April 19, 1770: The Proxy Marriage of Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria to the Future King Louis XVI of France and Navarre

Tags

Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Dauphin of France, Duc de Berry, Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, Louis XV of France and Navarre, Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette, Palace of Versailles, Prince Louis-Augusté de Bourbon of France, Proxy Marriage

Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria was born on November 2, 1755 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, at 8:30 in the evening. She was the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Hereditary Habsburg Lands, and her husband Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor. Archduchess Maria Antonia was raised together with her sister, Archduchess Maria Carolina, who was three years older, and with whom she had a lifelong close relationship. Maria Antonia had a difficult but ultimately loving relationship with her mother, who referred to her as “the little Madame Antoine”.

Following the Seven Years’ War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to end hostilities with her longtime enemy, King Louis XV of France. Their common desire to destroy the ambitions of Prussia and Great Britain, and to secure a definitive peace between their respective countries led them to seal their alliance with a marriage: on February 7, 1770, Louis XV formally requested the hand of Maria Antonia for his eldest surviving grandson and heir, Louis-Augusté, Duc de Berry and Dauphin of France.

Louis-Augusté de Bourbon of France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles on August 23, 1754. One of seven children, he was the second surviving son of Louis, the Dauphin of France and the grandson of Louis XV of France and of his consort, Maria Leszczyńska. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Augustus III, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland and Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria, the eldest child of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Princess Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Louis-Augusté was overlooked by his parents who favored his older brother, Louis-Joseph, Duc of Burgundy, who was regarded as bright and handsome but died at the age of nine in 1761. Louis-Augusté, a strong and healthy boy but very shy, excelled in his studies and had a strong taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy and became fluent in Italian and English. He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather and rough play with his younger brothers, Louis-Stanislas, Comte de Provence, and Charles-Philippe, Comte d’Artois. From an early age, Louis-Augusté was encouraged in another of his interests, locksmithing, which was seen as a useful pursuit for a child.

When his father died of tuberculosis on December 20, 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Augusté became the new Dauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband and died on March 13, 1767, also from tuberculosis.

Archduchess Maria Antonia formally renounced her rights to Habsburg domains, and on April 19, 1770 the 15 year old Archduchess Maria Antonia was married by proxy to the 16 year old Prince Louis-Augusté, Dauphin of France at the Augustinian Church in Vienna, with her brother Archduke Ferdinand standing in for the dauphin. On May 14 she met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne.

Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name: Marie Antoinette. A further ceremonial wedding took place on May 16, 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The couple’s longtime failure to consummate the marriage plagued the reputations of both Louis-Augusté and Marie Antoinette for the next seven years.

The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Augusté was mixed. On the one hand, the dauphine was beautiful, personable and well-liked by the common people. Her first official appearance in Paris on June 8, 1773 was a resounding success. On the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette, as did others who disliked her for more personal or petty reasons.

The Life of Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Duchess of Angoulême. Part II.

Tags

Duchess of Angoulême, French Revolution, Louis Charles, Louis XVI, Louis XVII, Madame Royale, Marie Antoinette, Marie-Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess Élisabeth de Bourbon, Robespierre, Tuileries Palace

Move to the Tuileries

When the Bastille was stormed by an armed mob on 14 July 1789, the situation reached a climax. The life of the 10-year-old Madame Royale began to be affected as several members of the royal household were sent abroad for their own safety. The comte d’Artois, her uncle, and the duchesse de Polignac, governess to the royal children, emigrated on the orders of Louis XVI.

The Duchesse de Polignac was replaced by Princess Louise-Elisabeth de Croÿ, Marquise de Tourzel, whose daughter Pauline became a lifelong friend of Marie-Thérèse.

On 5 October, a mixed cortège of mainly working women from Paris marched to Versailles, intent on acquiring food believed to be stored there, and to advance political demands. After the invasion of the palace in the early hours of 6 October had forced the family to take refuge in the king’s apartment, the crowd demanded and obtained the move of the king and his family to the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

As the political situation deteriorated, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette realized that their lives were in danger, and went along with the plan of escape organised with the help of Count Axel von Fersen. The plan was for the royal family to flee to the northeastern fortress of Montmédy, a royalist stronghold, but the attempted flight was intercepted in Varennes, and the family escorted back to Paris.

On August 10, 1792, after the royal family had taken refuge in the Legislative Assembly, Louis XVI was deposed, although the monarchy was not abolished until September 21. On August 13, the entire family was imprisoned in the Temple Tower, remains of a former medieval fortress. On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was executed on the guillotine, at which time Marie-Thérèse’s young brother Louis Charles was recognized as King Louis XVII of France by the royalists.

Almost six months later, in the evening of July 3, 1793, guards entered the royal family’s apartment, forcibly took away the eight-year-old Louis Charles, and entrusted him to the care of Antoine Simon, a cobbler and Temple commissioner.

Remaining in their apartment in the Tower were Marie Antoinette, Marie-Thérèse and Madame Élisabeth, Louis XVI’s youngest sister. When Marie Antoinette was taken to the Conciergerie one month later, in the night of August 2, Marie-Thérèse was left in the care of her aunt Élisabeth who, in turn, was taken away on May 9, 1794 and executed the following day. Of the royal prisoners in the Temple, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte was the only one to survive the Reign of Terror.

