Tag: Louis XVI

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Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

A scene from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
A scene from the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

I had a hard time deciding on a title for this blog. It could have been several titles and I still would have gotten your attention.

I love Madonna. I love Marilyn Monroe. They were the “IT” girls for their respective generation. In 1953, Marilyn starred in a movie called, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She sang the song, Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Thirty-one years later, Madonna produced and starred in the video entitled, “Material Girl.” Both dance scenes are eerily alike—check them out below. However, approximately 173 years earlier, the French “IT” girl was Marie Antoinette.

The “Other” Woman.

King Louis XV ordered a diamond necklace to be made for his “favorite”—Madame du Barry. It was quite expensive and took many years to find the right diamonds. During this time, Louis died and Madame du Barry was banished from the court (as was the custom with the king’s mistresses).

The Parisian jewelers funded the creation of the necklace out of pocket and so they were anxious to sell the necklace to Louis’s successor, King Louis XVI. There was only one problem. Marie Antoinette hated Madame du Barry and when Louis XVI presented the necklace to his wife, she turned him down. Now, the jewelers were in a fix. Without the sale of the necklace, they would go out of business. Read More Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend

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Blood in a Gourd

History Buffs Welcome!

If you’re a history nut like I am you’ll likely be interested in crazy stuff like this. You all know that we’re about ready to publish the first two books on the French Revolution (Where Did They Put the Guillotine?—A Walking Tour of Revolutionary Paris). As part of the journey in writing this book, I’ve come away with some interesting stories.

Louis XVI in Saint-Denis Cathedral. Photo by Dan Owen

One of the stories is about the little Dauphin who was murdered at the age of ten while a prisoner in The Temple. Interesting story but the part I want to highlight is about the doctor who performed the autopsy. He cut the heart out of the child (this was common practice back then—the heart would be buried separately from the body) and managed to keep it in his possession for many years. The liquids preserving the heart dried up and as a consequence, the heart shriveled. It was also lost for many years before it resurfaced.

 Rumor Has It…

Subsequent to the end of the Revolution, many stories floated around that the Dauphin had escaped by being substituted for another young boy. The royalists clung to this theory for decades. Although not formally crowned, the Dauphin became known as Louis XVII (upon the formal restoration, his uncle became Louis XVIII). When the heart ultimately resurfaced, the question became, was this the heart of the Dauphin? If so, would this prove he died in prison? DNA testing was performed on the heart and confirmed to be his. It put to rest the conspiracy theories and the vial containing the little heart can be viewed at St. Denis, the royal necropolis outside Paris. Read More Blood in a Gourd