Discussions about the Imperial Family and European Royalty > French Royals
Marie Antoinette and Axel Fersen
Carol Jean:
Hi I don't think that Marie Antoinette and Ferson were actual lovers and I do not think that the son that she had in 1785 was from Ferson. Of course
I have my own reasons to believe that he was the son of King Louis XVI, but I also know that a wife of a King could be killed if her husband found out that she had an affair. He was the power, whether he was a great King or not. Just like a president has the power wheather he is right or wrong in what he does. I think that Marie Antoinette was smart enough to know that she could be killed and not see her children grow up which was one of the heartache's that she had when she was going to the guillotine. She loved her children and had to watch two of them die. Maybe her comment of not wanting any more children was because she had such a hard time when she had her babies. And I don't believe she was a saint either but I do believe she was human in her feelings and thoughts.
CountessKate:
--- Quote ---I also know that a wife of a King could be killed if her husband found out that she had an affair. He was the power, whether he was a great King or not. Just like a president has the power wheather he is right or wrong in what he does.
--- End quote ---
While it may be true that 18th century sovereigns had the power to execute their spouses for adultery, I am not aware of a single instance in which that happened, and it was not by any means infrequent. Sovereigns' spouses known or suspected to have lovers included Caroline Mathilda of Denmark, Catherine of Russia, Maria Luisa of Spain, and Marie Antoinette's sister Maria Amalia of Parma. Disgrace and imprisonment were more the norm, although Maria Luisa of Spain had a pretty obvious relationship with Manuel Godoy and nothing happened to her as a result, and Catherine of Russia turned the tables on her husband, imprisoned him and assumed the throne. There might be many reasons why Marie Antoinette might have loved Fersen but not had a sexual relationship with him - sheer pressure of continually being observed by servants and courtiers, and lack of privacy, might be some of them - but I don't believe that a rather theoretic fear of execution was a genuine factor.
Carol Jean:
I am sure that you are right.
Romanov_fan:
One example of an imprisoned spouse in the early mid 17th- early 18th century was Sophia- Dorothea of Zelle, wife of George I of England when he was still Elector of Hanover. He imprisoned her for life for adultery and divorced her, and had her lover murdered. But even she though died imprisoned as an old lady she wasn't killed, just her lover. Killing your wife for comitting adultery seems to have died with Henry VIII having Catharine Howard executed. Louis XVI was also not the type to do this- it took a certain personality type. MA does seem to have been the only French Queen consort of the last few centuries of French monarchy who you can say might have had a lover, as far as I'm aware.
CountessKate:
Marguerite de Valois, Henri IV's first queen had numerous lovers, and Anne of Austria was suspected of having Cardinal Mazarin as her lover, though not within the lifetime of Louis XIII; and she had some sort of relationship with the Duke of Buckingham, although I'm not sure how much that was the invention of Dumas. Due to the long reigns of Louis XIII, Louis XIV and Louis XV there weren't many Queens of France in the 17th and 18th centuries - there were only two queens between Anne (who was Marie Antoinette's great-great-great grandmother twice over) and Marie Antoinette. But Marie Therese and Maria Leszczyńska probably set the mould for virtuous queens of France - though it's rather hard to know what Louis XVI would have actually done if Marie Antoinette had been revealed to have had a lover (and digressing here, why on earth would you automatically assume a letter which made its recipient burst into tears mean that his wife was unfaithful - couldn't it mean any number of things like his dog or horse or old nanny had died - the assumption just seems bizarre and there's no other indication that Louis XVI thought anything of the sort). Somehow you think of him as the sort of man who would refuse to believe it and remonstrate long and earnestly to his wife in private about how improper it all appeared and please don't show such public favour to Fersen in future.
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