Her stay in the Temple Tower was one of solitude and often great boredom. The two books she had, the famous prayer book by the name of The Imitation of Christ and Voyages by La Harpe, were read over and over, so much so that she grew tired of them. But her appeal for more books was denied by government officials, and many other requests were frequently refused, while she often had to endure listening to her brother’s cries and screams whenever he was beaten.

On 11 May 1794, Robespierre visited Marie-Thérèse, but there is no record of the conversation. During her imprisonment, Marie-Thérèse was never told what had happened to her family. All she knew was that her father was dead. The following words were scratched on the wall of her room in the tower:

“Marie-Thérèse Charlotte is the most unhappy person in the world. She can obtain no news of her mother; nor be reunited to her, though she has asked it a thousand times. Live, my good mother! whom I love well, but of whom I can hear no tidings. O my father! watch over me from Heaven above. O my God! forgive those who have made my parents suffer.”

In late August 1795, Marie-Thérèse was finally told what had happened to her family, by Madame Renée de Chanterenne, her female companion. When she had been informed of each of their fates, the distraught Marie-Thérèse began to cry, letting out loud sobs of anguish and grief.

It was only once the Terror was over that Marie-Thérèse was allowed to leave France. She was liberated on December 18, 1795, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, exchanged for prominent French prisoners (Pierre Riel de Beurnonville, Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Hugues-Bernard Maret, Armand-Gaston Camus, Nicolas Marie Quinette and Charles-Louis Huguet de Sémonville) and taken to Vienna, the capital city of her cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, and also her mother’s birthplace.

August 9, 1830: Accession of Louis-Philippe as the King of the French.

Tags

Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, French Revolution, July Revolution, King Charles X of France, King of the French, Louis Philippe, Louis Philippe I of France, Marie Antoinette, Prince Edward Duke of Kent, Queen Marie Antoinette

Louis-Philippe I (October 6, 1773 – August 26, 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 and the last king of France.

Louis-Philippe was born in the Palais Royal, the residence of the Orléans family in Paris, to Louis Philippe II, Duke of Chartres (Duke of Orléans, upon the death of his father Louis Philippe I), and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a Prince of the Blood, which entitled him the use of the style “Serene Highness”. His mother was an extremely wealthy heiress who was descended from Louis XIV of France through a legitimized line.

Louis Philippe was the eldest of three sons and a daughter, Antoine-Philippe, Duke of Montpensier, Françoise d’Orléans (died shortly after her birth) Adélaïde d’Orléans, and Louis-Charles, Count of Beaujolais a family that was to have erratic fortunes from the beginning of the French Revolution to the Bourbon Restoration.

Louis-Philippe struck up a lasting friendship with Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and moved to England, where he remained from 1800 to 1815.

In 1808, Louis-Philippe proposed to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom. His Catholicism and the opposition of her mother Queen Charlotte meant the Princess reluctantly declined the offer.

In 1809, Louis-Philippe married Princess Maria-Amalia of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Archduchess Maria-Carolina of Austria, the thirteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Franz I. The ceremony was celebrated in Palermo November 25, 1809. The marriage was considered controversial, because she was the niece of Archduchess Marie-Antoinette of Austria, while he was the son of Louis-Philippe II, Duke of Orléans who was considered to have played a part in the execution of her aunt.

Maria-Amalia, Duchess of Orléans with her son Ferdinand-Philippe d’Orléans

Maria-Amalia’s mother, Archduchess Maria-Carolina of Austria, was skeptical to the match for the same reason. She had been very close to her younger sister, Archduchess Marie-Antoinette of Austria, and devastated by her execution, but she had given her consent after he had convinced her that he was determined to compensate for the mistakes of his father, and after having agreed to answer all her questions regarding his father.

In 1830, the July Revolution overthrew King Charles X of France and Navarre who abdicated in favour of his 10-year-old grandson, Henri, Duke of Bordeaux, and, naming Louis-Philippe Lieutenant général du royaume, charged him to announce to the popularly elected Chamber of Deputies his desire to have his grandson succeed him. Louis-Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession.

Louis Philippe II d’Orléans (Father)

Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans (Mother)

As a consequence, because the chamber was aware of Louis-Philippe’s liberal policies and of his popularity with the masses, they proclaimed Louis-Philippe, King, who for eleven days had been acting as the regent for his young cousin, as the new French king, Henri V. With his accession the House of Orléans displaced the senior branch of the House of Bourbon.

Charles X and his family, including his grandson, went into exile in Britain. The young ex-king, the Duke of Bordeaux, who, in exile, took the title of comte de Chambord, later became the pretender to the throne of France and was supported by the Legitimists.

Louis-Philippe was sworn in as King Louis-Philippe I on August 9, 1830. Upon his accession to the throne, Louis-Philippe assumed the title of King of the French – a title already adopted by Louis XVI in the short-lived Constitution of 1791. Linking the monarchy to a people instead of a territory (as the previous designation King of France and of Navarre) was aimed at undercutting the legitimist claims of Charles X and his family.

By an ordinance he signed on August 13, 1830, the new king defined the manner in which his children, as well as his “beloved” sister, would continue to bear the territorial designation “d’Orléans” and the arms of Orléans, declared that his eldest son, as Prince Royal (not Dauphin), would bear the title Duke of Orléans, that the younger sons would continue to have their previous titles, and that his sister and daughters would only be styled Princesses of Orléans, not of France.

