Marie Antoinette's

Upon Louis XV's death, a stunned Marie Antoinette and now Louis XVI stood in their inner apartments of Versailles.  Famously, they asked God to guide them because of the disadvantage of their youth.  Of course, a court does not wait for prayers or thought; there was proper etiquette to be carried out right away.

The Comtesse de Noailles, or as Antoinette referred to, Madame Etiquette, was the first to approach the dismayed couple with instructions on what to do next.  As etiquette demanded, they were to make their way to the Grand Salon.  Once their they had to receive visits from those royal princes who had to pay homage to the new King and Queen.

Naturally, performing such a task was tough at that time.  To those first in line, Marie Antoinette was introduced as the new Queen of France leaning weakly upon her husband with a handkerchief constantly up to her eyes and nose. 

That evening the court left for Choisy, and a carriage was called for the new King, his Queen, his siblings and his sister in law, the comtesse d'Artois.  No one was older than twenty in that carriage. Naturally, though grieving, and full of anticipation of what might happen next, the party all succumbed to laughter after the comtesse d'Artois mispronounced a word, striking a funny bone in everyone. 

Connections paved the way for the baby girl born Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé. Her father was the first valet de chambre of Louis XV, Bontems. He had connections with a well known court banker Samuel Bernard, making life, shall we say, easier? It is good to be connected with bankers because then, when your important friends need favors, you are there to help! Another famous person of the circle was the banker Nicolas Beaujon, who married Bontems sister. So when Bontems first daughter was born, Charlotte was loved by all, and all were quite wealthy. Her uncle, Banker Beaujon, gave her a very large dowry, and for his generosity she can thank him for her exciting future adventures.

First of all, with such a large dowry she was able to marry well. When she was 16 became the Comtesse de la Châtre, she married Claude Louis, the Comte de la Châtre. Her title was exquisite. The comte was 35 years old at the time and worked for the Comte de Provence. A true blue noble, he came from old-money and as the revolution stirred, he sided with the conservative old nobility, which was fine....

....but, his young and lively wife did not share the same opinions. Had Charlotte better morals, then perhaps she would have stood by the old comte but no! The vivacious girl found herself fully infatuated with the Marquis de Jaucourt (right). They became lovers and she was very much influenced by him and his famous circle. Through him she hung out with the likes of Mme de Staël and Talleyrand. As you can imagine she formed opinions, and desired reform and hoped a revolution would bring needed change.

Charlotte had her new friends over quite often to discuss politics and they would meet in her private sitting room just outside her bedroom. Scandalous! She would also go out with her girl friends and in a Duchess of Devonshire manner, "exhibited her civic spirit." She made, "spectacles of herself," as she shared her support for reform.

Her husband ended up fleeing to England, and when the revolution started spinning Charlotte took her son and left for England too. She ended up divorcing the Comte and married the Marquis de Jaucourt. Morals were never an issue for her!

Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy was the daughter of the King of Sardinia, she was born February 9, 1753. At 18, May 14, 1771 she married the Comte de Provence, Louis XVI's younger brother. The wedding was held at Versailles and was a spectacular production, an expensive affair. Although Marie Antoinette and Louis were already married, as Dauphin and Dauhpine, they had no children so the Comte de Provence was considered the heir to the throne.

Together the couple were quite catty, and the Comtesse de Provence was known to share stories of the Dauphine's life within the apartments of her husbands aunts. Her stories were often exaggerated, yet taken for solid fact. And why not! She found it a good way to occupy time. Needless to say she did not care for Marie Antoinette at all.

"If I am not to be a queen, I am of the stuff of which queens are made."

And she did not try very hard to conceal her dislike of the Dauphine. She was in fact, warm to Madame Du Barry, and would greet her with, "distinguished honours."
So what was this princess of Savoy, Lady-of-the-throne-to-be really like???

Well if she was made of the stuff queens are, she would have failed in the 'heir producing' department. Her two pregnancies at 21 and 28 resulted in miscarriages. She was also not known for her beauty. In fact, Madame du Barry, whom she acted with high respect towards had said the comtesse was "ugly and she smelled."

Okay... so was Madame du Barry just being her usual un-classy self ? Being blunt and inappropriate in such observations? Well the observations were made by others at court, that apparently the comtesse was not quite up to par in her bathing habits. Marie Antoinette was quite opposite, raised to be very mindful of her cleanliness and toilette. Two years into her marriage to the comte the problem was so pronounced that she received a letter from her father (very Maria-Theresa-esque!) that instructed her to "pay more attention to her toilette." So she didn't like to bathe, even if it was an exotic bath of peacock milk (now what is so bad about that???)! She also, did not care to wear perfumes (was there ever a chance of her and Marie really becoming friends...?!)

I am not clear on the plucking of eyebrows practice in the 18th century but The Vigee Gallery site mentions that she did not participate in that practice either. Needless to say the comte stopped attending her bed after a while, and rumors of her being a lesbian were whispered.

She was able to escape with her husband during the revolution, to Great Britain. She lived there until 1810 when she died of hydropsy, never living to see her husband become Louis XVIII. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, and later moved by Louis to Cagliari Cathedral.