The Queen`s Confession (39 page)

“My dear Campan, this is the most utter nonsense. I told you Boehmer was mad.”

“Yes, Madame, but he talked so earnestly. He seemed so sensible so sure. I asked when you had told him that you had made up your mind to buy the necklace, for I knew you would not see him and had not done so for a very long time. He then said a strange thing, Madarae. He said that the Cardinal de Rohan acted for you.”

“The Cardinal de Rohan I Then he is quite, quite mad. I loathe Rohan.

I haven’t spoken to him for eight years. “

“I told Boehmer this, Madame, and he said Your Majesty pretended to be on bad terms with Rohan, but in fact you were very great friends.”

“Oh, this grows madder and madder.”

“As it seemed to me, Madame. I pointed this out to Boehmer but he was so insistent that he spoke the truth, and indeed, Madame, if he is mad he makes a very good show of being sane. He had an answer to everything. He said that ” Your Majesty’s commands were transmitted to him by letters which bore Your Majesty’s signature and that be had to use them to satisfy his creditors. The necklace was to be paid for in instalments, and that he had already received 30,000 francs which Your Majesty had given the Cardinal to give to him, Boehmer, when the necklace was handed over. “

“I don’t understand this!” I cried; but it no longer seemed a joke.

There was something very mysterious going on.

“I believe,” I said, ‘that a great fraud may well have been played on Boehmer. We must get to the bottom of this. I will send for him at once. “

I sent a messenger to Paris and commanded the jeweller to come to the Trianon without delay.

“Monsieur Boehmer,” I said.

“I wish to know why I am expected to listen to mad assertions that you have sold me a necklace which I have often refused to buy.”

“Madame,” he answered, “I am forced to this unpleasant business because I must satisfy my creditors.”

“I fail to see where your creditors concern me.”

“Madame,” he replied in great distress, ‘it is too late to pretend.

Unless Your Majesty will be so good as to admit you have the necklace and give me some money, I shall be declared bankrupt and the reason will be known to all. “

“You talk in riddles. Monsieur. I know nothing of this necklace.”

The man was almost in tears.

“Madame,” he said, ‘forgive me, but I must have my money. “

I tell you I owe you nothing. I did not buy your necklace. You know that I have not seen it—nor you, for a long time. “

“Madame, the Cardinal de Rohan paid me the first instalment when I handed the necklace to him. I must have the money owing to me….”

I could not bear to look at the man.

I said: “There has been some fraud here. It must be examined. Go now.

Monsieur Boehmer, but I promise you that I will look into this matter without delay. “

He left me and I went into my bedchamber, where I remained. I was trembling with apprehension. Something very strange was happening about me, and at the centre of it was that sinister man—the Cardinal de Rohan.

It was a fraud, of course. The man was a scoundrel. He had acquired the diamond necklace and pretended that I had bought it.

I had heard a great deal about him since that day he officiated at Strasbourg when I had first come to France. My mother was constantly writing to me about him when he was ambassador to Austria and she had urged Mercy

to do all he could to get him recalled.

“All our young and plain women are bewitched by him,” she had written.

“His language is extremely improper and this ill becomes his position as priest and minister. He insolently uses these expressions no matter what company he is in. His suite follow his example they are without merit or morals.” Neither I nor Mercy had been in a position to have him removed from Vienna, but when my husband became King it was a different matter. My mother wrote that she was pleased to see an end to ‘his horrible and shameful embassy. ” She had written warning letters, I must be wary of this man;

he would bring me no good, I must not be charmed by him for he was a flatterer and could be very amusing. I saw him as a kind of ogre and had refused to receive him. My feelings towards him were not softened when I heard that he had written a letter to the Due d’Aiguillon about my mother and that Madame du Barry had read it aloud at one of her salons. In it he wrote:

“Maria Theresa wept over the misery of oppressed Poland, but she is an adept at concealing her thoughts and seems to produce tears at will.

