Madame Elisabeth to the Marquise de Bombelles, spring 1787, regarding the Assembly of the Notables

The Assembly continues as before and with the same plans. The Notables talk with more freedom (though they have never cramped themselves in that), and I hope good may come of it. My brother has such good intentions, he desires the right so much and to make his people happy, he has kept himself so pure, that it is impossible God should not bless his good qualities with great successes. He did his Easter duties to-day. God will encourage him, God will show him the right way: I hope much. The preacher in his address encouraged him immensely to take counsel of his own heart. He was right, for my brother is very good and very superior to the whole Court united.

Image: An engraving depicting the Assembly of the Notables

Ambassador Mercy to Maria Theresa, 17 December 1770

When Mme la dauphine accompanies the king to the hunt … [she] usually brings in her carriage all sorts of cold meats and refreshments, which she enjoys distributing to the courtiers who follow the hunt.

This [is only due to] her natural kindness and would not be a problem anywhere else, but unfortunately it causes problems in this country, because it so happens that … all the young people in the King’s suite gather around Mme la dauphine’s carriage, and because there are so many, there are always some thoughtless enough not to show [the respect] which is owed to the young princess.

… I took the liberty of warning Mme la dauphine that she must guard against the familiarity and ease which they have sometimes dared to adopt with her, and this has led me to insist that the comtesse de Noailles always accompanies her, especially to the hunt.

image source

Marie Thérèse Raphaëlle of Spain was the first wife of Louis the dauphin, who would (with his second wife) eventually father the future Louis XVI. The marriage of Marie Thérèse to the dauphin of France was intended to help mend the poor relationship between France and Spain, which was partially due to the broken engagement between Louis XV and Mariana Victoria of Spain in the 1720s.

Marie Thérèse was engaged to the dauphin Louis in 1739, and arrived in France on February 21st, 1745. She died soon after childbirth on July 22, 1746.

Some interesting parallels between Marie Thérèse and Marie Antoinette, who would become the dauphine about 25 years after Marie Thérèse’s death:

Both experienced negative remarks about their red hair at court.

Both couples did not immediately consummate their marriage, which hurt their reputation and encouraged gossip at court.

It took Marie Thérèse and Louis around 7 months to fully consummate their marriage. It took Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste around 7 years.

Both disliked the royal mistress of Louis XV—for Marie Thérèse this was Madame de Pompadour and for Marie Antoinette, Madame du Barry.

The first child of both was a girl named Marie Thérèse.

Image: A portrait of Marie Thérèse Raphaëlle of Spain, Dauphine of France by Louis-Michel Van Loo.

In November of 1770, the postilion of Marie Antoinette’s carriage was injured after he fell from the carriage and was trampled on by horses. In a letter to Maria Theresa, Ambassador Mercy recounted:

… Mme la dauphine waited with [the injured man] for more than an hour; she sent in all directions for a physician … they wanted to take the injured man away in a carriage; Mme la dauphine objected, pointing out very correctly the risks of jolting someone who was so badly injured…

The man was carried to Versailles on a stretcher, accompanied by two court physicians and several people from Marie Antoinette’s retinue. After returning to Versailles, Marie Antoinette sent for news of the injured man and ordered her own senior physician to attend to him and report back daily on his condition.

When retelling her story to the court, Marie Antoinette explained, as recounted by Ambassador Mercy:

I addressed everyone as friend; pages, grooms, postilions. I said to them: My friend, go and find a doctor! My friend, run quickly for a stretcher!

According to Mercy, Marie Antoinette was also emotionally affected by the accident. She had noticed that the coachman of her carriage was the father in law of the injured postilion and that the man’s brother was driving one of the King’s carriages, but was forced to go on by while his brother was being put onto a stretcher. She mentioned at court that this must have been very upsetting for his relatives, and was “reassured” that “the people who worked in the stables had hard hearts.”

She voiced concerns the next day to the abbe de Vermond, explaining that she thought that the “reassurance” she had been provided was an unjust statement. The abbe, upset that anyone could have “so little regard for Mme la dauphine’s sensitivity,” reassured her that her own instincts against the courtier’s “reassurance” were true because “poor people … love each other at least as much as more fortunate people.”

Madame Elisabeth to the Marquise de Raigecourt, December 30, 1790

May God not abandon us wholly; it is to that we must limit our hopes. I have no taste for martyrdom; but I feel that I should be very glad to have the certainty of suffering it rather than abandon one iota of my faith. I hope that if I am destined to it, God will give me strength. He is so good, so good! he is a Father, so concerned for the true welfare of his children that we ought to have all confidence in him. Were you not touched on the Epiphany with God’s goodness in calling the Gentiles to him at that moment? Well, we are the Gentiles. Let us thank him well; let us be faithful to our faith; let us not lose from sight what we owe to him; and as to all the rest, let us abandon ourselves to him with true filial confidence.

Often by his naïveté, the gaiety of his nature, and his little rogueries [Louis-Charles] made his parents forget for a moment their cruel situation. But he felt it himself; although so young, he knew he was in a prison and watched by enemies. His behaviour and his talk acquired that reserve which instinct, in presence of a danger inspires perhaps at any age. Never did I hear him mention the Tuileries, or Versailles, or any subject that might remind the queen or the king of painful memories. When he saw some municipal kinder than his colleagues on guard, he would run to his mother and say with an expression of great satisfaction: “Mamma, it is Monsieur Such-a-one to-day!”

—Journal of the Tower of the Temple by Cléry.

Once, when tired out with the misplaced remonstrances from an old lady attached to her person, who wished to dissuade her from riding on horseback under the impression that it would prevent her producing heirs to the crown, [the queen said] “Mademoiselle, in God’s name, leave me in peace; be assured that I can put no heir in danger.”

—The Memoirs of Madame Campan

Ambassador Mercy to Maria Theresa, 22 May 1771

Mme la dauphine still enjoys riding, and a fortnight ago a slight accident occurred … Her Royal Highness was riding, when an equerry’s horse reared [and struck her foot,] although she did not show any pain. She continued her ride and when she returned her foot was swollen. When her ladies said that she should immediately have said she was in pain, H.R.H. replied that she had concealed her pain in order to spare the equerry any upset. The next day her foot was normal. This kindness made an impression on all, and it illuminates perfectly Mme la dauphine’s character.