Marie Antoinette's Confidante: The Rise and Fall of the Princesse de Lamballe

Cast of Characters

Artois, comte d’ – youngest brother to Louis XVI who later became Charles X.

Barry, Jean-Baptiste, du – procurer of women and man who helped madame du Barry become Louis XV’s mistress.

Barry, madame du – enemy to Marie Antoinette and chief mistress to Louis XV who originally worked as prostitute for Jean-Baptiste du Barry.

Bertin, (Rose) Marie-Jeanne – Marie Antoinette’s dressmaker and stylist.

Böhmer and Bassange – jewellers of the diamond necklace.

Calonne, Charles Alexandre de – French statesman appointed finance minister under Louis XVI.

Campan, madame de – First Lady of the Bedchamber.

Cardinal de Rohan – France’s Cardinal, who was the comtesse de la Motte’s lover and involved in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.

Chartres, duc de – Born Louis Philippe Joseph II, later duc d’Orléans and Philippe Égalité. He was also brother-in-law to the princesse de Lamballe and husband to Louise Marie Adélaïde.

Chartres, duchesse de – Born Louise Marie Adélaïde, she was the daughter of the duc de Penthièvre, married the duc de Chartres, and later became the duchesse d’Orléans.

Chassaigne, mademoiselle de la – lover to the prince de Lamballe.

Choiseul, duc de – foreign minister to Louis XV and supporter of Marie Antoinette who aided the royal family in their flight.

Deslon, Dr. Charles – celebrated doctor who visited Paris and was a disciple of Franz Anton Mesmer.

Élisabeth, madame – sister to Louis XVI and sister-in-law to Marie Antoinette.

Eugenio – brother to the princesse de Lamballe. He married a woman beneath his status and created a stir.

Fersen, Count Hans Axel von – friend and lover to Marie Antoinette, as well as one of the major players in the royal family’s flight from France.

Francis I – Holy Roman Emperor and Marie Antoinette’s father.

Francis II – Holy Roman Emperor, nephew to Marie Antoinette, and son of Leopold II.

Genlis, madame de – lover to the duc de Chartres and tutor and governess to the duc and duchesse de Chartres’s children.

Gustav III – Swiss King who aided the royal family in their flight from France.

Joseph II – Holy Roman Emperor and brother to Marie Antoinette.

Lafayette – head of the National Guard.

Lâge, madame de – lady-in waiting to the princesse de Lamballe and a favourite of hers.

Lamballe, princesse de – wife to the prince de Lamballe, daughter-in-law to the duc de Penthièvre, and sister-in-law to the duc and duchesse de Chartres.

Lauzan, duc de – later known as the duc de Biron, he was a frequent visitor to Le Petit Trianon. He lived a life of excess, made a pass at the Queen and was mightily rebuffed by her.

Leopold II – Holy Roman Emperor and brother to Marie Antoinette.

Louis Joseph Xavier François – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette’s son.

Louis Philippe I – son to the duc de Chartres.

Louis XV – grandfather to Louis XVI and King of France from 1715 until his death in 1774.

Louis XVI – King of France from 1774 to 1792 and husband to Marie Antoinette.

Louis XVII – Son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette who was known primarily during his life as the duc de Normandy.

Marie Antoinette – French queen and wife of Louis XVI.

Maria Theresa – Marie Antoinette’s mother and Empress.

Marie Thérèse of France – daughter to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette who was known as Madame Royale.

Mercy-Argenteau – Austrian diplomat who minutely reported on Marie Antoinette to her mother, Maria Theresa.

Mesdames – Louis XV’s daughters — Adélaïde, Victoire, Sophie, and Louise — who were also aunts to Louis XVI.

Mirabeau, comte de – successful orator, favoured a constitutional monarchy, and urged Louis XVI to flee.

Motte, comte de la – husband to the comtesse de la Motte and the person who separated and sold the diamonds in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.

Motte, comtesse de la – ringleader of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.

Noailles, comtesse de – lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette and nicknamed Madame Etiquette by Marie Antoinette.

Oliva, mademoiselle d’ – pretended to be the Queen in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.