In 1832, his daughter, Princess Louise-Marie, married the first ruler of Belgium, Leopold I, King of the Belgians. Their descendants include all subsequent Kings of the Belgians, as well as Empress Carlota of Mexico.

Louis-Philippe and Emperor Nicholas I of Russia

Emperor Nicholas I of Russia

Louis-Philippe’s ascension to the title of King of the French was seen as a betrayal by Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and it ended their friendship.

In 1815, Grand Duke Nicholas arrived in France, where he stayed with the duc d’Orleans, who soon become one of his best friends, with the grand duke being impressed with duc’s personal warmth, intelligence, manners and grace. For Nicholas the worst sort of characters were nobility who supported liberalism, and when the duc d’Orleans become the king of the French as Louis Philippe I in the July revolution of 1830, Nicholas took this as a personal betrayal, believing his friend had gone over as he saw it to the dark side of revolution and liberalism.

Nicholas hated Louis-Philippe, the self-styled Le roi citoyen (“the Citizen King”) as a renegade nobleman and an “usurper,” and his foreign policy starting in 1830 was primarily anti-French, based upon reviving the coalition of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Britain to isolate France. Nicholas detested Louis-Philippe to the point that he refused to use his name, calling him merely “the usurper.”

9. The Crown of Louis XV of France and Navarre.

Tags

Charlemagne, Crown of Louis XV, Crowns and Regalia, De Sancy Diamond, French Revolution, King Louis XV of France, King Louis XVI of France, Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette, Philippe II of Orleans, Prince Regent, The Regent Diamond, Thomas Pitt

Today I feature my 9th favorite European Crown, The Crown of Louis XV, the sole surviving crown from the French ancien regime among the French Crown Jewels.

The Crown of Louis XV of France and Navarre

History

The crown was created for King Louis XV in 1722, when he had a new crown created. It was used at his coronation and was embellished with diamonds from the Royal Collection.

The new crown was made by Laurent Ronde, the French Crown jeweller. It originally contained a collection of Mazarin Diamonds, the de Sancy diamond in the fleur-de-lis at the top of the arches, and the famous ‘Regent’ diamond, which was set in the front of the crown, as well as hundreds of other precious diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

The de Sancy diamond has a long and colorful history, too long to tell in this blog entry. I’ll tell it’s story in one of tomorrow’s blog entries. I can tell the history of the Regent Diamond.

The Regent Diamond.

According to one rumour, in 1698, a slave of India found the 410 carats (82 g; 2.6 ozt) rough diamond in the Kollur Mine in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India and hid it inside a large wound in his leg. An English sea captain stole the diamond from the slave, killed him and sold it to an Indian merchant.

The Regent Diamond

Thomas Pitt claimed he acquired the diamond from the eminent Indian diamond merchant Jamchund for 48,000 pagodas in the same year, so it is sometimes also known as the Pitt Diamond.

Thomas “Diamond” Pitt (1653-1726) of Stratford in Wiltshire and of Boconnoc in Cornwall, was an English merchant involved in trade with India who served as President of Madras and six times as a Member of Parliament. He was the grandfather of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (“Pitt the Elder”) and was great-grandfather of Pitt the Younger, both prime ministers of Great Britain.

Pitt dispatched the stone to London hidden in the heel of his son Robert’s shoe aboard the East Indiaman Loyal Cooke, which left Madras on October 9, 1702. It was later cut in London by the diamond cutter Harris, between 1704 and 1706. The cutting took two years and cost about £5,000. Rumours circulated that Pitt had fraudulently acquired the diamond.

Sale to the French Prince Regent

After many attempts to sell it to various Members of European royalty, including King Louis XIV of France, it was purchased by the French Regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, in 1717 for £135,000 (equivalent to £20,680,000 in 2019), at the urging of his close friend and famed memoirist Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon.

The stone was set into the crown of Louis XV for his coronation in 1722 and then into a new crown for the coronation of Louis XVI in 1775. It was also used to adorn a hat belonging to Marie-Antoinette. In 1791, its appraised value was £480,000 (equivalent to £58,160,000 in 2019).

All of France’s about 20 crowns of the Ancient Regime, kept in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, including the one of Saint Louis IX of France and the one said to have belonged to Charlemagne, were destroyed in 1793 during the French revolution. The crown of Louis XV was the only one to survive and counts, with those of the 19th century, among the only six remaining French crowns.

Louis XV of France and Navarre (Crown in the background)

The Ancien Régime (literally “old rule”) was the political and social system of the Kingdom of France from the Late Middle Ages (circa 15th century) until the French Revolution of 1789, which led to the abolition (1792) of hereditary monarchy and of the feudal system of the French nobility. The late Valois and Bourbon dynasties ruled during the Ancien Régime.

In 1885 the French Third Republic decided to sell the Crown Jewels. Given its historic importance, the crown of Louis XV was kept, though its precious stones were replaced by colored glass. It is on permanent display in the Louvre museum in Paris.

Crown of Louis XV displayed with Regent Diamond

The Regent Diamond is now separate from the crown diamond and is on display in the Louvre, worth as of 2015 £48,000,000. It is widely considered the most beautiful and the purest diamond in the world.

May 10, 1794: Execution of HRH Madame Élisabeth de Bourbon, Princess of France and Navarre. Part III.

