The Queen`s Confession

by Виктория Холт

  There was no other thing to do, he says, but let them have it at this or its present price. The bargain is made now but precautions should be made to prevent their believing they can make laws. Give me your advice on this Turgot returned at once to Versailles.

  “Our consciences are clear,” he told the King; ‘but the current price of bread must be restored or there will be disaster. ” In spite of Turgot’s precautions there were riots in Paris;

  the Chief of Police Lenoir was dilatory; it may have been that’ he did not wish to show himself against the rioters.

  This was all very alarming—Lenoir refusing to do his duty, and more bread being found which had been turned mouldy by a special process.

  Turgot acted promptly and dismissed Lenoir, replacing him by a man named Albert who was a supporter of his and immediately went into action. Arrests were made and order was restored; the entire Parlement was summoned to Versailles, where the King received them.

  “I must stop this dangerous brigandage,” he said.

  “It could quickly become rebellion. I am determined that neither my good town of Paris nor my kingdom shall suffer. I rely on your fidelity and submission when I am determined to take measures which ensure that during my reign I shall not have to take them again.”

  He was determined, as he had told me, before receiving the Parlement, that order should be brought back to his kingdom, and that the real culprits of this rising should be discovered and dealt with.

  But the riots in Paris continued; and once again those who were arrested proved to be not poor people in need of bread but men and women with money in their pockets.

  Louis was very distressed.

  “This is a plot,” he told me, a plot against us. That is what disturbs me so. “

  “But you are behaving like a true King, Louis. I have heard it said again and again. They tell me that the manner in which you spoke to the Parlement has won everyone’s admiration.”

  “I always find it easier to talk to fifty men than to one,” he said with his shy smile.

  I cried: “You will discover who made this plot, and then all will be well. I think the French are happy to understand that they have a strong King whom they can trust.”

  He was delighted and murmured: “You jump to conclusions. It is not all over yet.”

  Nor was it. As he and I passed out of his room we saw a nonce pinned on the door. I read it and gasped. It said:

  “If the price of bread does not go down and the Ministry is not changed, we will set fire to the four corners of the Chateau of Versailles.”

  I stared at it in horror. I looked at my husband, who had turned pale.

  “Louis,” I whispered, it is as though they hate us. “

  It is not the people! ” he cried.

  “I will not believe it is the people !’ But he was shaken. And so was I. It was like a cold wind blowing through the palace.

  Albert reported that he had made many arrests. A wig maker and a gauze-maker had been caught stealing and it was decided to make an example of them. They were hanged on two gallows eighteen feet high so that they could be an example to the rioters.

  Louis was distressed.

  “I wish they could find the ringleaders,” he said again and again. I do not wish the people who have only been led away to be punished. ” If he could he would have pardoned those two men, but Turgot insisted that there must be an example, and certainly the hanging of these two men sobered the people. The rioting died down; the insurrection ” La Guerre des Farines’ was over.

  It was clear that some organisation, some secret band of men, was using the grain shortage to build a revolution. Fortunately the resolution of the King and the prompt action of Turgot, the replacement of Lenoir by Albert and the solidarity of the Parlement, had avoided that.

  Everyone was speculating as to who could have been behind it. Some said it was the Prince de Conti, whom Max had so offended when he had visited us. It was whispered that he hated me and my family so much that he wished to bring down the Monarchy.

  It seemed ridiculous, but it was true that the riots had started in Pontoise, and he had a house there.

  There were all sorts of whispers; I listened for a while. I even heard that Conti was a member of a secret organisation suspected of all kinds of subversive activities.

  We ought to have been thankful for a grim warning; we should not have rested until we found out the truth of these rumours. Surely it could not have been difficult had we really tried.

  But we were all too thankful that the guerre des farines was over, to wish to resurrect causes. We wanted to forget it.

  Coronation

  It is very surprising and so comforting to be so well received after the revolt and in spite of the price of bread, which is still dear.

  But it is characteristic of the French to be carried away by evil suggestions and then return immediately to good sense. When we hear the people’s acclamations and see these proofs of their affection, we are all the more committed to work for their good.

  MARIE ANTOINETTE TO MARIA THERESA

  I am sorry that you could not share the satisfaction I have felt here.

  It is my duty to work for a people who give me so much happiness. I shall give myself up to this absolutely.

  LOUIS XVI TO MAUREPAS

  A month had elapsed since the last of the bread riots and everyone was talking about the coronation. Coronations were rare events with such long-lived Kings as Louis XIV and Louis XV, both of whom had reigned for so many years. Louis XVI was dreading it, of course, for it was the sort of occasion he preferred to avoid. He would be extremely clumsy at the most significant moments; and he hated dressing up.

  Moreover the ceremony would be archaic, the same that had been carried out since the earliest days of the French monarchy. Louis would have given a great deal to escape it.

  Mercy and my mother were hoping that I would be crowned too, and to tell the truth I did not share my husband’s horror of the ceremony. I should have been in my element, a glittering figure, receiving the homage of my subjects, and was secretly disappointed when it was decided that there was to be no coronation for me.