Penthièvre, duc de – Born Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, he was father to the prince de Lamballe and Louise Marie Adélaïde, as well as fatherin-law to the princesse de Lamballe and the duc de Chartres.

Polignac, madame de – Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron was a favourite of Marie Antoinette and had a contentious relationship with the princesse de Lamballe.

Provence, comte de – brother to Louis XVI who later became Louis XVIII.

Tourzel, madame de – governess to the royal children who also assisted in the royal family’s flight.

Vermond, Abbé de – Marie Antoinette’s tutor.

Villette, Rétaux de – lover to the comtesse de la Motte and forger in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace.

A Note on Titles and Currency

This is a book written in English for twenty-first century readers about events that occurred in eighteenth-century France. At times it may be difficult to make connections in a meaningful way and understand them in today’s context. So, to help you better understand the information in this book, I have provided information to clarify French titles and currency conversions.

I have used the French spelling when giving the full titles of my characters, such as the princesse de Lamballe, the duc de Penthièvre etc. At all other times, English spellings are used for convenience. French titles and their English equivalent and ranks are listed below.

To help clarify the monetary values referred to in portions of this book, it is important to note that livres were the French currency until 1794. Additionally, livre was the name used for both the coins and the units of account. According to Wikipedia, Louis XV’s minister established a monetary system in 1726 where ‘eight ounces (a mark) of gold was worth 740 livres, 9 sols; 8 ounces of silver was worth 51 livres, 2 sols, 3 deniers.’

Dr. Robert A. Selig provided information about various eighteenth century currencies — Holy Roman Empire, Spanish, French, English, Portguese, and those used in America — in an article titled ‘Conversions between Eighteenth Century Currencies.’ You can download the .pdf file at http://www.w3r-us.org/history/library/seligreptde6.pdf. The following chart is his explanation of eighteenth-century French currency.

18th Century French Currency

1 Franc = 1 livre, an administrative unit only.

A 1 livre coin was only minted briefly by the East India Company in the 1720s.

1 pound sterling (£) = 23 livres 3 sous 6 deniers

A useful rule of thumb for understanding the equivalent worth of a French livre in today’s currency is to multiply the amount in livres by 5.75 to get the value in pounds sterling.

Map of Important Sites

•Aix-la-Chapelle – the princesse de Lamballe and her entourage settled in this city after fleeing France.

•Koblenz – destination for French emigrés fleeing France and where Louis XVI’s brothers, the comte de Provence and the comte d’Artois, eventually settled.

•d’Anet – childhood château of the prince de Lamballe.

•Fontainebleau – one of the spots where French king’s took their leisure and where Louis XVI’s court gambled.

•La Muette – Marie Antoinette moved her court to this château when madame de Polignac was pregnant.

•Montmédy – site the royal family headed to when fleeing France.

•Paris – many important buildings were located in Paris, including the Hôtel de Ville, Hôtel de Toulouse, Bastille, Palais de Tuileries, and the Temple Prison. Also located on the outskirts of Paris at the time was Passy, which is now incorporated within Paris.

•Plombières – a recuperative spa that the princesse visited to relax and recuperate.

•Rambouillet – one of the major estates owned by the duc de Penthièvre that later was purchased by Louis XVI.

•Sceaux – owned by the duc de Penthiève and the estate that the comte and comtesse du Nord visited.

•St. Cloud – owned by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to help their sickly son return to health.

•Tours – the princesse de Lamballe took several trips to or passed through Tours regularly.

•Varennes – town where the royal family was detained before being forced to return to Paris.

•Versailles – home to the royal family.

Author’s Notes

I was drawn to the princesse de Lamballe because she seemed so maligned in history. She’s been called stupid and witless and accused of being the lesbian lover of Marie Antoinette. Yet, looking into her life through the lens of history, I found a very different picture. The princesse de Lamballe maintained her moral and rational compass during turbulent times, and, when others deserted Marie Antoinette, it was the princesse de Lamballe who stood firm and demonstrated true loyalty and steadfastness.

Much of the material that tells her story is based on documents that are biased or subjective, and, while it is tempting to take literally what is written, the information about her from the eighteenth century has to be viewed in the context of the times, the personalities included, and the motives, agendas, beliefs, passions, and desires of those involved. Many of the texts from these early times were seen as ‘truth,’ and for those who wrote them, they were true. Yet, in reality all truth is subjective.