Tags

Élisabeth of France, French Revolution, Guillotine, King Charles X of France, King Louis XVIII of France, Marie Antoinette, Reign of Terror, Robespierre, Roman Catholic Church, The Cause of Beatification of Élisabeth

Execution

After her trial, Élisabeth joined the prisoners condemned with her in the Hall of the Condemned, awaiting their execution. She asked for Marie-Antoinette, upon which one of the female prisoners said to her, “Madame, your sister has suffered the same fate that we ourselves are about to undergo.”

She reportedly successfully comforted and strengthened the morale of her fellow prisoners before their impending execution with religious arguments, and by her own example of calmness.

Élisabeth was executed along with the 23 men and women who had been tried and condemned at the same time as she, and reportedly conversed with Mme de Senozan and Mme de Crussol on the way. In the cart taking them to their execution, and while waiting her turn, she helped several of them through the ordeal, encouraging them and reciting the De profundis until her time came. Near the Pont Neuf, the white kerchief which covered her head was blown off, and thus being the only person with bare head, she attracted special attention by the spectators, and witnesses attested that she was calm during the whole process.

Élisabeth Capet

At the foot of the guillotine, there was a bench for the condemned who were to depart the cart and wait on the bench before their execution. Élisabeth departed the cart first, refusing the help of the executioner, but was to be the last to be called upon, which resulted in her witnessing the death of all the others.

The Reign of Terror

Reportedly, she considerably strengthened the morale of her fellow prisoners, who all behaved with courage. When the last person before her, a man, gave her his bow, she said, “courage, and faith in the mercy of God!” and then rose to be ready for her own turn. While she was being strapped to the board, her fichu (a sort of shawl) fell off, exposing her shoulders, and she cried to the executioner “Au nom de votre mère, monsieur, couvrez-moi. (In the name of your mother, sir, cover me)”.

Reportedly, her execution caused some emotion by the bystanders, who did not cry “Vive la Republique” at this occasion, which was otherwise common. The respect Élisabeth had enjoyed among the public caused concern with Robespierre, who had never wished to have her executed and who “dreaded the effect” of her death.

King Louis XVIII of France and Navarre

Her body was buried in a common grave at the Errancis Cemetery in Paris. At the time of the Restoration, her brother, Louis-Stanislas, Comte de Provence, now King Louis XVIII of France and Navarre, searched for her remains, only to discover that the bodies interred there had decomposed to a state where they could no longer be identified. Élisabeth’s remains, with that of other victims of the guillotine (including Robespierre, also buried at the Errancis Cemetery) were later placed in the Catacombs of Paris. A medallion represents her at the Basilica of Saint Denis.

Beatification

The Cause of Beatification of Élisabeth was introduced in 1924, but has not yet been completed. In 1953, she was declared a Servant of God, and in 2016, her Cause was re-opened.

Assessment

Élisabeth, who had turned thirty a week before her death, was executed essentially because she was a sister of the king; however, the general consensus of the French revolutionaries was that she was a supporter of the ultra-right royalist faction. There is much evidence to suggest that she actively supported the intrigues of her brother, Charles-Philippe Comte d’Artois (future King Charles X) to bring foreign armies into France to crush the Revolution.

In monarchist circles, her exemplary private life elicited much admiration. Élisabeth was much praised for her charitable nature, familial devotion and devout Catholic faith. There can be no question that she saw the Revolution as the incarnation of evil and viewed civil war as the only means to drive it from the land.

Royalist literature represents her as a Catholic martyr, while more liberal historians severely criticise her for extreme conservatism, which seemed excessive even to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Several biographies have been published of her in French, while extensive treatment of her life is given in Antonia Fraser’s biography of Marie-Antoinette and Deborah Cadbury’s investigative biography of Louis XVII.

May 10, 1794: Execution of HRH Madame Élisabeth de Bourbon, Princess of France and Navarre. Part II.

Tags

French Revolution, HRH Madame Élisabeth de Bourbon, King Louis XVI of France, Madame Royale, Marie Antoinette, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, Maximilien de Robespierre, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, Princess of France and Navarre, Women’s March

Élisabeth of France Part II

HRH Madame Élisabeth de Bourbon, Princess of France and Navarre

Madame Élisabeth did not play any royal role prior to the revolution; she viewed the royal court as decadent and a threat to her moral welfare, and acted to distance herself from it, and she attended court only when her presence was absolutely necessary or when she was explicitly asked by the King Louis XVI or Queen Marie-Antoinette.

When Madame Élisabeth left the royal children’s chamber and formed her own household as an adult; as a devout Catholic, she reportedly resolved to protect herself from the potential moral threats from court life by continuing to follow the principles set by her governesses and tutors during her childhood: to devote her days to a schedule of religious devotion, study, riding and walks, and to socialize only with “the ladies who have educated me and who are attached to me […] my good aunts, the Ladies of St. Cyr, the Carmelites of St. Denis.”

Élisabeth and her brother Charles-Philippe, Comte d’Artois, (future King Charles X France and Navarre) were the staunchest conservatives in the royal family. However, unlike her brother, the Comte d’Artois, who, on the order of his brother, King Louis XVI, left France on July 17, 1789, three days after the storming of the Bastille. Élisabeth refused to emigrate when the gravity of the events set in motion by the French Revolution became clear.

Charles-Philippe, Comte d’Artois, (future King Charles X France and Navarre)

On October 5, 1789, Élisabeth saw the Women’s March on Versailles from Montreuil, and immediately returned to the Palace of Versailles. The Women’s March on Versailles, also known as the October March, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. The march began among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of October 5, 1789, were near rioting over the high price and scarcity of bread. Their demonstrations quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries, who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France.