In one hand she holds a handkerchief to dry her tears and in the other a sword, so as to be the third sharer. “

This letter had arrived at the time when I was making matters worse by refusing to speak to Madame du Barry, and my mother, while making stem rules against the prostitutes of Vienna, was urging me not to irritate the situation between France and Austria by refusing to speak to Madame du Barry.

I loathed the man. I refused to speak to him; and I believe that. the desire to find a way into my good graces obsessed him. The more I ignored him, the more he tried to gain my favour, and I was determined not to give it.

He had scored over me in one way. It was not my wish that he should hold the post of Grand Almoner of France. I had been annoyed when I had heard that he had baptised my babies; but what could be done about it when he held that high post?

Madame de Marsan, Rohan’s cousin, had asked my husband, without my knowledge, that the post should be Rohan’s, and Louis, who liked to please people, had given his word that it should be. When I discovered this, I determined to prevent it, particularly as Mercy and my mother were urging me to do so. I told Louis that he could not allow a man who had insulted my mother to hold the post of Grand Almoner of France. It was unfortunate, said my husband, but he had promised Madame de Marsan, and he did not see how he could go back on his word.

“I can seel’ I cried.

“It is impossible. This man has insulted me—through my mother. Could you grant a favour to a man who had insulted your wife I could not, of course….”

“Then you must tell him he cannot have the post. You are the King.”

“My dear, I have given my word….”

It seemed imperative that I have my way. If I did not, my mother would say that I had no influence with my husband. I began to cry. I was of no importance, I wept. My husband preferred to grant favours to other women rather than to me.

Tears always distressed Louis. It was not so. He would do anything to please me. What about those chandelier earrings I had admired? They contained some of Boehmer’s best diamonds.

I continued to weep. I did not want diamonds. I wanted him to forget his promise to Madame de Marsan. Was it much to ask?

He would do it, he said. He would tell Madame de Marsan that she would have to forget his promise.

I threw my arms about his neck. He was the best husband in the world.

I had counted without Madame de Marsan.

She complained bitterly. The King had given his word. Was she not to rely on the King’s word?

“Madame, I cannot grant your wish,” Louis told her.

“I have given the Queen my word.”

Because Louis was kind he was also weak. Had his grand293 father or Louis Quatorze declared that they wished to break their word, it would have been accepted as law. But with my husband it was different. People were ready to reason with him, even to criticise him . and in this case threaten him.

“I respect the Queen’s wishes, Sire,” said the impertinent Marsan, who had always hated me, ‘but Your Majesty cannot have two words. The Queen would not wish that the King, in order to please her, should do what the threat of death would not force from the meanest gentleman. I therefore most respectfully take the liberty of assuring Your Majesty that having published the promise he gave me, I should find myself reluctantly compelled to make it known that the King had broken it to please the Queen. “

As Louis explained to me afterwards, there was nothing he could do but give way, for it was true that he had given his word to her first.

I was angry, but I knew that neither tears nor pleading could help, so I accepted the situation and forgot about it-until now.

But Cardinal de Rohan was a man I would never accept. I had disliked him even more than ever. Then I had in fact ceased to think of him.

Now I was forced to.

As my anger subsided I began to tell myself that the only reason I had become so agitated was because the Cardinal de Rohan appeared to be so deeply implicated. All the same I must tell my husband about it without delay.

Louis listened gravely and said that Boehmer should be immediately commanded to give his account of what had happened. Knowing that Mercy would most certainly have communicated something of the affair to my brother Joseph-for he still wrote to Vienna, although not as frequently as he had when my mother was alive—I myself wrote to my brother . giving him what at the time seemed the most logical explanation.

“The Cardinal has made use of my name like a vile and clumsy forger.

It is probable that he did so under pressure 294 and an urgent need for money and believed he would be able to pay the jeweller without anything being discovered. “

I was very angry. I hated that man. Not only had he slandered my mother but he had slandered me. I wanted revenge and I was determined to have it.