One must always remember that what we know of history at this point, over 200 years later, is achieved because of snippets of information: people’s letters, newspaper reports, books, and, of course, the occasional bit of oral history passed down from one person to another. While people in the future may be able to rely on videos, audios, and a myriad of other media to study history, studying a subject from the eighteenth century relies on me sifting through documents from the 1700s to the 2000s, and, in doing so, it also means filtering through an overwhelming amount of information that I must then shape into something that makes sense and, yet, still provides a balanced view of the princesse de Lamballe.

On any important topic there are an infinite amount of facts, but only a limited amount can go into a book. So, rather than make an exhaustive list of the facts, I have focused on those that really make the princesse de Lamballe's story come alive. My aim is to make history accessible and engaging for readers. Moreover, I believe history is more than dates or facts. It is a complex compilation of people from different backgrounds who are trying to do their best while navigating their environments and solving problems. This book is not an exhaustive compilation of facts but rather a chance for you to walk along with the princesse de Lamballe and understand how she viewed the world, how she navigated it, and why she did what she did.

I hope you like it. No, I hope you love it!

Chapter 1

The Princess

It is very pleasant to find thus in my duties my sweetest enjoyments.

PRINCESSE DE LAMBALLE ABOUT MARRIAGE

On 3 September 1792, still wearing her finest French silk, with her curls arranged under her linen mob cap, she climbed onto her cot and up to a ledge so she could peer through a tiny rectangular window. The stone wall of her cell at La Force prison felt cold on her palms as she leaned against it, but she wasn’t thinking about that as she looked outside. Below she saw a formidable iron gate, and at the gate was a throng of people, some drunk, some yelling insults, and some throwing rocks. From her vantage point, she could see the crowd, dressed in tattered and threadbare clothes, which made them seem all the more menacing.¹

Over the last few hours, the mob’s numbers had swelled, and, with its growing size, they had become agitated and noisier. The mob seemed to surge more and more against the gate, as if trying to break through, all the while calling for bloody justice. Rumours had circulated inside the prison about the revolutionaries and their butchery. The prisoners worried no amount of carnage would ever quench the insurrectionists’ revolutionary thirst.

Behind her, from the tiny window that overlooked the prison’s interior courtyard, frightened prisoners huddled together awaiting their fate. Suddenly, she found she could no longer remain at the window. Someone from the mob below recognised her and threw a rock, so well-aimed it hit her porcelain skin and reddened her cheek.² Climbing down from the ledge, she sat on her cot, terrified and wondering about her own impending fate.

Outside, the noise increased as the revolutionary mob grew fiercer. Their raucous calls soon enveloped the prison, as did their cries for blood and revenge. She thought of her childhood, her family, her friends, of growing up in the Piedmontese city of Turin. She remembered playing with her siblings among ornate fountains, grand staircases, and colourful frescoes. There were also images of French court life with glorious springtime promenades, summer boat trips, and winter sledge rides in the company of family or friends that included the duc de Penthièvre, the duc and duchesse d’Orléans, Louis XVI, and her queen, Marie Antoinette. Yet, it was these lifelong friends the crowd now demanded she disavow.

Around 11 o’clock, a sweaty, overweight gaoler, known as a geôlier in French, appeared and forced her from her dank cell. She shivered from the rush of coolness that enveloped her as he marched her down a hallway lit by torches. She tried to hold her breath and not smell the prison’s stagnant air, but she was forced to inhale just before she emerged into the fresh air of the courtyard mellowed by the morning’s sunlight. It was there she waited with other fearful prisoners before being taken to a packed suffocating room that smelled of a mixture of sweat, blood, and alcohol. Gagging, she faced a ragtag tribunal composed solely of men, knowing that they had been established to determine each prisoner’s fate.

An inquisitor asked, ‘Who are you?’

Her answer was simple, ‘princesse de Lamballe.’

