Reid Productions, Diana Reid Haig, Elliot Mazer

Walks through
Marie Antoinette´s Paris
Diana Reid Haig

“Madame, you now have two hundred thousand lovers!” The Governor of Paris shouted to Marie-Antoinette as she bowed to crowds in the Tuileries garden during her first visit to the city in 1773.

Marie-Antoinette loved Paris. In the late 1770s, she visited regularly, sometimes several times a week, and reveled in the pleasures offered by the great city. Her life became a blur of masked balls, horse races, and nights at the theatre and Opera. Initially adored by Parisians, the young Queen’s extravagance slowly drew the wrath of the people until she was despised. For the first time, her tragic story is told through visits to the spots in and around Paris where her life played out. Walks through Marie Antoinette’s Paris takes us through France’s capital and royal chateaux, and leads us on a fascinating tour of the historic sights – from prisons to palaces – touched by the history of Marie Antoinette.

Rich in anecdote and period detail, informative and packed with information, this guidebook to historic Paris and the royal palaces (Compiègne, Versailles, Fontainebleau, and Rambouillet) sweeps us back to an elegant, turbulent time and allows us to follow Marie Antoinette’s life from her arrival in France in 1770 to her journey to the guillotine in 1793. Chapters are devoted to the queen’s elegant private home at the Petit Trianon, reconstructed grand appartements at the royal chateaux of Fontainebleau and Versailles, and her dairy at Rambouillet. Visitor information and maps are included, along with listings of historic shops and museums where memorabilia relating to the queen can be seen.

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LOUVRE-ATLANTA LECTURE - HIGH MUSEUM OF ART - ATLANTA, GEORGIA - THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2008 - JOSEPHINE AND THE ARTS lecture. Join Diana as she examines Josephine’s legendary art collection and shows images of her homes, fashion, furniture, and china. Marie-Antoinette´s influence on Napoleon´s legendary empress will also be discussed. Diana will be lecturing as part of the Louvre-Atlanta partnership. 7 p.m. - Hill Auditorium --

HOT READS - FEBRUARY 2008 "Looking for a fresh romantic read that´s not a bodice-ripping Harlequin romance? Try these nonfiction titles to add to your library of love this month... ´Walks Through Marie Antoinette´s Paris´ by Diana Reid Haig.  Historic accounts, copies of paintings and interesting morsels of information." -- Mary Anne Zollar, Huntsville Times

"This compact, elegantly designed book weaves guided itineraries into a compelling tale of the 14-year-old Austrian archduchess who charmed the French, but whose fortunes sank as revolution built." -- Christine Delsol, San Francisco Chronicle,

"Beautifully written and composed... We here at Marie Antoinette Online give [this book] 5 stars." -- www.marie-antoinette.org

"There are few more enjoyable ways to bring the French past alive than to wander the streets of Paris and Versailles with Diana Reid Haig´s lively, well-researched book in hand." -- David Bell, Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University

Download a free PDF of two chapters from this book at the Paris Notes website (online home of the popular international newsletter). Here´s how: go to the Paris Notes home page at www.parisnotes.com Then click on the "Free PDFs" section at the left hand side of the sceen; scroll down until you see the cover of "Walks through Marie Antoinette´s Paris." Enjoy! --

Emmy Award Winning producer and radio personality Carol Lee Espy interviewed Diana on January 17th on KDKA radio in Pittsburgh on her show "the Life Lounge." This show can also be heard on the KDKA website at -- www.kdka.com

The Dauphine

François-Hubert Drouais’s expressive painting of the seventeen-year-old Dauphine was completed in 1773 -- three years after Marie Antoinette’s arrival in France.

Paris in the 1700s

A fragment of the Plan of Paris, known as the ´Plan de Turgot,’ showing the Seine, the Louvre, and the Tuileries.

The Queen

A miniature (after Jean François Janinet’s mid-1770s portrait) of Marie Antoinette in court gown wearing a “bandeau d’amour” headdress decorated with feathers and pearls.

View of the Trianon

An 18th century engraving of the Petit Trianon by the Chevalier de Lespinasse (Louis-Nicolas de Lespinasse).

Petit Trianon

A recent photograph of the Queen’s private home at Versailles showing Jacques-Ange Gabriel’s timeless design.

Petit Trianon Boudoir

The author at the Trianon reflected in the moving mirrors of the Cabinet des glaces mouvantes. This room’s unusual design featured mirrors that descended into the floor during the day but covered the room’s windows at night to ensure privacy.

