How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair (49 page)

  
22
   
‘his wife’s first years’
: MCB, p.25.

  
23
   
‘enter business’ . . . ‘mad directives’ . . . ‘natural debt’
: op. cit., p.26.

  
23
   
‘powerful friends and money’
: op. cit., p.27.

2. The Man Who Never Grew Up

  
24
   
cataract of disdain
: the account of Rohan’s life before his involvement with Jeanne de La Motte draws on
Les Rohans: ‘roi ne puis, duc ne daigne, Rohan suis
’ by Alain Boulaire,
Le Siècle de Rohan: une dynastie de cardinaux en Alsace au XVIIIe siècle
by Claude Muller,
Louis de Rohan: le cardinal ‘collier’
by Eric de Haynin and
Mémoires
by Abbé Georgel.

  
24
   
‘their most elevated rank’
: quoted in Haynin, p.15.

  
25
   
‘brat in red heels’
: quoted in Haynin, p.29.

  
25
   
‘that one might encounter’
: quoted in Boulaire, p.186.

  
26
   
‘his tastes and his friendships’
:
Mémoires (inedits) de l’Abbé Morellet
, vol. 1, p.26.

  
26
   
‘Bite’em’
: Letter from Voltaire to Marmontel, 10 October 1777.

  
26
   
‘as it’s possible to be’
: quoted in Haynin, p.32.

  
27
   
‘comparable to his’
:
Mémoires de Marmontel
(Paris, 1857), p.237.

  
27
   
‘arms against religion’
: quoted in Haynin, p.131.

  
27
   
‘never against my adversary’
: quoted in
The Republic of Letters: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment
by Dena Goodman, p.109.

  
28
   
‘a dashing rogue’
: quoted in Haynin, p.44.

  
28
   
petals before her
: The description of Marie Antoinette’s entrance into Strasbourg is taken from
Mémoires de la Baronne d’Oberkirch sur la cour de Louis XVI et la société française avant 1789
(Mercure de France, 2000), p.43ff.

  
28
   
‘than a coadjutor’
: CMA, Marie Antoinette to Maria Theresa, 21 June 1771.

  
29
   
‘as odd as it is improper’
: D’Arneth and Geffroy, Mercy-Argenteau to Maria Theresa, 24 July 1771.

  
30
   
four undersecretaries
: Georgel, vol. 1, pp. 218–19.

  
30
   
‘other countries’
: quoted in
Vienna: Legend and Reality
by Ilsa Barea, p.63.

  
30
   
‘rebounded onto my daughter’
: D’Arneth and Geffroy, Maria Theresa to Mercy-Argenteau, 8 July 1771.

  
31
   
‘I will never forget . . . air of composure . . . attentiveness and respect’
: op. cit., Maria Theresa to Mercy-Argenteau, 10 February 1772.

  
31
   
‘presumption and flippancy’
: op. cit., Maria Theresa to Mercy-Argenteau, 1 March 1772.

  
31
   
‘without morals’
: op. cit., Maria Theresa to Mercy-Argenteau, 18 March 1772.

  
31
   
‘this wicked genius’
: op. cit., Maria Theresa to Mercy-Argenteau, 1 September 1772.

  
32
   
‘scrupulous decency’
: Georgel, vol. 1, pp. 229–30.

  
32
   
‘in the imperial vault’
: quoted in
Maria Theresa
by Edward Crankshaw, p.298.

  
33
   
‘of Monsieur Durand’
: ‘Correspondance entre le duc d’Aiguillon et le prince-coadjuteur Louis de Rohan’,
Revue d’Alsace
, vols 54–58 (1903–7), Rohan to d’Aiguillon, 6 February 1772.

  
33
   
‘steadfastness nor money’
: quoted in Muller, p.329.

  
33
   
‘warm towards the Poles’
: Rohan to d’Aiguillon, 6 February 1772.

  
33
   
‘any rumour that spreads’
: quoted in Haynin, p.62.

  
33
   
‘the fate of Poland’
: d’Aiguillon to Rohan, 27 April 1772.

  
33
   
‘sudden turn of events’
: quoted in Muller, p.330.

  
34
   
‘third partitioning power’
: Georgel, vol. 1, p.254.

  
34
   
‘to persecute me!’
: D’Arneth and Geffroy, Mercy-Argenteau to Maria Theresa, 9 January 1774.

  
35
   
‘swarthy and swollen’
: the duc de Croÿ, quoted in
Louis XV
by Michel Antoine, pp. 991–2.

  
35
   
‘for some time now’
: D’Arneth and Geffroy, Maria Theresa to Mercy-Argenteau, 16 July 1774.

  
35
   
‘abbey in compensation’
: op. cit., Mercy-Argenteau to Maria Theresa, 15 August 1774.

  
35
   
‘no longer speaks to him’
: ibid.

  
36
   
‘succeed with her’
:
Mémoires du Baron Besenval sur la cour de France
(Paris, 1987), p.377.

  
37
   
‘with regret’
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.19.

  
37
   
sacrifice to the Lord
: quoted in Boulaire, p.205.

  
38
   
collection of Chinese porcelain
: see
Le goût chinois du cardinal Louis de Rohan
, edited by Étienne Martin.

