Customer Reviews

Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 6 Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen

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This book, written by a woman who was a part of Marie Antionette's household from her introduction to Versailles almost until her imprisonment in the Temple, will break your heart in a hundred ways. The portrait of Marie Antoinette that Campan creates is of a good hearted not terribly well-educated but sincere young woman thrown into a circumstance that no one could have succesfully negotiated. Campan was in the room when Marie Antoinette received the letter that instigated "The Diamond Necklace Affair" and in that instance, and in many others, testifies to Marie Antoinette's unfailing honesty. She also describes how, once the royal family had been removed to the Tuilleries Palace, Marie Antoinette's inner circle (including the tragic Princesse de Lamballe) rallied around her, even attempting to physically protect her from a crowd that once burst into the palace and systemically lambasted the Queen as she sat, calmly, behind a table while the crowd of women filed past regaling her with whatever verbal abuse they could come up with. Any interference from the Queen's actual gaurds was viewed as being too inflammatory so MA sat behind a table while her friends stood close by ready to interfere should the Queen be attacked.

These former court beauties, laced up in their silk dresses, ready to die to protect their friend is just one of the heart-breaking anecdotes in this book. Another is Madame Elizabeth (Louis XVI's sister) saying to her ladies in waiting during the same invasion "Let them think that I am the Queen, that will give her time to get away." knowing full well the crowd might murder her! Sadly, but it is all sad, Campan's narrative comes to an abrupt halt just after the unsuccesful flight to Varennes. An editor's note informs us that Campan was unable to continue because her sister, also attached to MA's household, had been guillotined and the emotional shock was too much to bare. Campan herself survived and went on to run a private school whose students included Empress Josephine's daughters by her first marriage, as such she knew Napoleon as well.