Queen Margaret of France

**Margaret Isabella Mary Anne Rose Vaisey** (French: *Marguerite Isabelle Marie Anne Rosie Vaisey*; born **Gertrude Armina Harimanna Grace**; 2 November 1755 – 9 August 1830) was one of the last queens of France's Bourbon ruling dynasty before the Bonaparte dynasty came to power. She was born a grand duchess of Vaisey and was the eldest child and first-born daughter of High Empress Esme and her consort High Emperor William. She became dauphine of France in May 1770 at age 14 upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she became queen.

Margaret was a much-beloved queen consort of France, as she had produced several sons [all of whom survived to adulthood, married and had children] and was unreceptive towards Marie Antoinette [her first-cousin and niece of her father], whom she saw as "unworthy to marry the heir apparent of any throne" - being disgusted by her and her mere presence. Her position at court had been stable since the beginning with many of her critics characterizing her as "wise, yet bold and charitable. She attempted to improve every aspect of an ordinary French peasant's life to the point where she was nicknamed "The Mother of France". Though she was directly related to Austrian royalty through her father [William Wilhelm], she deeply despised Austria and found herself more closely connected to her homeland of Vaisey and her husband's homeland of France, citing them as "the most beautiful places I have ever visited". During the Revolution, she attempted to help her adoptive homeland of France though her efforts were much in vain much to her dismay; much to the horror of her parents and parents-in-law she sold some of her own jewelry [held by her in her own right] in order to pay off debts accumulated by the Kingdom during various wars it was dragged into. The Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries Palace were places where statues of Queen Margaret were placed during the revolution and many members of the revolutionary movement favored making Margaret temporarily the head-of-state for France; Margaret refused despite heavy opposition to her refusal. In 21 January 1793, Margaret reluctantly accepted the position of temporary head-of-state for France and after the First French Republic was abolished, she became the *suo juro* [in her own right] Queen regnant of France due to the political ambitions of her parents. Marie Feodorovna who married one of her brothers, was later arrested and finally imprisoned for the remaining years of her life, for perpetuating the affair of the diamond necklace which significantly damaged the reputation of the extremely pious and piety-driven Queen Margaret [Marie Feodorovna's sister-in-law]. Her reign led to significantly reformation and the nobility were practically threatened into giving up many of their rights, with a large sense of equality sweeping the nation. Queen Margaret was only one of two Queen regnants of France who reigned in her own right and all of her male children were married off to women rulers while her female children were chosen as her successors. She died of typhoid fever on 9 August 1830 at 5:15 PM; her daughter had been born that morning of 9 August. She was succeeded by her eldest child and first-born daughter, Sophie Beatrix of the House of Bourbon-Irene-Aquitania.

## Background

Margaret Isabella was born on 2 November 1755 at the York-Lancaster Palace, Hampshire, United Kingdom then part of the vast British Empire. She was the eldest daughter of High Empress Esme, ruler of the Vaisey Empire, and her husband, High Emperor William. Her godparents were Joseph I and his wife Mariana Victoria, King and Queen of Portugal; Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria traveled to witness the birth of the young grand duchess, whom she called "very beautiful" in her diary entry about Margaret`s birth. Margaret Isabella was born on All Souls Day, a Catholic day of mourning, and during her childhood and her later adulthood years, her birthday was instead celebrated the day before, on All Saint's Day, due to the connotations of the date. Shortly after her birth her mother accorded on her the style of *"Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Margaret Isabella of Modena*" - Modena being held in personal union with the imperial crown and usually by the heir apparent of the Vaisey Empire [previously known as the Britannica Empire]. Her father widely favored her as one of his most favorite children; calling her "daddy`s little flower"; he doted heavily on her, causing her to grow up slightly conceited, selfish and she was often described as a "right little terror" by her mother who heavily disapproved of her father constantly spoiling her. Underneath the rigid and formal court protocol of her parents` court, Margaret Isabella grew up into a stern, firm, wise and well-educated consort. At the age of 10 she could write nearly perfectly in Greek, Latin [considered one of the hardest languages at the time] and was fond of speaking a variety of other languages including: German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Serbian, French, Spanish and Danish with her parents, her siblings and members of the imperial court. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart often visited the court, even dining with the young princess, whom regarded him as a friend and recommended him various women as brides. Considered the smartest of her parents' children during her lifetime, she held a high position at court and was favored greatly by both of her parents.

