielded an omnipresent influence in public and religious life on par with the pharaoh. Artists also portrayed the couple’s close relationship. Together, they initiated an unprecedented cultural revolution by establishing the god Aton, represented by a solar disk, as the sole deity. (Read more.)