Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 7: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the QueenCampan, Mme. (Jeanne-Louise-Henriette)
History
Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 7: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen
Campan, Mme. (Jeanne-Louise-Henriette)
France -- Court and courtiers; Marie Antoinette, Queen, consort of Louis XVI, King of France, 1755-1793
Such was the farewell of their subjects to the House of Bourbon. The
fugitives landed at Weymouth; the Duchesse d'Angouleme under the title of
Comtesse de Marne, the Duchesse de Berri as Comtesse de Rosny, and her
son, Henri de Bordeaux, as Comte de Chambord, the title he retained till
his death, originally taken from the estate presented to him in infancy by
his enthusiastic people. Holyrood, with its royal and gloomy
associations, was their appointed dwelling. The Duc and Duchesse
d'Angouleme, and the daughter of the Duc de Berri, travelled thither by
land, the King and the young Comte de Chambord by sea. "I prefer my route
to that of my sister," observed the latter, "because I shall see the coast
of France again, and she will not."
The French Government soon complained that at Holyrood the exiles were
still too near their native land, and accordingly, in 1832, Charles X.,
with his son and grandson, left Scotland for Hamburg, while the Duchesse
d'Angouleme and her niece repaired to Vienna. The family were reunited at
Prague in 1833, where the birthday of the Comte de Chambord was celebrated
with some pomp and rejoicing, many Legitimists flocking thither to
congratulate him on attaining the age of thirteen, which the old law of
monarchical France had fixed as the majority of her princes. Three years
later the wanderings of the unfortunate family recommenced; the Emperor
Francis II. was dead, and his successor, Ferdinand, must visit Prague to
be crowned, and Charles X. feared that the presence of a discrowned
monarch might be embarrassing on such an occasion. Illness and sorrow
attended the exiles on their new journey, and a few months after they were
established in the Chateau of Graffenburg at Goritz, Charles X. died of
cholera, in his eightieth year. At Goritz, also, on the 31st May, 1844,
the Duchesse d'Angouleme, who had sat beside so many death-beds, watched
over that of her husband. Theirs had not been a marriage of affection in
youth, but they respected each other's virtues, and to a great extent
shared each other's tastes; banishment and suffering had united them very
closely, and of late years they had been almost inseparable,--walking,
riding, and reading together. When the Duchesse d'Angouleme had seen her
husband laid by his father's side in the vault of the Franciscan convent,
she, accompanied by her nephew and niece, removed to Frohsdorf, where they
spent seven tranquil years. Here she was addressed as "Queen" by her
household for the first time in her life, but she herself always
recognised Henri, Comte de Chambord, as her sovereign. The Duchess lived
to see the overthrow of Louis Philippe, the usurper of the inheritance of
her family. Her last attempt to exert herself was a characteristic one.
She tried to rise from a sick-bed in order to attend the memorial service
held for her mother, Marie Antoinette, on the 16th October, the
anniversary of her execution. But her strength was not equal to the task;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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