Episode 3- Marie Antoinette Part Deux.
The marriage bed to a necklace that brought down a queen
When we left off in last week's podcast episode, part une of Marie Antoinette she had just married Louis XVI and became the Dauphine of France. Just 14 years old, embarking on a life and the future queen of France with a tragic end we know so well.
On the night of May 16, following a long day of ceremony and parties the young couple took to their bed. The bed was blessed by the Archbishop while members of the court watched, closing the curtain the two were left somewhat alone. However, nothing would happen, nothing would happen for seven years.
The issues in the bedroom was the talk of France and even past its borders. How can the now king rule from the throne if he couldn’t even give the country an heir. Marie Antoinette’s mother was also quite concerned and let her know what her important role was. During this time to avoid the constant rejection of her husband she turned to friends, parties, all night gambling. The rumors began to turn to her and how she spent her time.
Finally after seven long years the marriage was consummated and the next year their first child was born. Marie-Therese Charlotte, born in 1851. Not the male heir apparent, but a beautiful baby girl. Spending the days with her mother at the Petit Trianon and the Hamlet, living a quiet life away from the watchful eyes.
Three more children would bless the couple, Louis Joseph in 1781, the Dauphin who would die before he turned 8, Louis Charles born in 1785, a life that would have a tragic end and Marie Sophie in 1786 that would die in 1787.
The talk of the spending of the court while the coffers were empty was picking up momentum in France. Marie Antoinette’s shopping for dresses, shoes and jewelry didn’t play out well when people were starving. She became the perfect unknowing victim of a plot that would be her downfall.
Jeanne de la Motte would use this to her advantage. In 1772 King Louis XV wanted to have a necklace made for his mistress Madame du Barry and asked jewelers Boehmer & Bassange to create a lavish gift. Taking years to gather the more than 600 diamonds needed, Louis XV would die before it was finished. Left with a very expensive necklace on their hands without being paid they reached out to Louis XVI thinking he would want to buy it for his queen. With a very high price tag, the queen refused telling her husband “we have more need of 24 ships”. However, it could also be that she never liked Du Barry and didn’t want to have anything intended for her.
Jeanne de la Motte was a young woman who was the illegitimate descendant of Henri II. Her father had lost his money and she wanted to take back what she thought they deserved. Mistress of the Cardinal Rohan (remember him from Part One), who had a falling out with the Queen and her mother was desperate to get back into her good graces. Jeanne told him she was friends with the Queen and that if he wrote her a letter she would get it to her. Jeanne had another agenda. She answered the letters herself, posing as the Queen and when he begged to have a private meeting with the Queen she hired a prostitute at the Palais Royal to impersonate the Queen and met him in the Grove of Venus at Versailles.
Once word had spread throughout Paris, the jewelers reached out to Jeanne in hopes to appeal to Marie Antoinette and to buy the necklace. Jeanne told Rohan that the Queen wanted the necklace but needed someone to get it for her. Jeanne forged a letter and a purchase order for the necklace and he took it to Boehmer. Handing over the necklace to Rohan, he then took it to meet Jeanne and what he thought was one of the Queen’s valets. It was Jeanne’s husband who promptly took the necklace, broke it apart and sent the jewels around Europe to be sold.
Months went by and when Boehmer still hadn’t been paid he went to the court with the order signed by the Queen. She had never seen it before. Rohan was arrested in the Hall of Mirrors, would go on trial and be found innocent. Jeanne de la Motte would also be arrested, sentenced to prison but would break out one day dressed as a boy and flee to London.
For the Queen who was innocent in the plot, it was too late. It only fed into the rumors of her excess. People even thought she orchestrated the entire thing to get back at Rohan. The Affair of the Diamond Necklace led to her final fall that was to come in just a few years.
Today that necklace would be worth over $15 million dollars and held 2800 carats and 685 diamonds. When I saw a replica at the exhibit at the Conciergerie I gasped, but then again I love an over the statement piece.
Be sure to listen to the episode for even more
Coming up next Monday, Part Troi, Marie Antoinette. The Final Years
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