* * *

The princesse de Lamballe had arrived in the world on Friday, 8 September 1749, in the northern Piedmontese city of Turin, located primarily on the left bank of the River Po and serving as the capital for the House of Savoy. She was named Marie Thérèse-Louise de Savoie-Carignano by her father, Luigi Vittorio de Savoie, the Sardinian prince de Carignano, and, her mother a German princess named Christine Landgräfin von Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg.³ Marie Thérèse was the newest princess in one of the oldest and most respected royal families in the world, the honourable House of Savoy.

When the House of Savoy was founded in the first millennium BCE, it represented a region of Savoy, the Alpine region located between what is now France and Italy, but over time it had expanded both physically and politically through judicious marriages and astute alliances. In 1720, the House of Savoy acquired Sardinia and came to rule almost all of the Italian Peninsula. Later, in the 1860s, due to various annexations and restructuring, the region came to be known as the Kingdom of Italy.

At the time of Marie Thérèse’s birth, her uncle by marriage, Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, was king. He was a skilled soldier and a military strategist. He inherited the throne from his father, Victor Amadeus II. Victor Amadeus II had abdicated to spend time with his mistress, who shortly thereafter became his wife. Not long after his abdication and marriage, Victor Amadeus II suffered a stroke and, influenced by his new wife, decided his son Charles Emmanuel was incompetent. Amadeus II then planned to retake the throne, but, upon hearing of the plan, Charles Emmanuel dragged his father out of bed and confined him to the lattice windowed Castle of Rivoli, where Victor Amadeus II soon died.⁴

When Marie Thérèse was born, music played, bells rang, and people rejoiced, but the celebration had little to do with her arrival and much more to do with the Turin populace commemorating a military victory from forty years earlier when Victor Amadeus II ruled. The victory occurred against the French Royal Army during the War of the Spanish Succession and was called the Siege of Turin. During a hard-fought battle, Leopold I out-manoeuvred Philippe II, duc d’Orléans, and General Louis d’Aubusson de la Feuillade. Leopold I broke through their forces with the aid of his commander-in-chief and Victor Amadeus II. Thus, Leopold I achieved victory and miraculously saved Turin.

Apart from the noisy celebration of that victory, Marie Thérèse led a quiet and secluded life, one carefully crafted by her mother. Marie Thérèse’s mother oversaw the education of her daughters, instructed them in all the subjects young women of nobility needed to acquire, and probably surrounded them with proper servants, caring nurses, and welleducated tutors who enabled them to grow into morally upright adults. The subjects taught to female royalty at the time often consisted of proper etiquette, table manners, dancing, reading, writing, needlework, and rules of ceremony. Moreover, Marie Thérèse’s education resulted in her being ‘conversant in several sciences, and [speaking] many languages with great fluency, and the utmost propriety.’⁵

Almost from the moment of her birth, Marie Thérèse was the ‘favourite’ among her siblings and others. Her parents enjoyed a happy marriage and appeared to have been loving and nurturing. She in return honoured her family, believed in family loyalty, and committed herself to them and to her siblings. Similar to other royals of the 1700s, she also accepted her fate and realised it was her royal duty to marry, not necessarily for love, but to achieve an appropriate political alliance with other crowned heads in order to create strong bonds and ensure a bright future not only for her family but also for the House of Savoy.

* * *

In fact, an opportunity to marry and advance the Savoy dynasty had presented itself quite early. Before Marie Thérèse even left the nursery, at perhaps four or five years old, this opportunity was presented by a man who would form one of the two deepest relationships of her life. He was Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre, who was about 30 years old at the time.

The duc de Penthièvre was the only son of Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, the comte de Toulouse, who was a legitimised prince of the blood royal, and Marie Victoire de Noailles. He was also the paternal grandson of Louis XIV of France and his celebrated maîtresse en titre (chief mistress), madame de Montespan, referred to sometimes as the true Queen of France.⁶ At an early age, the duke had embraced a military career. He later fought gallantly under his maternal uncle, Adrien Maurice de Noailles, distinguishing himself on the battlefield, first at Dettingen in 1743 and then in 1745 at Fontenoy.

