Marie Antoinette's

April 27, 1774 Louis XV woke up and just didn't feel right. He shook it off and rolled out of bed, there were plans to hunt that day, as usual, and he was not going to miss that! He had felt feverish in the morning, but well enough to go out, but by the end of the hunt he was so sick that his doctors sent him back to Versailles!

His fever had worsened by the time he returned home, and he was sent straight to bed to rest while doctors planned their next move. Unsurprisingly they chose to bleed him, and they bled him a lot! This was the King after all, and such a quick illness needed a quick fix. 

After a stressful day, the loss of blood did not do the king any favors and his fever did not reduce for 2 days! On the 29th things took a turn for the worse.

Louis broke out into a rash and someone suggested smallpox. This however, could not be the answer because Louis had caught the pox when he was younger, therefore he had been immune to the disease his entire life.  He had always lived in comfort due to this fact, and had never considered the disease a threat. He refused this answer on that condition. But no matter what, he did have the pox and the doctors knew it.  His pox was so bad that the, "pustules overlap and form a single scab." *shudder*  After asking for a mirror he finally admitted that it was indeed smallpox, and added that no one his age would survive it.

All the while Madame du Barry was nursing him, but after this revelation Louis had her leave. His body continued to decline, and was said to have turned almost black over the skin, and gave a sickening smell. The King, although older in age, was active and strong. As a result of his previous health he lived through 11 days of the disease. This was when rumors of his recovery began, he made it through the worse and had beaten it! What the people spreading the rumors did not know was that although alive, he had not been conscious for a few days.

On May 10th he died, his body had been consumed for days by the disease. The rot that had already begun to occur was so bad that, "one of the workmen who placed [his body] in their lead coffin is said to have died from uncontrollable vomiting." Whether or not that is true it is a grim reminder of the severity of which this disease had affected that once strong bodied King.

Let's face it, Louis XV had a thing for his women, and his leisure time. Infamous parties, suppers, were held after a hunt, and for years these gatherings were a little hush hush. They were known of, but the guest weren't advertising their invitations.

Who hosted these gatherings? For a long time Madame du Barry was the acting hostess, and she was needless to say good at it in her own way. She brought to the table a different style than what was typical of court life. Her suppers were casual in manner, relaxed, and sexy. The atmosphere matched that of a "gambling saloon and the entertainments" were of the same sort.

Eventually these parties became the thing to do, and those who made it on the guest list were now walking around fanning themselves with their invitations- completely flaunting them rather than keeping it quiet. The suppers were private parties, about 20 guests would gather for them. One observer of a supper saw both men and women seated around a large round table in promiscuous positions.... take what you will from that! Madame du Barry sat at the kings arm picking food off his plate, flirting with him and whispering to him. This is a good representation of how our observer may have viewed it.

In any case, young Louis (the dauphin) was not typically on the guest list. He was way too innocent, and always under the watch of his tutor. Eventually, (it had to happen at some point!) with the encouragement of the Duc de St Mégrin, Louis attended his 'first' supper party!

Undoubtedly it was almost an initiation for the young dauphin, and his aunts, whom he was very close to, were not happy about it. They got to work on him right away, with stories of du Barry and her past. They painted a negative image of her and it really made a lasting impression on Louis. With complete trust in them he formed his permanent opinion on the favourite, which would never change much.

The Comte Mercy wrote of Louis "This enlightenment produced so strong an impression on the Dauphin that he has since evinced a marked aversion for Madame du Barry it is certain that she will never rehabilitate herself in the eyes of the young prince."

Before she was swiped up by Louis XV, Jeanne Du Barry had several jobs and worked for her money. One of her jobs was the femme de chambre to the widow La Garde. Madame La Garde was married to a farmer who had recently passed. She had two sons and a modest home located just outside of Paris.

Both the sons ended up falling in love with the beautiful young Jeanne when she moved into the house. She was a temptress and trotted around knowing just what she was doing. The brothers fought tirelessly and violently over her, think "Boyfights". Finally the poor widow, already heart broken over the loss of her husband, had to force Jeanne to leave her house, in the hope that peace would be restored once again in her life.

True the widow La Garde had two sons. But at the time of Jeanne's employment with her they were both older and married. They had respectable public jobs and lived on their own estates. So in fact, the story of the love triangle woven by the temptress little Jeanne is fabricated! Isn't Scandal fun!?

"She is tall, well made, ravishingly fair, with an open forehead, fine eyes, pretty lashes, an oval face with little moles upon her cheeks, which only serve to enhance her beauty, an aquiline nose, laughing mouth, clear skin, and a bosom which most would be wise to shun comparison."