Later in 1768, Mathieu-Jacques de Vermond was dispatched by Louis XV to tutor Margaret Isabella in her studies to become the future wife to Louis XVI and the future queen consort of the Kingdom of France. Mathieu was instantly enthralled with the young Imperial princess and lavished her with compliments regarding her "excellent poise when directing herself as if she was gliding across the ballroom floor, her well-cultured mind and the easiness in which she relaxed those around her simply by the sound of her voice." He found her "extremely wise beyond her years," and since "she is extremely focused and dedicated to her studies, she is quite easy to instruct."

## Dauphine of France (1770–1774)

Following the Seven Years' War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, on 7 February 1770, Louis-Auguste, duc de Berry and Dauphin of France proposed to his childhood friend and first love, Grand Duchess Margaret Isabella Pavlovna of Vaisey. Much to his great surprise and joy, she accepted his proposal and the two celebrated their engagement by appearing at the annual Imperial May Picnic Celebration together. Margaret Isabella formally renounced her rights to Irene-Aquitania domains [though she would resume her position as the heir apparent if her marriage was dissolved], and on 19 April she was married by proxy to the Dauphin of France at the St. Margaret Church in Vienna, with all of her siblings standing in for the Dauphin and his family. On 14 May she met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. Upon arriving in France, she immediately changed her name to Marguerite Eleanor; her parents were shocked. A further ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The couple immediately consummated the marriage, which made Margaret extremely pleased.

As the Vaisey Empire had long been neutral and refused alliances of all kinds, simply because they liked their isolation more than interacting with countries outside of their borders, the alliance forged with France shocked the whole of Europe`s community. The Dauphine was widely popular among the people of her birthplace and many foreign royals, especially those in the Kingdom of France saw her as a highly virtuous woman who upheld great piety and was extremely generous to the poor people of the Empire. The marriage brought renewed hopes for the Kingdom of France to transition into a constitutional monarchy, something which Margaret deeply wanted to help move along, evident by her letters to her parents.

Madame du Barry proved to be a helpful ally to the young Dauphine, who seemly had no qualms with having her be her father-in-law`s mistress. Barry was Louis XV's mistress and had considerable political influence over him. Due to the Dauphine and Madame du Barry being close political allies, the two of them often associated in the same social circles and she often doted on the parentless Zamor; a servant to the Madame du Barry, harboring maternal-like feelings towards him. In turn, Zamor saw Margaret as his surrogate mother and often addressed her by the informal "maman" when in the company of Margaret and her immediate family but reverted to the formal mère" when in the company of the French royal court. Armand Gagné, Ernestine Lambriquet, Jean Amilcar and Zoë" Jeanne Louise Victoire were some of the children adopted by the couple. The grandmother of Armand had died and before her death sent a letter to the Dauphine and Dauphin begging for them to take care of her grandson; the couple agreed and adopted him into their family. On New Year's Day 1772 the two of them celebrated the marriage of Zamor to one of the dauphine`s nieces [by blood]: Marie Feodorovna with Zamor being blood-adopted by the imperial family [the House of Navarre] who ruled over the Empire of Nebula, thus making the marriage dynastically legal. As a result, Zamor became a member of her family.

## Queen of France and Navarre (1774–1791)

### **Early years (1774–1778)**

    Upon the death of Louis XV on 10 May 1774, the Dauphin ascended the throne as King Louis XVI of France and Navarre with Marguerite Isabelle becoming his Queen. The new queen was not interested in political matters and as such, was not interested in involving herself in political affairs, preferring to open charities with her own money and trying to find ways in which to improve the lives of the people inside and outside Versalias. Chief Minister Maurepas and Foreign Minister Vergennes respected the young queen, for though she didn`t often intervene in political affairs of the country, finding them to be tiresome and bothersome affairs, she was a screwd woman with a innate sense of politics, whom held a sense of wisdom far beyond her years - all of which had helped her while she was still acting as the heir apparent [to her parents before her marriage] for the Vaisey Empire. Marguerite simply loathed Choiseul and urged her husband [during one of their rare moments alone] to never replace the duc d'Aiguillon with Choiseul, as she feared that without the help of the duc d'Aiguillon, he could be manipulated into making decisions that would doom France to utter destruction.

On 24 May 1774, two weeks after the death of Louis XV, the king gifted to his wife the Petit Trianon, a small château on the grounds of Versailles that had been built by Louis XV for his mistress, Madame de Pompadour. Much to his shock, the Queen refused to use the property and instead turned into a small hospital for the workers on the grounds of Versailles. Due to this action, the new Queen therefore became associated with charity and kindness towards the poor, especially the peasants - the aristocracy heralded her as a wise and just queen, even stating that "the mere sound of her voice was enough to stop any wrongs; she was the caretaker of the poor on these grounds, she was truly a goddess in the body of a human."