The duke was not only a renowned soldier but also one of the richest men in Europe and possibly the richest man in France. Part of the duke’s wealth was inherited from his father and the other part came indirectly from his father’s brother, the duc du Maine. The duc du Maine’s two sons had predeceased him, and the duc du Maine’s estate was left to the duc de Penthièvre in 1736 when the duc du Maine died. Due to both the duke’s wealth and reputation, an alliance by marriage was something of considerable interest to the House of Savoy.

When the duke visited Turin in the early 1750s, he was travelling with his wife, the duchesse de Penthièvre. They were visiting several places and had stopped in Turin to visit Marie Thérèse’s family as they were distantly related to them through Louis XV’s mother, Marie Adélaïde, also a princess of Savoy. There in Turin, the duke and duchess both became ‘singularly attached’ to not only the engaging and enchanting Marie Thérèse but also to her Savoyard parents. In fact, they were so enthralled with Marie Thérèse they broached the subject of marriage to their son, Louis-Alexandre Joseph Stanislaus de Bourbon, known as the prince de Lamballe.

The Bourbon prince de Lamballe had acquired his title of Lamballe from a duchy protected by the medieval comtes de Penthièvres and could not have been older than seven at the time.⁷ Any marriage would therefore be in the future. But in those days, contractual agreements were made in advance. With the unexpected consent of the King of Sardinia, the contract was concluded in record time.

The duc de Penthièvre probably hoped for a loving marriage for his son, like his own. The duke’s wife was Maria Teresa Felicitas d’Este, a princess of Modena who was connected to the Borgia line by patrilineal descent. They were both eighteen at the time of their marriage and became greatly attached and devoted to one another.

Early on, the duc and duchesse de Penthièvre occupied the apartment previously occupied by the duke’s grandmother, madame de Montespan. There they lived happily and conceived seven children — five boys and two girls — although only two children survived past childhood. The two surviving children were the prince de Lamballe and his younger sister, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre. In fact, the Penthièvres had been travelling abroad to arrange suitable marriages for both their young children, although Louise Marie Adélaïde would not find a husband until much later.

It seems Marie Thérèse had her own opinion about the impending marriage. After the negotiations were concluded, Marie Thérèse was summoned to pay her respects to her future in-laws. During the meeting, she was asked if she would like to be the consort to the prince de Lamballe. Perhaps misunderstanding the word to be ‘concert,’ she responded politely that she was fond of music. Before the laughter had subsided, a chuckling duc de Penthièvre revised his question.

‘I mean, would you have any objection to become his wife?’

She retorted, hands on hips, ‘No, [I will not be his wife] nor any other person’s!’⁸,⁹

* * *

Marie Thérèse had three brothers and five sisters, but one brother died aged two and a sister died aged sixteen, so, only seven children in the family grew to adulthood. Similar to other members of the House of Savoy, they had a duty to preserve the Savoy dynasty by marrying appropriately. Although Marie Thérèse’s oldest sister never married, her three other sisters enjoyed politically beneficial marriages, as did her older brother Vittorio Amadeo.¹⁰ However, her young brother Eugenio would later cause a rift in the family when he married a woman who was bourgeoise (middle class) and beneath his station.¹¹

Marie Thérèse and her family lived in a Baroque stucco palace in Turin called the Palazzo Carignano. The palazzo itself was a square-shaped, decorative brick structure designed in 1679 by the Italian architect Guarino Guarini. It had an undulating façade and a highly unusual elliptical tower, and, although not as large as the French Château de Versailles where Marie Thérèse would one day live, the palazzo was still a vast square structure with a lavish interior, magnificent double-curved stairs, and a double-domed ceiling. It was there in Guarini’s palazzo that Marie Thérèse played amid colourful frescoes. It was also at the palazzo that she forged a devoted attachment to her older brother Vittorio Amadeo and her younger brother Eugenio.

At the palazzo, Marie Thérèse was initiated into the royal Sardinian court. Court life was simple because the treasury was hard-pressed for money, which meant no lavish balls or opulent feasts. All such gaieties had been abolished by Victor Amadeus I, although Charles Emmanuel would later reinstate them. Additionally, under Charles Emmanuel’s reign, Marie Thérèse enjoyed peace. The War of the Austrian Succession concluded just before her birth, and while all the great European powers and America were slowly becoming embroiled in the Seven Years’ War, Charles Emmanuel refused to get involved. Instead, he concentrated on strengthening his army and improving his administration.

