Tea at Trianon: The Story Of Christabella Wyndham

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, April 26, 2025

The Story Of Christabella Wyndham

Charles II's first mistress, a much older woman, who had been one of his nurses. Bizarre on many levels. He was only 14. Today she would be jailed. From London Walks:

When Charles was 14, England was in the middle of the Civil Wars. It was during the struggles between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists, mainly over England’s governance and issues of religion which ended with the execution of Charles I in 1649. The following so-called Commonwealth period under the Puritan rule and de facto dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell.

In the spring of 1645, the young Prince Charles, then Prince of Wales, was sent by his father to Bridgwater garrison under the command of Edmund Wyndham to unite royalist forces and to hold Council. With him was his chief advisor, Edward Hyde, Chancellor of the Exchequer who was a bit of a schoolmasterish and a rather pompous man, maybe not the best man to deal with a 14-year-old fun-loving boy.

It was at Bridgwater garrison that Charles re-encountered his former nurse Christabella and apparently sparks flew, she seduced him without any resistance from his side and it came to a scandalous liaison.

What is curious is that according to contemporary morals, it wasn’t the fact that a young boy was seduced by an older woman which was scandalous. This was considered more of a privilege than an offence, not even that the seducer was his former wet-nurse. No, what caused a scandal was that Mrs Wyndham, a celebrated beauty, and Charles were displaying an open show of affection, including spontaneous gestures like diving across the room and covering his face with kisses. Hyde was outraged at their behaviour and he felt that she distracted Charles “with her folly and petulance” from conducting his business.

What Hyde was criticising was Charles’ teenage rebellion and defiance of authority, coupled with a strong interest in sex. Something that Charles would always be remembered for and which was possibly triggered by the woman who had given him his first physical pleasures. (Read more.)