The market women and their various allies grew into a mob of thousands. Encouraged by revolutionary agitators, they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched to the Palace of Versailles. The crowd besieged the palace, and in a dramatic and violent confrontation, they successfully pressed their demands upon King Louis XVI. The next day, the crowd compelled the king, his family, and most of the French Assembly to return with them to Paris.

After the March, Élisabeth advised the king to carry out “a vigorous and speedy repression of the riot” rather than to negotiate, and that the royal family should relocate to some town further from Paris, so as to be free from any influence of factions. Her advice was countered by Necker, and she retired to the queen’s apartments. She was not disturbed when the mob stormed the palace to assassinate the queen, but awoke and called to the king, who was worried about her. When the mob demanded that the king return with them to Paris, and Lafayette advised him to consent, Élisabeth unsuccessfully advised the king differently:

Sire, it is not to Paris you should go. You still have devoted battalions, faithful guards, who will protect your retreat, but I implore you, my brother, do not go to Paris.

Élisabeth accompanied the royal family to Paris, where she chose to live with them in the Tuileries Palace rather than with her aunts mesdames Adélaïde and Victoire, in the château de Bellevue. The day after their arrival, Madame de Tourzel stated that the royal family was woken by large crowds outside, and that every member of the family, “even the Princesses”, was obliged to show themselves to the public wearing the national cockade.

In the Tuileries, Élisabeth was housed in the Pavillon de Flore. Initially on the first floor beside the queen, she swapped with the Princesse de Lamballe to the second floor in the Pavillon de Flore after some fish market women had climbed into her apartment through the windows.

Élisabeth was described as calm in the assembly, where she witnessed, later on in the day, her brother’s dethronement. She followed the family from there to the Feuillants, where she occupied the 4th room with her nephew, Tourzel and Lamballe. During the night, there were reportedly some women outside on the street who cried for the heads of the king, queen and Élisabeth, upon which the king took offence and asked “What have they done to them?” referencing to the threats against his spouse and sister. Élisabeth reportedly spent the night awake in prayer.

Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, Madame Royale, Princess of France and Navarre

After the execution of the former king Louis XVI on January 21, 1793 and the separation of her nephew, the young “Louis XVII”, from the rest of the family on July 3, Élisabeth was left with Marie-Antoinette, and Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, Madame Royale, in their apartment in the Tower.

Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France (December 19, 1778 – October 19, 1851), Madame Royale, was the eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and thus the niece of Madame Élisabeth, and the only one to reach adulthood (her siblings all dying before the age of 11). She was married to Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême (August 6, 1775 – June 3, 1844), who was the eldest son of Charles-Philippe, Comte d’Artois (the future Charles X); thus Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte and Louis-Antoine (theoretically Louis XIX) were also first cousins.

Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême

The former queen Marie-Antoinette was taken to the Conciergerie on August 2, 1793. When her sister-in-law was removed, both Élisabeth and her niece unsuccessfully requested to follow her; initially, however, they kept in contact with Marie Antoinette through the servant Hüe, who was acquainted with Mme Richard in the Conciergerie.

Marie-Antoinette was executed on October 16. Her last letter, written in the early hours of the day of her execution, was addressed to Élisabeth, but never reached her. During the trial against Marie-Antoinette, accusations of molestation of her son were brought against her, accusations which her son seemed to confirm when he was questioned, and which were directed also against Élisabeth, and Marie-Antoinette alluded to them in her letter, in which she asked Élisabeth to forgive her son: “I must speak to you of something very painful to my heart. I know how much this child must have hurt you. Forgive him, my dear sister. Think of his age and of how easy it is to make a child say what one wants and what he does not even understand.”

Élisabeth and Marie-Thérèse were kept in ignorance of Marie-Antoinette’s death. On September 21, they were deprived of their privilege to have servants, which resulted in the removal of Tison and Turgy and thereby also of their ability to communicate with the outside world through secret letters. Élisabeth focused on her niece, comforting her with religious statements of martyrdom, and also unsuccessfully protested against the treatment of her nephew.

Trial

HRH Madame Élisabeth de Bourbon, Princess of France and Navarre

Élisabeth was not regarded as dangerous by Maximilien de Robespierre, (1758-1794) a French lawyer and a lead member of the Constituent Assembly, who stated that the original intention was banishing her from France. In the order of August 1, 1793, which stated for the removal and trial of Marie-Antoinette, it was in fact stated that Élisabeth should not be tried, but exiled: “All the members of the Capet family shall be exiled from the territory of the Republic, with the exception of Louis Capet’s children, and the members of the family who are under the jurisdiction of the Law. Élisabeth Capet cannot be exiled until after the trial of Marie-Antoinette.”

However, there was a different viewpoint. Pierre Gaspard Chaumette (1763-1794)a French politician who served as the President of the Paris Commune and played a leading role in the establishment of the Reign of Terror and called her the “despicable sister of Capet,” desired her execution. Chaumette and his radical positions resulted in his alienation from Maximilien Robespierre, and he was arrested on charges of being a counterrevolutionary and executed.

On May 9, 1794, Élisabeth, referred to only as “sister of Louis Capet”, was transferred to the Conciergerie by a delegation of commissaries acting upon the orders of Fouquier-Tinville. Élisabeth embraced Marie-Therese and assured her that she would return. When Commissary Eudes stated that she would not return, she told Marie-Therese to show courage and trust in God. Two hours later she was brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal in the Conciergerie and subjected to her first interrogation before judge Gabriel Delidge in the presence of Fouquier-Tinville.

