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.
