Discussions about the Imperial Family and European Royalty > French Royals
Marie Antoinette and Axel Fersen
elena_maria_vidal:
Great pictures! Yes, the phrase on the ring was in Italian, thanks!
Sissi:
;) I wonder why it was in Italian! Marie Antoinette had a rather poor knowledge of Italian! I wonder if italian might have a secret or special meaning for them!
I read that she used the ring even when was imprisoned she sent it to Fersen almost at the end, when she knew that she would never see him again.
Sissi:
This was Marie Antoinette cell it has been transformed into a seldom used chapel! (la Conciergerie)
elena_maria_vidal:
--- Quote --- ;) I wonder why it was in Italian! Marie Antoinette had a rather poor knowledge of Italian! I wonder if italian might have a secret or special meaning for them!
I read that she used the ring even when was imprisoned she sent it to Fersen almost at the end, when she knew that she would never see him again.
--- End quote ---
Oh, I always thought that the queen knew Italian quite well. According to Mme de Lamballe, a native Italian, Marie-Antoinette, corresponded with her sisters in Italian (two of whom were married to Italian princes). I also heard she knew Italian diction well enough to sing arias. It was the language of the arts and and having a working knowledge of it was part of the most basic education for a princess. Her tutor in Italian as a child was the famous poet, Padre Mestastio. It seems like I even remember reading somewhere that the queen herself wrote verses in that language.
When Madame Royale was born, Louis, who had made a wager with Empress Maria Teresa over the gender of the child, said to Antoinette after the long and difficult labor, the verses of her former tutor Mestastio:
Io perdrei: l'augusta figlia
A pagar, m'a condemnato
Ma s'e ver che a voi somiglia
Tutto il mondo guadognato.
("I have lost, my august daughter has condemned me to pay: but if she should be like you, then all the world has won.")
Yes, she sent the ring to Fersen towards the end to thank him for all that he had tried to do for herself and her family.
elena_maria_vidal:
--- Quote ---
This was Marie Antoinette cell it has been transformed into a seldom used chapel! (la Conciergerie)
--- End quote ---
It did not look like that the last time I was there, in 1999. It was beautiful, with a memorial dedicated to Mme. Elisabeth some some moving oil paintings of the queen in prison.
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