She was accused of having participated in the secret councils of Marie-Antoinette; of having entertained correspondence with internal and external enemies, among them her exiled brothers, and conspired with them against the safety and liberty of the French people; of supplying émigrés with funds financing their war against France by selling her diamonds through agents in Holland; of having known and assisted in the king’s Flight to Varennes; of encouraging the resistance of the royal troops during the events of August 10, 1792 to arrange a massacre on the people storming the palace.

The Jury declared Élisabeth and all of her 24 co-accused guilty as charged, after which the Tribunal, “according to the fourth Article of the second part of the Penal Code”, condemned them to death and to be guillotined the following day.

April 19, 1770: By Proxy marriage of Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France and Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria.

Tags

Affair of the Diamond Necklace, Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, Dauphin of France, Dauphine of France, French Revolution, King Louis XV of France, King Louis XVI of France, King of the French, Louise-Auguste, Marie Antoinette, Queen of the French

Marie Antoinette of Austria was born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna of Austria (November 2, 1755 – October 16, 1793) she was the last Queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an Archduchess of Austria and was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungry, Bohemia and Archduchess of Austria and her husband Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor and Duke of Lorraine. Prior to her marriage she was known as Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria.

Maria Antonia was raised together with her sister, Maria Carolina, who was three years older, and with whom she had a lifelong close relationship. Maria Antonia had a difficult but ultimately loving relationship with her mother, who referred to her as “the little Madame Antoine”.

Under the teaching of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Maria Antonia developed into a good musician. She learned to play the harp, the harpsichord and the flute. She sang during the family’s evening gatherings, as she had a beautiful voice. She also excelled at dancing, had “exquisite” poise, and loved dolls.

Despite the private tutoring she received, the results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. At the age of 10 she could not write correctly in German or in any language commonly used at court, such as French or Italian, and conversations with her were stilted.

Following the Seven Years’ War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to end hostilities with her longtime enemy, King Louis XV of France. Their common desire to destroy the ambitions of Prussia and Great Britain and to secure a definitive peace between their respective countries led them to seal their alliance with a marriage. On February 7, 1770, Louis XV formally requested the hand of Maria Antonia for his eldest surviving grandson and heir, Louis-Auguste, duc de Berry and Dauphin of France.

Louis-Auguste de France, (August 23, 1754 – January 21, 1793) who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. One of seven children, he was the second surviving son of Louis, the Dauphin of France, (1729-1765) and the grandson of Louis XV of France (1710-1774) and of his consort, Maria Leszczyńska. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Friedrich-August II, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.

Louis-Auguste was overlooked by his parents who favored his older brother, Louis, duc de Bourgogne, who was regarded as bright and handsome but who died at the age of nine in 1761. Louis-Auguste, a strong and healthy boy but very shy, excelled in his studies and had a strong taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy and became fluent in Italian and English.

He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather and rough play with his younger brothers, Louis-Stanislas, comte de Provence, and Charles-Philippe, comte d’Artois. From an early age, Louis-Auguste was encouraged in another of his interests, locksmithing, which was seen as a useful pursuit for a child.

Maria Antonia formally renounced her rights to Habsburg domains, and on April 19, 1770 she was married by proxy to the Dauphin of France at the Augustinian Church in Vienna, with her brother Archduke Ferdinand standing in for the Dauphin.

On May 14, Maria Antonia at the age of 14 met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. Louis-August’s was aged 16. Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name: Marie Antoinette. A further ceremonial wedding took place on May 16, 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The couple’s longtime failure to consummate the marriage plagued the reputations of both Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette for the next seven years.

The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste was mixed. On the one hand, the Dauphine was beautiful, personable and well-liked by the common people. Her first official appearance in Paris on June 8, 1773 was a resounding success. On the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette, as did others who disliked her for more personal or petty reasons.

After eight years of marriage, Marie Antoinette gave birth to Marie Thérèse, the first of her four children. A growing percentage of the population came to dislike her, with the French libelles accusing her of being profligate, promiscuous, harboring sympathies for France’s perceived enemies—particularly her native Austria—and her children of being illegitimate. The false accusations of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace damaged her reputation further. During the Revolution, she became known as Madame Déficit because the country’s financial crisis was blamed on her lavish spending and her opposition to the social and financial reforms of Turgot and Necker.

On May 10, 1774, her husband ascended the throne as King Louis XVI of France and Navarre and Marie Antoinette assumed the title Queen of France and Navarre, which she held until September 1791, when she became Queen of the French, as the French Revolution proceeded, a title that she held until 21 September 21, 1792 when the monarchy was abolished.

Several events were linked to Marie Antoinette during the Revolution after the government had placed the royal family under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace in October 1789. The June 1791 attempted flight to Varennes and her role in the War of the First Coalition had disastrous effects on French popular opinion.

On August 10, 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the royal family to take refuge at the Assembly, and they were imprisoned in the Temple Prison on 13 August. On September 21, 1792, the monarchy was abolished. Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793. Marie Antoinette’s trial began on October 14, 1793, and two days later she was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason and executed by guillotine on the Place de la Révolution.

Louis Philippe II , Duke d’Orléans (Philippe Égalité). Part II.