  “It would mean even more expense,” said Louis, ‘at a time when there is urgent need for economy everywhere. There will be Clothilde’s wedding and the lying-in of Artois’s wife . “

  He looked sheepish; the delicate subject was being raised again. I felt unhappy too. Artois was the first of the brothers to be a father.

  How I envied my sister-in-law ! I had thrown myself wildly into making changes at Le Trianon, hoping to forget my envy. Lucky, lucky woman!

  What did it matter if she were small and ugly and squinted and had a long thin nose? She was to be a mother!

  “So,” said Louis, ‘you will not be crowned with me. I know you do not wish it. And how I wish that I could avoid the fuss. “

  But it was decided that there must be a coronation, so on the 5th of June I with my brothers-and sisters-in-law left Rheims. It was midnight when we saw the city in moonlight. The people leaned out of their windows—those who were not lining the streets—and they cheered us wildly; they were almost as enthusiastic as the people of Paris had been when I had first officially entered their city.

  As we had arrived the day before the King, I was thrilled to see his entry. His carriage was eighteen feet high and we saw him receive the keys of the city from the Due de Bourbon, who was the Governor of Champagne.

  Long before the King was due to arrive at the Cathedral I had taken my place in a gallery near the high altar so that I could have a good view of the proceedings, and never before in my life had I been so moved.

  I knew that at seven o’clock the quaint ceremony of bringing the King had begun and that the Bishops of Beauvais and Laon had headed the procession which had arrived at his apartments. The Grand Chorister then knocked on the door and was asked by the Grand Chamberlain: “What is your wish?”

  “We wish the King,” was the answe
r.

  The King sleeps. “

  This little exchange was repeated twice and then the Bishop said: “We ask for Louis XVI, whom God has given us to be King.”

  Then the door of the apartment would be opened and Louis would be seen lying on the state bed in all his gorgeous coronation robes.

  Then after the blessing and sprinkling of holy water the journey to the Cathedral would begin.

  I shall never forget seeing my husband as he came to the high altar.

  He was in gold and crimson, his mantle was of silver cloth and his velvet cap decorated with diamonds and plumes. There were times when he, being so deeply conscious of his state, was indeed a King, dedicated, noble. I had glimpsed this during the guerre des farines when he had faced a murderous mob without fear. He might be shy of great gatherings, awkward in company, embarrassed by our situation in the bedchamber, but he was a brave man.

  I watched the sprinkling from la sainte ampoule which had been handed down from the days of Clovis, the first King of the Pranks; and after that there followed the coronation oath. The sword was presented to the King and he knelt at the altar. Then he was prepared for the anointing and afterwards dressed in his robes of purple velvet decorated with fleurs-delis He sat on his throne while the crown of Charlemagne was placed on his head. I had never before seen such splendour. I kept thinking that that crown had been worn by all the Kings of France, and I thought of my grandfather who had been very young when it had been placed on his head young and so handsome, far more so than this present Louis; and I remembered him as I had last seen him, lying on his death-bed . his lips cracked, his eyes wild, and the horrible smell of death in the apartment

  Louis glanced up at me. For several seconds he kept his eyes on my face as though he had forgotten the solemn ceremony, everything but ourselves; and I felt that too. It was a wonderful moment. A turning point in our lives, I thought afterwards. We were together as one person. And although I felt no great and surging passion for my husband, I knew that I loved him and that he loved me. It was a quiet devotion, a bond that was none the less strong because it was passionless.

  I realised suddenly that the tears were running down my cheeks.

  The doors were flung open and people surged into the Cathedral. I could smell the incense; I heard the exclamation as birds were let loose as a symbol of peace. The guns began their salute and the sounds of trumpets and drums mingled.

  I joined the royal procession from the Cathedral; and as we came out the shouts of “Vive Ie Roi’ filled the air. I wrote to my mother:

  “The coronation was a great success in all ways. Everyone was delighted with the King and he with them…. I could not keep my tears from flowing…. It is very surprising and so comforting to be so well received after the revolt and in spite of the price of bread, which is still dear. But it is characteristic of the French to be carried away by evil suggestions and then return immediately to good sense. When we hear the people’s acclamations and see these proofs of their affection, we are all the more committed to work for their good.”

  My husband came to me while I was writing this and I showed it to him.

  He still seemed a little shy in my presence and we were both deeply conscious of that scene in the Cathedral.

  “It was a wonderful experience,” he said.

  “I felt as though God had spoken to me.” I nodded.

  “I have written to Maurepas and this is what I have said.” I read the letter, which had the same theme as mine.

  “I am sorry that you could not share the satisfaction I have felt here. It is my duty to work for a people who give me so much happiness. I shall give myself up to this absolutely.

  “we think alike,” I said.

  He took my hands and kissed them; then he said: “It was a splendid occasion, was it not? A deeply moving occasion. Yet nothing touched me so much as when I looked up at the gallery and saw your tears.”

