Friday, January 24, 2014

A Letter from Madame Royale

Here is an intriguing find from Tiny-Librarian:
A letter that is supposed to have been written by Marie Therese Charlotte while in exile in Vienna after being liberated from the Temple Prison. The site says it was written in 1793 with a question mark next to that. That date is indeed impossible, since she didn’t reach Vienna until January of 1796.
…I have received your two letters…with pleasure, but I am no longer able to…if it were possible…despite all my desire to see that my good Aunt Elizabeth [Louis XVI’s youngest sister, Elizabeth Philippine Marie Helen de France]…I have the consolation that [she is with you] and that you say everything is [arranged] for your departure…She has told me privately that…she desires that you…a girl…despite all her sorrows she thinks following the example of her dear Bombelles [?] and me. I love you and think about you and want to see you but then this is impossible, I have the consolation of writing to you and to say to you that I always loved you, in spite of my great youth when I knew you. I had the happiness also to become one who in this country everyone loves and admires, something which doesn’t happen in France. Your poor Mother seemed well when I had seen her. I hope also that Mr. de Bombelles and all your children are well…Goodbye, dear Madam, love me always and regard me as a person whom you love and also whom my Aunt loves and love me the same as you would wish to be loved [?]
Marie-Therese was imprisoned with her mother, who was executed on October 16, 1793. Elizabeth, the aunt to whom she refers in this letter, was executed the following year on May 10, 1794. Bearing the remnants of the original black-wax seal, the letter remains in very good condition.
The letter is written to Madame de Bombelles, the close friend of Madame Elisabeth and the daughter of Madame de Mackau, under-governess of the Children of France. Share

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