The queen spent nothing on fashion, luxuries, and gambling, instead the members of her court dressed simply similar to the middle working class of France [something which they complained about], the parties were kept to a minimum and the young royal couple enjoyed the secure financial circumstances of their country. Instead of populating expensive stores and shopping at some of the most expensive places; the Queen and her daughters enjoyed running through the countryside, riding horses and doing generally unlady-like things when in the company of their immediate family. Though the French royal family were misers during this time, they were also happier as both the king and queen played close attention to their young children, often playing with them with Château de Marly becoming the place of rest for the court. Though not often, the Queen liked to take her husband, her children and several of the country`s military officers to visit her family, whom liked their company. Her simple style and almost spartan-like style of dress was emulated by the court, whom aimed to please her in every way. In her correspondence, Marguerite Isabelle's mother, Esme Pavlovna, expressed concern over her daughter's safety and even begged her to come home, to which she refused.

As early as 1774, a small minority of the nobility at court expressed discontentment with the queen's spartan-like upbringing of her young children, the king refused to address the issue at all, considering it to be in good practice and helpful for the formation of his sons' characters as future warrior kings of the Kingdom of France France. The Queen was so infuriated by the minority of noble women and noblemen accusing her of abusing her children, the future heirs and consorts to other countries that she even had her husband ban them from Versailles for going against the law of the queen consort. The King was highly incensed by the implications of such a suggestion as abuse and stripped the ladies and men of their titles, land and servants rendering them effectively peasants once more. The property reverted to the direct possession of the crown and it was used to pay off heavy debts that the Kingdom had accumulated which the people welcomed as a nice change of pace.

### **Motherhood, changes at court, intervention in politics (1778–1781)**

On 18 April 1777, her family visited her, her husband and her husband and her two infants at Château de la Muette; while visiting them, her two infant children accidently fell off a balcony and cracked their heads open on the grounds below. Marguerite was extremely distraught and fell into a deep depression, from which she never fully recovered. Her husband was similarly horrified when he saw the scene and the whole court fell into mourning for seventy-three days. The Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II came to France incognito, using the name Comte de Falkenstein, for a six-week visit during which he toured Paris extensively and was a guest at Versailles. He was reluctant to visit the mourning queen as her hatred of the Austrian House of Hasburg was extremely notorious in the whole of Europe itself; he relented after her husband begged him to visit her in order to cheer her up. Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany [the brother of Joseph II], also visited France and together, the two of them went to see the mourning queen. Her mood was not helped upon seeing her Austrian cousins but she allowed them to visit her and even took breakfast, lunch and dinner in their company. On August 1777, the mourning queen and her husband consummated their marriage once more, in the hopes of the queen becoming pregnant. Eight months later, in April 1778, it was suspected that the queen was pregnant, which was officially announced on 16 May. Marguerite Isabelle's son Francis Auguste, *Dauphin of France*, was born at Versailles on 19 December 1778. The birth of a boy [the previous two children of the royal couple had both been girls]. The birth of an heir apparent was celebrated by a gun salute and the people of France eagerly celebrated the birth by partying and dancing in their homes. Axel von Fersen the Younger; a friend of the young queen and whom had married one [Grand Duchess Yolanda Pavlovna] of her own younger sisters welcomed the birth of an heir to the throne of France, calling it "exciting" and "full of happiness" for the young royal couple.

In the middle of the queen's pregnancy two events occurred which had a profound effect on her later life: the return of her close friend and brother-in-law, the Swedish diplomat Count Axel von Fersen to Versailles for two years, and the claim of Archduchess Maria Antonia brother's claim to the throne of Bavaria, contested by the Habsburg monarchy and Prussia. The Peace of Teschen, signed on 13 May 1779, ended the brief conflict, the queen was so enraged about the treaty that she forced her husband to never again sign a treaty like he just did ever again with Austria or any of their allies. Her husband reluctantly agreed pleasing Marguerite greatly, though he expressed his dislike of his wife intervening in political matters involving Austria [whom she despised greatly] in his diary which he guarded fiercely from his guards before his execution.

Meanwhile, the queen began to institute changes in court customs. Some of them met with the disapproval of the older generation, such as the abandonment of heavy make-up and the popular wide-hooped panniers. The new fashion called for a simpler feminine look, with the rustic robe à la polonaise style being one of the most popular styles. The Queen wore a simple silk fabric dress that emphasized her hourglass figure. Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun was a friend of the King of France and often painted the Queen [Marguerite Isabelle] when she was unaware of her presence. During his reign as King, he had a unknown locksmith from the birthplace of his wife make him a locket for which he had Vigée paint a portrait of his wife and son sitting together for, sized to fit the small locket.