  I threw myself into his arms. “Oh Louis … Louis … I have never felt so moved.”

  At Rheims Louis performed the ritual of touching for the King’s Evil—another of those old customs which dated back to Clovis. Victims of scrofula from all over France had come to Rheims for this ceremony; and two thousand four hundred sufferers lined the avenue kneeling while Louis passed along. It was a horrible sight, so many people so far gone in this terrible disease; the weather was warm and the stench revolting. Yet Louis did not flinch. His eyes shining with purpose, his bearing kingly as it could be at times like this, he touched each one—from forehead to chin and then on either cheek, while he said:

  “May God heal you; the King touches you. “

  Two thousand four hundred times he said those words and as though he meant them; no King of France ever performed this sacred duty with more sincerity, and those poor sick people looked up at him with something like adoration.

  I was proud—not only to be Queen of France, but to be the wife of such a man.

  He gave no sign of weariness when the long duty was over, and Provence and Artois played their part—which was to bring first the vinegar which was to disinfect his hands and then the orange flower water with which to wash them.

  When I was alone with him I told him he was magnificent and he was very contented.

  We would work together, he implied; and I wondered whether had I asked him at this stage to give Monsieur de Choiseui a place in his government he would have agreed. I believe he would, for he could have denied me nothing. But Monsieur de Choiseui was of the past; besides, my mother did not wish him to be restored.

  I wanted only one thing of Louis: children. The only thing he could not give me—but I know he longed for them as much as I did.

  Extravagances

  On the most unhappy point which troubles my dear mother, I am most unhappy to be unable to tell her anything new. This is certainly no fault of mine. I can only rely on patience and sweetness.

  MARIE ANTOINETTE TO MARIA THERESA

  Here we have a spate of lampoons. No one at Court is spared, including myself. They have been generous in my case. They give me many illicit lovers, both male and female.

  MARIE ANTOINETTE TO MARIA THERESA

  I hear that you have bought bracelets which have cost two hundred and fifty thousand livres, with the result that you have thrown your finances into disorder. I know how extravagant you can be, and I cannot keep quiet about this matter, because I love you too well to flatter you.

  MARIA THERESA TO MARIE ANTOINETTE

  She called him [Jacques Armand] my child, and lavished tender est caresses upon him, still maintaining a deep silence respecting the affliction which constantly occupied her heart.

  MEMOIRS OF MADAME CAMPAN

  My longing for children was growing more and more intense. I had increased my little family of dogs, but although I loved them dearly they could not compensate me for my overwhelming desire to be a mother.

  When my sister-in-law gave birth to a son I longed to be in her place.

  When she called out in agony I wished that agony were mine. She lay exhausted yet somehow exalted-quite unlike the unattractive little creature I had known before this. The miracle had happened to her. She was a mother.

  I heard her voice raised half hopefully half fearfully; and I could imagine her feelings when she received the answer.

  “A little Prince, Madame …” —the words every Princess and Queen must wish to hear.

  She answered: “My God! How happy I am! And how well I understood ! The child was well and healthy; the sound of his crying filled the apartment; it seemed the most magical sound in the world.

  We left the apartment, I with my attendants, the chief of whom was the Princesse de Lamballe, my dear friend whom I had set up in place of Madame de Noailles. I grew fonder and fonder of my dear Lamballe every day and I did not know what I would do without her. I had now secured the services of Jeanne Louise Henriette Genet, the little lectrice

  She was now Madame Campan, having married Monsieur Camp
an’s son. She was devoted and good and I did not know what I would do without her either, but of course she was not of the same rank as the Princesse, and had her re1e as one of my trusted attendants rather than a close friend who could accompany me to fetes and balls.

  As we came out of the lying-in chamber and through the chateau we were met by a crowd of women from the Halles of Paris. It was the custom of the public to be present at the time of royal births, although it was only the Queen who must give birth publicly; at the births of lesser members of the royal family only the family need be present. But the fact that a royal child was being born was the nation’s concern, and although the people were not allowed to enter the Comtesse’s bedchamber they were in the chateau.

  Thus as I walked through to my apartments, the Princesse de Lamballe beside me and Madame Campan a few paces behind, I found that the women from Les Halles were all about me. They looked at me with that frank curiosity to which I had grown accustomed. I tried hard not to wrinkle

  my nose against the smell of fish—for these were the pois sardes, who above all the Paris traders were noted for their frankness of expression as they crowded about me, touching my clothes, my hands.

  My hands fascinated them particularly: my fingers were so long and slender, the skin so soft and white, and of course they were aglitter with my beloved diamonds.

  One woman thrust her face close to mine and, jerking her head towards the lying-in chamber, said: “You ought to be in there, Madame. You ought to be breeding heirs for France, not fondling your lady friends.”

  I saw the Princesse flinch; and I believe my colour heightened a little, but I merely held my head high and tried to walk through the crowd.

  “You should sleep with the King instead of dancing through the night and early morning.”