When Boehmer sent in his account of how he had been approached by the Cardinal with orders to buy the necklace for me, my fury increased. He had sworn on oath that he had received the commission from me.

I said: “He shall be disgraced. He shall be robbed of all his posts.

Louis, you must promise to arrest him. “

“Arrest the Cardinal de Rohani But my dear …”

“He has used my name. He has lied and cheated. He shall be arrested.

Louis, you must swear it. “

Louis was uneasy.

“We must look into this matter. We are a little in the dark at the moment.”

“In the dark! We have Boehmer’s word that he went to them with this story … this lie. If you do not arrest that man it will be as though you believe this story against me.”

That I would never do, but . “

“Then arrest him.” I put my arms about his neck.

“Louis, you must arrest him. If you do not it will seem that even you are against me.

Promise me—promise me now, that you will arrest the Cardinal. “

My poor Louis! Was there ever a more clear example of a man who had the intelligence to know what was the wise thing to do and lacked the will-power to do it? Louis wanted peace. He wanted to hurt no one; he could not stand up against my blandishments even though he knew that I was acting against my own interests. He could not reason against tears and the fury of feather-brained women.

“The Cardinal shall be arrested,” he promised; and I was satisfied.

It was the i5th of August, the Feast of the Assumption. The King summoned the Baron de Breteuil, Minister of his Household, and Monsieur

de Miromesnil, Keeper of the Seals, to his cabinet. I was there. The King quickly explained the reason for our presence there and added that he intended that the Cardinal de Rohan should be arrested without delay.

Monsieur de Miromesnil immediately protested: “Sire, Rohan’s rank and family entitle him to be heard before he is arrested Louis wavered, in fact agreeing with Miromesnil, but I put in hastily:

“He has forged my name. He has behaved like a common swindler. I insist that he be arrested.”

I saw Breteuil’s eyes gleam. He hated the Cardinal as much as I did, because be had followed the Cardinal as ambassador to Vienna and since then the Cardinal had made him a butt of his malicious wit.

Breteuil said: “It is clear what has happened. Rohan is the most extravagant man in France. Not only has he rebuilt the episcopal palace in Strasbourg think how much that must have cost him but he has a retinue of women on whom he lavishes a fortune. He has taken up with the sorcerer Cagliostro, who lives at his palace in luxury and who, although he is reputed to make gold and jewels for his patron, costs the Cardinal a great deal to maintain. He has been embarrassed for money for years in spite of his great revenues. He is undoubtedly in debt and this is his means of satisfying his creditors.”

“He has disgraced his cloth and his name,” I said hastily.

“He does not deserve any consideration because of them.”

I could see my husband wavering between what he considered right and what would please me, and I threw him my most appealing glance;

Monsieur de Breteuil, unable to hide his satisfaction in an enemy’s imminent downfall, came in decisively on my side.

The King decided that Rohan should be arrested.

The Feast of the Assumption happened to be my name day and there was to be a special levee at Versailles that I might receive congratulations. Thus the galleries and the Oeil de Boeuf were crowded. As Grand Almoner of France it was the Cardinal’s duty to celebrate Mass in the

royal chapel. Unaware of what lay before him he came in his lace rochet and scarlet soutane. He was told that the Ring wished to see him in his cabinet at midday. He must have been surprised that neither the King nor I had appeared in State as was expected on such an occasion;

but he came in blithely enough, completely unaware of what was about to break over his head.

He bowed low to the King and me; I deliberately turned my head and behaved as though I did not see him. I was aware of the effect my conduct had on him.

Louis came straight to the point.

“My dear cousin,” he said, ‘did you buy diamonds from Boehmer? “

The Cardinal turned pale, but he answered: “Yes, Sire.”

“Where are they?”

“I believe they have been given to the Queen.”

I gave an exclamation of anger, but the King went on as though he had not noticed: “Who gave you the commission to buy these diamonds?”

“A lady called the Comtesse de la Motte-Valois. She gave me a letter from Her Majesty the Queen. I thought that I should please Her Majesty by carrying out this com mission.”