he lacks the stomach to withstand the courseof action proposed, although the knife and tourniquet and the bowls of leeches, milk, and salt were not for the faint of heart; but when faced with the prospect of infection, or worse, and with the memory of his
grand-père
’s final illness so fresh, Louis refused to jeopardize the Crown.
Monsieur is clever, but malicious, and Louis fully believes that it will be detrimental for France if he should become king. Though my husband is awkward at expressing his affection for me, he did admit that it would break his heart to know that he would have left me alone and bereft if he did not survive the procedure. And what of the Franco-Austrian alliance guaranteed by our marriage? Would you and Joseph and the comte de Mercy truly expect Louis Stanislas Xavier to uphold it?
And so we are back where we started, even though it means the sacrifice of his own pleasure, for Louis will be compelled to have marital relations with me no matter the pain. If only he drank, for a few brandies might not only dull the discomfort but quicken his blood.
Hélas!
That last was a jest, Maman.
Mercy has proposed the construction of a secret internal passage connecting the King’s Bedchamber with my own, which will eliminate the embarrassment he endures every time he visits me, when every guard must know his business. The renovations cannot begin until some time next year, but both the king and I believe that the plan is a sound one.
Your devoted daughter,
Antoinette
• • •
February 17, 1775
My dear daughter,
Imagine my surprise when I unwrapped the miniature you sent me and saw your hair teased eighteen inches off yourforehead and topped with a coronet of feathers—were there ten of them? I tried to count. I thought I had been mistakenly sent a portrait of an actress and not the Queen of France. Take care how you present yourself to the public, for people will comment and the results will not always be complimentary. Mercy tells me that Louis’s aunts view these outré plumes as “ornaments for horses,” and although Mesdames were never in the vanguard of fashion themselves, they do represent the views of those whose opinions it does not become your dignity to mock and whom you can ill afford to alienate.
Mark me, Antoinette, such cavalier behavior will lead to your ruin. I read in newspaper accounts that these coiffures, ornamented with all manner of toys, gimcracks, and gewgaws, such as sailing ships, gardens in bloom, and mechanical figures on springs—some depicting tableaux of adulterous courtships—have reached such towering proportions that you and your fashionable friends cannot even lie down properly, or ride in a carriage without kneeling on its floor. I can only imagine the state of your gowns once you reach your destination. So much beauty and expense worn once, and then fit only for the dustbin.
Rumors of the architectural renovations that are being made to accommodate these foolish “poufs” astonish me. Tell me, is it true that the entrance to the boxes at the Paris opera have been altered to form archways? A young and pretty queen, full of charm, has no need of all this nonsense.
Your doting mother,
Maria Theresa
• • •
February 25, 1775
Ma chère Maman
,
Yes, it is true about the opera boxes, and I’ll allow that the poufs also make it a challenge to get a good night’s sleep; but you are making far too much of things. They are the popular fashion nowadays and how could the Queen of France possibly be expected to eschew them when the most stylish women in the kingdom vie to outdo one another for originality? The creations I wear announce noteworthy events. When I finally persuaded Louis to be vaccinated against the smallpox, the
Pouf de l’Inoculation
that Léonard and Mademoiselle Bertin designed for me became all the rage. Science triumphed over Evil and heralded the age of Reason. You would surely
grand-père
’s final illness so fresh, Louis refused to jeopardize the Crown.
Monsieur is clever, but malicious, and Louis fully believes that it will be detrimental for France if he should become king. Though my husband is awkward at expressing his affection for me, he did admit that it would break his heart to know that he would have left me alone and bereft if he did not survive the procedure. And what of the Franco-Austrian alliance guaranteed by our marriage? Would you and Joseph and the comte de Mercy truly expect Louis Stanislas Xavier to uphold it?
And so we are back where we started, even though it means the sacrifice of his own pleasure, for Louis will be compelled to have marital relations with me no matter the pain. If only he drank, for a few brandies might not only dull the discomfort but quicken his blood.
Hélas!
That last was a jest, Maman.
Mercy has proposed the construction of a secret internal passage connecting the King’s Bedchamber with my own, which will eliminate the embarrassment he endures every time he visits me, when every guard must know his business. The renovations cannot begin until some time next year, but both the king and I believe that the plan is a sound one.
Your devoted daughter,
Antoinette
• • •
February 17, 1775
My dear daughter,
Imagine my surprise when I unwrapped the miniature you sent me and saw your hair teased eighteen inches off yourforehead and topped with a coronet of feathers—were there ten of them? I tried to count. I thought I had been mistakenly sent a portrait of an actress and not the Queen of France. Take care how you present yourself to the public, for people will comment and the results will not always be complimentary. Mercy tells me that Louis’s aunts view these outré plumes as “ornaments for horses,” and although Mesdames were never in the vanguard of fashion themselves, they do represent the views of those whose opinions it does not become your dignity to mock and whom you can ill afford to alienate.
Mark me, Antoinette, such cavalier behavior will lead to your ruin. I read in newspaper accounts that these coiffures, ornamented with all manner of toys, gimcracks, and gewgaws, such as sailing ships, gardens in bloom, and mechanical figures on springs—some depicting tableaux of adulterous courtships—have reached such towering proportions that you and your fashionable friends cannot even lie down properly, or ride in a carriage without kneeling on its floor. I can only imagine the state of your gowns once you reach your destination. So much beauty and expense worn once, and then fit only for the dustbin.
Rumors of the architectural renovations that are being made to accommodate these foolish “poufs” astonish me. Tell me, is it true that the entrance to the boxes at the Paris opera have been altered to form archways? A young and pretty queen, full of charm, has no need of all this nonsense.
Your doting mother,
Maria Theresa
• • •
February 25, 1775
Ma chère Maman
,
Yes, it is true about the opera boxes, and I’ll allow that the poufs also make it a challenge to get a good night’s sleep; but you are making far too much of things. They are the popular fashion nowadays and how could the Queen of France possibly be expected to eschew them when the most stylish women in the kingdom vie to outdo one another for originality? The creations I wear announce noteworthy events. When I finally persuaded Louis to be vaccinated against the smallpox, the
Pouf de l’Inoculation
that Léonard and Mademoiselle Bertin designed for me became all the rage. Science triumphed over Evil and heralded the age of Reason. You would surely
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