At the end of April 1774, King Louis XV of France began to suffer from bouts of fever. He had been warned by his doctors “not to make love quite so often.” His beloved mistress, Madame du Barry, tried to comfort him. The Duke of Croÿ wrote, “For eight days, the King often looked and [read more]
Read part two here. On 2 August 1793, Marie Antoinette was removed from the Temple to the horror of Élisabeth and Marie Thérèse. They cried themselves to sleep for weeks. They were searched almost every day but were left alone otherwise. Marie Antoinette wrote a last letter to Élisabeth before her execution, but the letter [read more]
Read part one here. Élisabeth joined her brother and his family in the Tuileries, where some semblance of social life was kept up. She and Marie Antoinette supervised the education of the Dauphin, Louis Charles, and Madame Royale, Marie Thérèse. In June 1791, she accompanied her brother and his family on their unsuccessful escape attempt, [read more]
Élisabeth was born on 3 May 1764 as the daughter of Louis, Dauphin of France and Maria Josepha of Saxony in the Palace of Versailles. She was baptised the same day in the palace chapel by the Archbishop of Rheims in the presence of the King and the rest of the royal family. She was [read more]
On 17 April 1770, Marie Antoinette swore on a bible to renounce her rights to the Austrian hereditary lands through her mother and to Lorraine through her father. This was done to ensure that no claims were made through the female line should the male line fail. That evening, her brother Joseph II, Holy Roman [read more]
The marriage of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI famously remained unconsummated for seven years. The traditional bedding ceremony had taken place following the wedding. The nuptial bed was blessed by the Archbishop of Rheims as King Louis XV handed his grandson his nightgown. Marie Antoinette received hers from the Duchess of Chartres. Both now [read more]
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