Tea at Trianon: Mary and Isabella

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 11, 2026

Mary and Isabella – the Women in Cages

From History...the Interesting Bits:

On 25 March 1306 Mary, Christian, Elizabeth and little Marjorie were all present when Robert the Bruce was crowned King Robert I by Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, who claimed her family’s hereditary right to crown Scotland’s kings (despite her being married to a Comyn). The Earls of Fife had, for centuries, claimed the hereditary right to crown Scotland’s kings. However, in 1306, the earl was only a teenager, in English custody, and a loyal devotee of Edward I. It fell to the courageous Isabella MacDuff, the young earl’s aunt, to claim the hereditary right to perform the ritual.

Isabella’s husband was John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, friend and cousin to the John Comyn killed in the church in Dumfries. Isabella knew that she was not only facing the wrath of King Edward but also her husband in participating in Robert’s inauguration as king. Isabella’s participation was an act of bravery and defiance. She would have known that her actions would mean there was no going back. In supporting Robert the Bruce, the man who stood accused of John Comyn’s murder, Isabella turned against her husband and his entire family, people she had lived among for her entire married life. Isabella is said to have stolen one of her husband’s destriers for the ride to Scone to place the crown on the new king’s head. However, it is also suggested that Robert sent the Earl of Atholl to fetch Isabella from her lands, to perform the inauguration, indicating she was rather reluctant to play her part in the open defiance of Edward I.

With the murder of Comyn hanging over him, Robert the Bruce wanted to ensure that his inauguration was an imitation of that of Alexander III, to reinforce his legitimacy and respectability as king. In the absence of the royal crown of Scotland, a gold circlet was placed on Robert’s head. The ceremony may have been overseen by bishops Wishart and Lamberton, though both claimed they were not present when questioned by Edward I. Bishop Lamberton, as Bishop of St Andrews and senior prelate in Scotland, certainly celebrated High Mass for the new king and queen two days later, on 27 March.

Robert’s coronation was the start of the most desperate period of his life – and that of his supporters. Edward I of England was never one to acquiesce when his will was flouted; he sent his army into Scotland to hunt down the new king and his adherents. After Robert’s defeat by the English at Methven in 1306, he went into hiding in the Highlands. (Read more.)