Henriette Campan
Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan | |
|---|---|
Princess Louise Marie of France | |
| Spouse | Pierre-Dominique-François Berthollet Campan (1774; separated 1790) |
Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan (
Biography
She was the daughter of Edme-Jacques Genet and Marie-Anne-Louise Cardon. Her father was the highest-ranking clerk in the foreign office (the ambassador
She was a general
She survived the
Legacy
Henriette Campan died in 1822, leaving valuable Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette (published 1823 (posthumously), Paris, 3 vols.), subtitled To which are Added Personal Recollections Illustrative of the Reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI (
Quotes
The Queen’s toilet was a masterpiece of etiquette; everything was done in a prescribed form. Both the
femme de chambre and two ordinary women. The dame d’atours put on the petticoat, and handed the gown to the Queen. The dame d’honneur poured out the water for her hands and put on her linen. When a princess of the royal family happened to be present while the Queen was dressing, the dame d’honneur yielded to her the latter act of office, but still did not yield it directly to the Princesses of the blood; in such a case the dame d’honneur was accustomed to present the linen to the Première femme de Chambre, who, in her turn, handed it to the Princess of the blood. Each of these ladies observed these rules scrupulously as affecting her rights. One winter’s day it happened that the Queen, who was entirely undressed, was just going to put on her shift; I held it ready unfolded for her; the dame d’honneur came in, slipped off her gloves, and took it. A scratching was heard at the door; it was opened, and in came the Duchesse d’Orléans: her gloves were taken off, and she came forward to take the garment; but as it would have been wrong in the dame d’honneur to hand it to her she gave it to me, and I handed it to the Princess. More scratching it was Madame la Comtesse de Provence; the Duchesse d’Orléans handed her the linen. All this while the Queen kept her arms crossed upon her bosom, and appeared to feel cold; Madame observed her uncomfortable situation, and, merely laying down her handkerchief without taking off her gloves, she put on the linen, and in doing so knocked the Queen’s cap off. The Queen laughed to conceal her impatience, but not until she had muttered several times, "How disagreeable! how tiresome!” All this etiquette, however inconvenient, was suitable to the royal dignity, which expects to find servants in all classes of persons, beginning even with the brothers and sisters of the monarch.
References
- ^ Madame Campan, Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France,
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Campan, Jeanne Louise Henriette". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press..
Further reading
- Fitton, Mary. The Faithful Servant: Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan, 1752-1822 (1965).
- Scott, Barbara. "Madame Campan, 1752-1822" History Today (Oct 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 10, pp 683–690 online.
External links
- Works by Henriette Campan at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Henriette Campan at Internet Archive
- Works by Henriette Campan at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