Queen’s Theatre

Marie Antoinette commissioned this exquisite theatre, designed by architect Richard Mique, near the Trianon and appeared in many plays here during the early 1780s. Mique lived in a small apartment above the theatre.

Parc de Monceau

This Parisian park was much admired by Marie-Antoinette, who incorporated elements of its design into her garden at Versailles. The Parc Monceau is still decorated with the picturesque folies that delighted 18th century visitors, including this large colonnade.

Conciergerie

Considered one of Paris’s worst prisons, the Conciergerie was part of a complex of buildings that held the Revolutionary Tribunal and various courts of law. The former Queen was imprisoned here before her execution in 1793.

Photographs: Elliot Mazer

Sights included in book:

Near Paris:

Château de Versailles (Royal Chapel, Opera House, Petit Appartements, Petit Trianon, Hameau)
Château de Compiègne
Château de Rambouillet
Laiterie de la Reine at Rambouillet
Château de Fontainebleau

In Paris:

Notre-Dame de Paris
Théâtre Français
Panthéon (Sainte-Geneviève)
Conciergerie
Palais De Justice - Cour Du Mai
Place de la Concorde
Chapelle Expiatoire
Palais-Royal
Site of Au Grand Mogol, Rose Bertin’s shop
Banque de France (Hotel de Toulouise)
Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois
Bibliothèque Nationale (Richelieu site)
Square du Temple (site of the Temple prison)
Hôtel de Rohan
Musée Carnavalet
Hôtel de Ville
Hôtel de la Marine - former royal furniture warehouse
Axel Ferson’s residence

Basilique Saint-Denis
Château et Parc de Chantilly, Musée Condé, and Hameau
Musée national de Céramique de Sèvres
Domaine national de Saint-Cloud
Domaine de Montreuil (Résidence de Madame Élisabeth)

Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin
Site of the Bastille
Bois de Boulogne
Château de Bagatelle
Rotonde de Chartres
Parc Monceau
Petit Luxembourg
Théâtre de l’Odéon
Pont de la Concorde
Palais Bourbon (National Assembly)
Champ-de-Mars
Site of the Tuileries Palace
Rue Saint-Honoré
The Louvre
Versailles – Main Chateau
Versailles – Petit Trianon
Bagatelle Chateau
Hôtel des Monnaies/Le Musée de la Monnaie
Palais Bourbon (National Assembly)

This book contains information about shops patronized by Marie-Antoinette. Here are links to a few.

Ancienne Manufacture Royale
Breguet
Debauve & Gallais
Mellerio dits Meller

The Rules of Versailles
In her memoirs, Mme. de la Tour du Pin, wife of the head of the château’s militia, wrote that life at Versailles had never been so, “pleasure-seeking as in 1789… Amid all these pleasures, we were laughing and dancing our way to the precipice… The word ‘revolution’ was never uttered. Had anyone dared to use it, he would have been thought mad…”

Though political unrest swept through France, life at Versailles continued as usual. Days revolved around scheduled ceremonies, and most traditions begun under Louis XIV continued until the end of the Ancien Régime. Some unusual rules of court etiquette were:

-- Knocking on doors was forbidden. Instead, in 1694, a rule was instituted that if entry was desired, the visitor should scratch on a door with the little finger.

-- Only ushers were allowed to open doors. If a visitor desired to leave a room, they had to wait for the usher to open the door.

-- A distinctive gliding walk was used by ladies at Versailles in which they never lifted the foot so as not to step on the train of the woman in front of them. Marie-Antoinette mastered this, and all her ladies were required to learn to walk without raising their feet from the ground.

-- People of different rank entered a room in order, princes first, then officers of the Court, and finally courtiers. The page opened both halves of the tall double door for a prince, but for lower ranked dignitaries, only one side swung open

-- Wall hangings at Versailles were changed twice a year for winter and summer. Between All Saint’s Day and Easter, the château’s tall windows were sealed with strips of tape to keep out cold air.

-- The royal Family was not allowed to pour a glass of water or reach for food themselves. Meals, refreshments, and items of clothing had to be handed or served to them, sometimes on silver trays, according to tradition. Mme. Campan famously tells a story of Marie-Antoinette impatiently shivering while waiting to be dressed as her petticoat is passed from one lady to another of higher rank.