By contrast, in nearby France, Louis XV, also known as ‘Louis the Beloved,’ was spending heavily on the Seven Years’ War, and court life in France under his reign became truly grand, extravagant, and opulent. Louis XV had assumed the throne from his great-grandfather, Louis XIV, whose reign was the longest in European history and whose reign made France the most influential power in the world. Perhaps, to demonstrate his influence and power, Louis XIV took his father’s (Louis XIII) hunting lodge, the Château de Versailles simply called Versailles, and expanded it into the largest palace in the world.

* * *

Although people often imagine royalty to be the most handsome or the most beautiful, Marie Thérèse was not. She had too many irregular features: an elongated neck, somewhat long nose, and sloping shoulders. But she also had some delicate aristocratic features including tranquil blue eyes and a charming, friendly smile. Moreover, she was envied for her dazzling, translucent complexion, a complexion that a lady-in-waiting would one day describe as a ‘delicately fair’, resulting in the princess being often mistaken for being much younger than her actual age.¹²

People also admired Marie Thérèse’s glossy hair. Long, luxurious, and of an indescribable golden hue, her hair fell in cascading waves when let down from its cap. Madame Le Brun, who once painted a portrait of her, claimed Marie Thérèse had ‘the most beautiful blonde hair imaginable’,¹³ and another person commented that her hair could easily be ‘likened to the tresses which crown, nimbus-like, the heads of Raphael’s Madonnas.’¹⁴

But it was not Marie Thérèse’s complexion or her hair that won her admirers: Rather, it was her glowing personality, ‘her noble, generous qualities and extreme amiability’.¹⁵ People said she had a gentle disposition, innocent simplicity, and a tender nature that seeped into people’s souls, overwhelming them, such that most who met her became thoroughly enchanted. Part of their enchantment was that Marie Thérèse possessed ‘a tender nature’,¹⁶ enjoyed simple pleasures, and was not a coquette but rather ‘sweet and almost ingenuous’.¹⁷

She was also described as straightforward, high-principled, and religious, even somewhat narrow-minded when it came to the sins of others, as sin never enticed her. She was intelligent, although frequently not considered witty by courtiers who spent their time trying to gain favours and entertained one another with clever remarks, silly games, and droll stories. She would, however, ultimately, develop a reputation for being ‘the most beautiful and accomplished princess … adorned with grace, virtue, and elegance of manner which so eminently distinguished her through life’.¹⁸

* * *

If the prince de Lamballe had any reservations about the selection of Marie Thérèse after his bethrothal, such reservations were extinguished by a portrait he received of her. As for Marie Thérèse and her parents, the prince de Lamballe was unknown. None of them had set eyes on him personally, and what they knew of him consisted of vague statements and ambiguous declarations made by an admiring French populace. In those days, Marie Thérèse’s parents had to rely on anecdotal evidence, likely repeated from one person to the next, to affirm the character of their daughter’s potential husband. Quite possibly, the reports were exaggerated. The prince de Lamballe was royalty, and since royalty was considered superior to the common person, opinions of him were likely weighted to the good side.

Largely, the prince de Lamballe’s good reputation rode on the coattails of his illustrious father. Besides his accomplishments on the battlefield, the duc de Penthièvre was considered an exalted figure whose ‘virtues and philanthropy were celebrated throughout the kingdom’.¹⁹ In part, his exalted reputation had to do with his ‘mild dignity’.²⁰ For example, it was said ‘a servant never left his employ save by his own free will, and that in his household positions were held from father to son.’²¹

The duc de Penthièvre was also celebrated for his unfailing good works of charity. At that time, peasants born on an estate were at the mercy of their master. The duc de Penthièvre understood this, and knowing no state institutions or benevolent organisations existed to provide charity or aid to the poor, he ensured he took good care of his peasants. All of these admirable traits made him loved and respected by everyone.

Despite the duke’s well-deserved reputation, several stories suggest the prince de Lamballe was not nearly the upstanding young man he was reputed to be. This behaviour was perhaps precipitated by