Tuesday 9 July 2013

An Unlikely Meeting

One of the rumours that anti-Austrian courtiers spread about Marie Antoinette shortly after her arrival at Versailles was one that targeted her honour and her dignity. Rumour had it that the young Dauphine had had a brief liaison with the Prince Louis de Rohan when he was posted as an ambassador in Vienna.
Luckily this is one of these rumours that we can easily debunk with just two simple factors: first of all Marie Antoinette was raised as an Archduchess which meant that there was no chance that the young girl (under 14!) could have an affair with an ambassador. And, the Prince arrived in 1772 - by that time Marie Antoinette had been at the French court for two years!

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