Repayment of the French debt remained a difficult problem, further exacerbated by Vergennes prodding Louis XVI to involve France in Great Britain's war with its North American colonies. The Queen disapproved as the war worsened the financial situation of the country and placed the blame on the royal family, specifically the King and Queen. Due to her husband constantly appearing at meetings about the war, the Queen served as the public face of the country. During this time, Marguerite was constantly ill from the pressure of serving as the public face of the country. On 27 March 1785, Marguerite gave birth to a second son, Louis August, who bore the title of duc de Normandie.

## French Revolution before Varennes (1789–1791)

The situation escalated on 20 June as the Third Estate, which had been joined by several members of the clergy and radical nobility, found the door to its appointed meeting place closed by order of the king. It thus met at the tennis court in Versailles and took the Tennis Court Oath not to separate before a constitution had been given to the nation. The Queen was horrified once she learned of the perilous political situation and frantically asked the guards where her husband was. When she learned that the Third Estate found the door to its appointed meeting place closed by order of the king, she cried tears of frustration as she realized how bad the situation had become.

## Events leading to the abolition of the monarchy on 10 August 1792

### **Louis XVI's trial and execution**

Charged with treason against the French First Republic, Louis XVI was separated from his family and tried in December. He was found guilty by the Convention. On 15 January 1793, by a majority of six votes, he was condemned to death by guillotine and executed on 21 January 1793. A letter delivered to the queen directly after his trial and execution confirmed the death of the king as well as a piece of jewelry that had once belonged to him. Inside the opened locket she discovered was a picture of her and her eldest child [on the left side of the locket]; there was also a picture of a young Louis XVI and Marguerite happily smiling with their two eldest children [dead at the time of Louis XVI's trial and execution] sitting on their laps [on the right side of the locket]. When she saw the pictures in the locket, maids reported that "she broke down crying; it was as if all of her sorrow had been unleashed. The locket was tightly clutched to her chest as if she was nursing a baby. She truly loved him, so the keening loss she felt by him being executed must have broken down her mental stability."

## Trial (14–16 October 1793)

### **Foreign Response**

After her imprisonment, Marguerite Isabelle became a symbol aboard as a consequence and controversial figure of the French Revolution. Some used her as a scapegoat to blame for the events of the Revolution. The French First Republic saw her as a "pious young queen, a slip of a girl whom tried to help where she could. She was not to be blamed for the revolution, she tried to warn her husband and he never listened to her. Her diary entries suggest as much."

## Quotes

* (To herself, about her younger brother Alexander) *"His feelings..it is hard to decipher them. To be honest, it is really hard to understand his feelings."*
* (To Madame du Barry) *"What would I know about mistresses? My weak-willed father never took one, my mother would metaphorically skin him alive if he did anyway. She was the powerful one in the relationship, being an High Empress* suo juro *anyways."*
* (To herself, in regards to Louis XVI) *"One more time, I wanted to see him, to hold his hand, to be his wife! I wanted to protect him. I wanted to risk my life for him! I wanted to go home together just one last time and now..I finally can. Wait for me, my love. I will be coming very soon."*

## Trivia

* Margaret's surname of "Irene-Aquitania" is also the name of her birth house Irene-Aquitania who reigns over almost every single country in the Mythical Nations alliance.
	+ After her marriage her surname changed to "Bourbon" which heavily amused the young Dauphine at the time.
* Marguerite didn't love her husband at the beginning but grew to love him as the years passed, to the point where she wept once she learned that he had been executed.
* Empress Elisabeth of L'Oréal appears identical [in appearance only] to Queen Margaret and was once even mistaken for the late French Queen.
	+ Alix of Hesse and by Rhine's family were directly descended from Queen Margaret by one of her illegimente children: Henrietta Anne de Bourbon.
* In the last known painting from her reign, she is shown wearing several pieces of jewelry from the French Crown Jewels including the Hanging Tree Earrings; an elaborate string of pearls wound in her hair and the Margaret Necklace, given to her by her parents as a wedding gift.
	+ Empress Elisabeth of L'Oréal; Margaret's descendant was depicted in her coronation photo wearing the small, dangling blue-diamond earrings that she received during her childhood. The diary of one of her younger siblings: Grand Duchess Rose Pavlovna notes that all of her older sister [Queen Margaret]'s jewelry pieces [all personally owned by the Queen] were passed down to all of her children and members of her blood-related immediate family.
* She had congenital heterochromia; a condition that causes to have two differently-colored eyes, her younger sister Grand Duchess Rose Pavlovna called her eyes "beautifully stunning and without compare in the world" in all of her various diary entries.