Tags

Absolute Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy, French Revolution, Jacobins, King Louis XVI of France, Louis Philippe II of Orleans, Marie Antoinette, Philippe Égalité, Second Estate, Tennis Court Oath, Third Estate

Liberal ideology

Philippe d’Orléans was a member of the Jacobin faction,(Republican and anti-monarchical group) and like most Jacobins during the French Revolution, he strongly adhered to the principles of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and was interested in creating a more moral and democratic form of government in France. As he grew more and more interested in Rousseau’s ideas, he began to promote Enlightenment ideas, such as the separation of church and state and limited monarchy. He also advocated and voted against feudalism and slavery.

Philippe was also a strong admirer of the British constitutional monarchy. He strongly advocated for France’s adoption of a constitutional monarchy rather than the absolute monarchy that was present in France at the time.

Palais-Royal

As the new Duke of Orléans, one of the many estates Philippe inherited from his father was the Palais-Royal, which became known as the Palais-Égalité in 1792, because he opened up its doors to all people of France, regardless of their estate (class).

Leadership in the Estates-General

Philippe d’Orléans was elected to the Estates-General by three districts: by the nobility of Paris, Villers-Cotterêts, and Crépy-en-Valois. As a noble in the Second Estate, he was the head of the liberal minority under the guidance of Adrien Duport. Although he was a member of the Second Estate, he felt a strong connection to the Third Estate, as they comprised the majority of the members in the Estates-General, yet were the most underrepresented. When the Third Estate decided to take the Tennis Court Oath and break away from the Estates-General to form the National Assembly, Philippe was one of the very first to join them and was a very important figure in the unification of the nobility and the Third Estate. In fact, he led his minority group of 47 nobles to secede from their estate and join the National Assembly.

Due to the liberal ideology that separated Philippe d’Orléans from the rest of his royal family, he always felt uncomfortable with his name. He felt that the political connotations associated with his name did not match his democratic and Enlightenment philosophies, thus he requested that the Paris Commune (French Revolution) allow his name to be changed, which was granted. Shortly after the September Massacres in 1792, he changed his surname to Égalité, (“equality” in English). As one of the three words in the motto of the French Revolution (Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité), he felt that this name better represented him as a symbol of the French people and what they were fighting for.

Relationship with King Louis XVI

Although a relative of King Louis XVI, Philippe d’Orléans never maintained a positive relationship with his cousin. Upon inheriting the title of Duke of Orléans, Philippe also became the Premier Prince du Sang – the most important personage of the kingdom after the king’s immediate family. Therefore, he would be next in line to the throne should the main Bourbon line die out. For this reason, many supposed that Philippe’s goal was to take his cousin’s throne.

Philippe and the King’s wife, Marie Antoinette, also detested each other. Marie Antoinette hated him for what she viewed as treachery, hypocrisy and selfishness, and he, in turn, scorned her for her frivolous and spendthrift lifestyle. The King’s reluctance to grant Philippe a position in the army after his loss at the Battle of Ushant is said to be another reason for Philippe’s discontent with the King.

One of the most astounding events occurred when Philippe took a vote in favor of King Louis XVI’s execution. He had agreed among close friends that he would vote against his execution, but surrounded by the Montagnards, a radical faction in the National Convention, he turned on his word, to the surprise of many. A majority (75 votes) was necessary to indict the King, and an overwhelming amount of 394 votes were collected in favor of his death. The King was especially shocked by the news, stating:

“It really pains me to see that Monsieur d’Orléans, my kinsman, voted for my death.”

On April 1, 1793, a decree was voted for within the Convention, including Égalité’s vote, that condemned anyone with “strong presumptions of complicity with the enemies of Liberty.” At the time, Égalité’s son, Louis Philippe, who was a general in the French army, joined General Dumouriez in a plot to visit the Austrians, who were an enemy of France.

Although there was no evidence that convicted Égalité himself of treason, the simple relationship that his son had with Dumouriez, a traitor in the eyes of the Convention, was enough to get him and the members of the Bourbon family still in France arrested on April 7, 1793. He spent several months incarcerated at Fort Saint-Jean in Marseille until he was sent back to Paris. On November 2, 1793, he was imprisoned at the Conciergerie. Tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal on November 6, he was sentenced to death, and guillotined the same day.

March 23, 1732: Birth of Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon of France. Part II.

Tags

French Revolution, King Louis XVI of France, Madame Victoire, Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon of France, Marie Antoinette, Monarchy, Palace of Versailles, Pope Pius VI, Tuileries Palace

Part II.

As mentioned in Part I, at the beginning of his reign, Louis XVI had such immense confidence in his aunt, Madame Adélaïde that he allowed her to take an active role in state affairs. Louis XVI thought she was intelligent enough to make her his political adviser and allowed her to make appointments to the Treasury and to draw on its funds. She was supported by her followers, the duke of Orléans, the duke de Richelieu, the duke d Aigmllon, the Duchess de Noailles and Madame de Marsan; however, her political activity was opposed to such a degree within the court that the king soon saw himself obliged to exclude her from state affairs.

Madame Adélaïde and her sisters did not get along well with Queen Marie-Antoinette. When Marie-Antoinette introduced the new custom of informal evening family suppers, as well as other habits which undermined the formal court etiquette, it resulted in an exodus of the old court nobility in opposition to the queen’s reforms, which gathered in the salon of Madame Adélaïde and her sisters.