3. Faith, Hope and Charity

  
39
   
a more suitable person than Rohan
: This chapter draws on the memoirs used in the first chapter, Georgel’s memoir and the trial records, which are found in AN X2B/1417.

  
40
   
‘my support, my life’
: LJSRV I, p.194.

  
40
   
‘raze the written troubles in her brain’
: op. cit., p.197.

  
41
   
sounded comfortable
: for
chambres garnies
, see the chapter on the subject in Mercier, vol. 1, pp. 129–31.

  
41
   
hived off in the chateau
: the description of Versailles draws on, among other works,
The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture: Old Regime Europe 1660–1789
by Tim Blanning,
Daily Life at Versailles in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
and
Versailles, Ville Royale
, both by Jacques Levron,
Derrière la façade: vivre au château de Versailles au XVIIIe siècle
by William Ritchey Newton,
Quand les rois régenait a Versailles
by Daniel Meyer and
Versailles
:
A Biography of a Palace
by Tony Spawforth.

  
41
   
‘an architectural monster . . . a large head’
: quoted in Spawforth, p.12.

  
42
   
‘This inner disorganization’ . . . ‘his own person’
: quoted in
Daily Life at Versailles
, Levron, p.199.

  
42
   
‘as soon as possible’
: quoted in
The Culture of Power
, Blanning, p.417.

  
43
   
‘and is tasteless’
: quoted in Solnon, p.451.

  
43
   
horse and carriage
: see op. cit., p.449.

  
43
   
‘and of ministers’
: see ‘La Galerie de Versailles’ in Mercier, vol. 1, pp. 945–52.

  
43
   
‘in a particular manner’
: LJSRV I, p.225.

  
43
   
‘she had not sought’
: MJ I, p.16.

  
44
   
‘and in a carriage’
: MCB, p.28.

  
44
   
The Hôtel
: the description of the Hôtel de Rohan-Strasbourg is taken from
Les Hôtels de Soubise et de Rohan-Strasbourg
by Philippe Béchu and Christian Taillard.

  
45
   
‘striking beauty’ . . . ‘on her lips’
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.35.

  
46
   
‘dare all’
: MHV, p.11.

  
46
   
‘one does with a lawyer’
: MCB, p.30.

  
47
   
‘passions was frightening’
: op. cit., p.49.

  
47
   
still taken an interest
: AN X2B/1417/10/Planta.

  
47
   
haunch of venison
: AN X2B/1417/86/10.

  
47
   
80,000 livres
: ‘Interrogation with Jeanne’, Campardon, p.276.

  
47
   
when Jeanne defaulted
: ‘Interrogation with Rohan’, Campardon, p.245; Requête Rohan, pp. 23–44; Mémoire Rohan, pp. 9, 12.

  
47
   
explanation for his actions
: AN X2B/1417/86/7.

  
47
   
regular weekly stipend
: AN X2B/1417/54/Loth. Madame Colson, who lived with the La Mottes and was Loth’s avowed source, contradicted the claim in her own testimony (AN X2B/1417/54/Colson).

  
48
   
down the stairs
: Mémoire Rohan, p.14.

  
48
   
‘people for burning’
: ‘Le Marais’, Mercier, vol, 1, p.220.

  
48
   
Jeanne regularly pawned . . . curtains in pawn
: BHVP MS691/152–3

  
48
   
‘sleeping on straw’
: quoted in
The Diamond Necklace
by Frantz Funck-Brentano, p.110.

  
49
   
October 1783 found them . . . lentils and haricot beans
: Mémoire Rohan, p. 11; BHVP MS691/152.

  
49
   
‘was bled five times’
: BHVP MS691/153.

  
49
   
‘visit Madame’
: ibid.

  
49
   
nearly 800 livres
: MJ I, p.14.

  
50
   
‘and footmen’
: LJSRV I, p.259.

4. Antoinette against Versailles

  
51
   
royal dynasty’s magnificence
: This chapter is based on
Louis XVI
by John Hardman,
Marie Antoinette
by Antonia Fraser,
Louis XVI
by Evelyne Lever and
Marie Antoinette: la dernière reine
by Evelyne Lever.

  
51
   
‘I am frightened of her’
: quoted in
Marie Antoinette
, Fraser, p.21.

  
51
   
‘affability’
: quoted in op. cit., p.30.

  
51
   
‘at her own Court’
: quoted in op. cit., p.112.

  
52–3
‘mind of an accountant’ . . . ‘eight in the evening’
:
Louis XVI
by John Hardman, p.22.

  
53
   
‘I do not need you’
: quoted in
Louis and Antoinette
by Vincent Cronin, p.77.

  
53
   
‘vainly to hold together’
: quoted in
Preserving the Monarchy: The Comte de Vergennes, 1774–1787
by Munro Price, p.13.

  
54
   
‘fall on me’
: quoted in
Louis and Antoinette
, Cronin, p.70.

  
54
   
‘that’s a bother’
: see
Louis XVI
, Hardman, p.75.

  
54
   
‘hunting and his metal-working’
: quoted in
Marie Antoinette
, Fraser, p.129.

  
55
   
‘redoubled caresses’
: quoted in op. cit., p.80.