The Washington herald., 1916-05-14
YOUR WEDDING DAY
hND
The Famous Men and Women VII,
Have Shared 1t.
May IA Louis XVIII and Marie
Josephine.
By MAnl MNn>H,I,I,


The story Of The married life of The
French prince who is best known to
history as Kins Louis NVITI and his
poor little dull-witted wife i the
usual account Of royal wismatfng
Louis was brilliant. pleasure loving.
cultivated. afoctiOnate aud responsive
A. Bourbon princes went he was even
high principaled. Had he been married
TO A woman who inspired him he might
nave Iett larger mark on the PAGE
Of history. But what could poor little
Marie Josephine do" She was dull and
unrespomsive aud Unamhitiou~. and
save for pair Of kind and soft eyes
she had no claim to being the least hit
pretty
Louis, it will I've recalled. was the
grandson Of Iodls Nv aud the Young
er brother Of the luckless Louis NVI
AS child he lived amidst the spIeudOr
and maEniicenCe of the court at Yer
sailles, splendor that was waning, to
be sure, but still part Of the old re-
gime. His grandfather Louis Nv. was
still on the throne and Madame du
Barry ruled at court As a matter Of
fact il WAS all Madame du Barry'S
dolngs that the young Comte de Prov
enCe. 70" that was his title i'm those
days, marrIeu Marie Josephine. The
elder brother, who became Louis NNI
had married Marie Antoinette whose
beauty and vvaCity had made her
favorite with the king This. Of course
du Barry resented and II was with the
hope of bringing into France a for
midable rival for Marie Antoinette in
the estimation of the old king that
she chose Marie Josephine. Du Barry
knew she was stupid and hoped in this
way to have the asCendenCy over her
Accordingly she drew up a list of per
sons whom the princess was to have
as her household and every one Of
them was a personal champion of du
Barry.
Du Barry was influential enough to
bring the match to a consummatiOn.
but she was not shrewd enough to aC-
complish her purpose against the Dau-
phine, Marie AntOinette. for from the
first the strange little princess in a
strange land was drawn to her sister
in-law and before many months had
passed Marie Antoinette had her COM
pletely in her power.
At the time of the marriage Marie
Josephine was twenty years old and
her husband was two years her Junior.
1t is said that while no one could find
anything in the little princess to ad-
mire save her pretty eyes. the prince
took his part in his marriage service
and festivities with so much grace and
dignity that every one who watched
felt a feeling of love for him. At the
service itself he answered yes" so
loudly to the question Of the priest
that every one in the church was start
led.
When Louis NVI and Marie Antoi-
nette were married a day less than
three years before it seemed as if the
French court went to the extreme Of
extrava gance and frivolity in Celebrat-
ing the nuptials. But the marriage OF
the younger brother was celebrated
with even greater eXtrava ganCe. The
fireworks set off at Versailles for the
occasion were the most expensive ever
displayed But in it all the little
princess Marie Josephine was but an
unimportsnt figure.
In spite OF her dulluess and lack Of
beauty Marie Josephine did her very
best to make her husband happy-nOt
{ because she had any special desire -
please but because she considered il
her wifeIy duty to make him happy But
she was HttIe appreciated. It was
not till after her death that Louis
realized what the plain little wife he'd
been to him. Il confess ! did not real
ize I loved the queen so much" he
wrote at this time to a friend. and