They entertained extensively at Bellevue as well as Versailles; their salon was reportedly regularly frequented by minister Maurepas, whom Madame Adélaïde had elevated to power, by Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé and Louis François II, Prince of Conti, both members of the Anti-Austrian party against Queen Marie Antoinette. The Austrian Ambassador Mercy reported that their salon was a center of intrigues against Marie Antoinette, where the Mesdames tolerated poems satirizing the queen. When Marie Antoinette, referring to the rising opposition of the monarchy, remarked to Adelaide of the behavior of the “shocking French people”, Adelaide replied “I think you mean shocked”, insinuating that Marie Antoinette’s behavior was shocking.

Revolution and later life

Madame Adélaïde and her sister, Madame Victoire, were present at Versailles during the Parisian women’s march to Versailles on October 6, 1789, during the early days of the French Revolution. Madame Adélaïde and her sister were also when those gathered in the king’s apartment the night on the attack on Marie Antoinette’s bedroom. They participated in the wagon train leaving the Palace of Versailles for Paris; however, their carriage separated from the rest of the procession on the way before they reached Paris, and they never took up residence at the Tuileries with the rest of the royal family, but preferred to retire to the Château de Bellevue

Madame Adélaïde and Madame Victoire remained in France until February 1791 when Revolutionary laws against the Catholic Church caused them to apply for passports from their nephew the king to travel on pilgrimage to the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome, and Louis XVI signed their passports and notified the Cardinal de Bernis, the French Ambassador to Rome, of their arrival.

They arrived in Rome on April 16, 1791, where Pope Pius VI (1775 – 1799) gave them an official welcome with ringing of bells, and where they stayed for about five years. In Rome, the sisters were given the protection of the Pope and housed in the palace of Cardinal de Bernis. In the Friday receptions of Cardinal de Bernis, Cornelia Knight described them: “Madame Adélaïde still retained traces of that beauty which had distinguished her in her youth, and there was great vivacity in her manner, and in the expression of her countenance. Madame Victoire had also an agreeable face, much good sense, and great sweetness of temper.

Upon the invasion of Italy by Revolutionary France in 1796, Adélaïde and Victoire left Rome for Naples, where Marie Antoinette’s sister, Maria Carolina, was queen, wife of Ferdinand IV-III of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily (later King of the Two-Sicilies). The sisters settled at the Neapolitan royal court in the Palace of Caserta. Queen Maria Carolina found their presence in Naples difficult: “I have the awful torment of harboring the two old Princesses of France with eighty persons in their retinue and every conceivable impertinence… The same ceremonies are observed in the interior of their apartments here as were formerly at Versailles.”

When Naples was invaded by France in 1799, they left in a Russian frigate for Corfu, and finally settled in Trieste, where Victoire died of breast cancer. Adélaïde died one year later. Their bodies were returned to France by Louis XVIII at the time of the Bourbon Restoration in 1815 and buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

January 21, 1793: Execution of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

Tags

Archduchess of Austria, House of Bourbon, House of Capet, King Louis XVI of France, Kingdom of France, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, National Convention, Queen Marie Antoinette

* 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 – January 21, 1793), born Louis-Auguste, was the last king of France and Navarre before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution.

Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. One of seven children, he was the second surviving son of Louis, the Dauphin of France, and the grandson of Louis XV of France and Navarre and of his consort, Maria Leszczyńska. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Prince-Elector Friedrich August II of Saxony, (also King Augustus III of Poland) and Maria Josepha of Austria.

In 1765, at the death of his father, Louis, Dauphin of France son and heir apparent of Louis XV, Louis-Auguste became the new dauphin of France. Upon his grandfather’s death on May 10, 1774, he assumed the title “king of France and Navarre”, which he used until September 4, 1791, when he received the title of “king of the French” until the monarchy was abolished on September 21, 1792.

On May 16, 1770, at the age of fifteen, Louis-Auguste married the fourteen-year-old Habsburg Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (better known by the French form of her name, Marie Antoinette), his second cousin once removed and the youngest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Franz I of Lorraine and his wife, the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were the parents of four live-born children:
* Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (December 19, 1778 – October 19, 1851)
* Louis-Joseph-Xavier-François, the Dauphin (October 22, 1781 – June 4, 1789)
* Louis-Charles, Dauphin after the death of his elder brother, future titular king Louis XVII of France (March 27, 1785 – June 8, 1795)
* Sophie-Hélène-Béatrix, died in infancy (July 9, 1786 – June 9, 1787)

In a context of civil and international war, Louis XVI was suspended and arrested at the time of the Insurrection of 10 August 1792; one month later, the absolute monarchy was abolished; the First French Republic was proclaimed on September 21, 1792. He was tried by the National Convention (self-instituted as a tribunal for the occasion), found guilty of high treason, but before the trial started and Louis mounted his defense to the Convention, he told his lawyers that he knew he would be found guilty and be killed, but to prepare and act as though they could win. He was resigned to and accepted his fate before the verdict was determined, but he was willing to fight to be remembered as a good king for his people.

Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793, as a desacralized French citizen under the name of “Citizen Louis Capet,” in reference to Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty – which the revolutionaries interpreted as Louis’ surname. Louis XVI was the only King of France ever to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Both of his sons died in childhood, before the Bourbon Restoration; his only child to reach adulthood, Marie Therese, was given over to the Austrians in exchange for French prisoners of war, eventually dying childless in 1851.