Montpensier, Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de, 1627-1693
Anne of Austria exhibited a deep tenderness for Mademoiselle; but no
one can deceive a child. "I think that all the love she showed me
was nothing but the effect of what she felt for Monsieur," writes
Mademoiselle; and further on she formally declares that the Queen,
believing herself destined to a near widowhood, had formed the "plan"
of marrying Monsieur. Whatever the Queen's plans may have been, it
is certain that she caressed the daughter for love of the father.
Anne of Austria never forgave Mademoiselle for the part that she had
played before her birth, in the winter of 1626-1627, when the Duchess
of Orleans so arrogantly promised to bring forth a Dauphin. Monsieur
had no reason to fear the scrutiny of a child. He was a charming
playfellow; gay, complaisant, fond of his daughter, at least for the
moment,--no one could count upon the future!
Cardinal de Richelieu could not gain anything by thoughtful criticism.
To the little Princess he was the Croquemitaine of the Court. When we
think of his ogre face--spoil sport that he was! as he appeared to
the millions of French people who were incapable of understanding his
policy--the silhouette traced by the hand of Mademoiselle appears in
a new light, and we are forced to own that its profound and simple
ignorance is instructive.
Marie de Médicis had managed to disappear from the Luxembourg and from
Paris, after the _Journée des Dupes_ (11 November, 1630), and her
little granddaughter had not noticed her departure. She writes: "I was
still so young that I do not remember that I ever saw her." The case
was not the same after the departure of Monsieur. He had continually
visited the Tuileries, and when he came no more the child knew it well
enough. She understood that her father had been punished, and she
was not permitted to remain ignorant of the identity of the insolent
personage who had placed him on the penitential stool. Mademoiselle,
then less than four years old, was outraged in all her feelings by the
success of Richelieu. She made war upon him in her own way; and, dating
from that day, became dear to the people of Paris, who had always loved
to vex and to humble the Government. She wrote with a certain pride:
"On that occasion my conduct did not at all answer to my years. I did
not want to be amused in any way; and they could not even make me go to
the assemblies at the Louvre." As she had no better scapegoat, her bad
humour was vented on the King. She constantly growled at him, demanding
that he should bring back her "papa." But Mademoiselle was never able
to pout to such purpose that she could stay away from the palace long,
for she was a true courtier, firmly convinced that to be away from
Court was to be in a desert, no matter how many servants and companions
might surround her. She soon mended her broken relations with the
assemblies and the collations of the Louvre, and could not refrain from
"entering into the joy of her heart" when "Their Majesties" sent word
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