The Queen`s Confession

The Diamond Necklace

In May of the year 1785 a great joy came to me when I gave birth to my second son. My confinement was attended with the same ceremony as that which there had been at the birth of my little Dauphin. My husband declared that never again should I be submitted to the danger I had faced at the time of my daughter’s birth.

Louis himself came to my bedside and emotionally declared: We have another little boy! ” And there was my dear Gabrielle holding the child in her arms coming to my bed.

I insisted on holding him. A little boy . a perfect little boy! I wept; the King wept; in fact everyone was weeping, with joy.

My husband commanded that messages be sent to Paris with the news. My little son was baptised in Notre Dame by Cardinal de Rohan, as his brother had been, and he was christened Louis-Charles. Te Deums were sung; the tocsins were sounding; the salute of guns was fired. There was rejoicing in Versailles for four days and nights. I was so happy.

My dreams were coming true. I had two sons and a daughter. I would often bend over the little newcomer as he lay in his beautiful cradle.

You will be happy, my darling,” I told him. Oh, if I could have foreseen the misery into which I had brought this unfortunate child I How much better if he had never been born I

There was one man whose name was on every lip. It was the author Beaumarchais, who had written a play called Le Manage de Figaro in which there was tremendous interest throughout the Court and I believe the country. The author had had difficulty in getting the play performed because the Lieutenant of the Police, the magistrates, the Keeper of the Seals and strangely enough the King did not think it would be good for the country to see it.

I had thought what fun it would be to put it on at my Trianon theatre and Artois agreed with me, seeing himself in the part of the Barber.

He flitted about my apartments, doing the rogue of a Barber to the life. It was small wonder that people had suggested that Artois and I were closer friends than propriety permitted. We were completely in tune on matters such as this. He could not see why we should not do the play any more than I could.

I see it now, of course; I see how that dialogue is full of innuendo, I can see that Figaro is meant to represent the People; and that the Comte Ahnaviva is the old regime, the tottering structure of aristocracy. Almost every line of the dialogue is charged with meaning. This was not a play about a Comte who commits adultery as naturally as eating and breathing; it was not an account of the shrewdness of a wily barber.

It was a picture of France—the uselessness of the aristocracy and the growing awareness of the shrewd people of the state of their country;

it was meant to set them wondering as to how it could be remedied. I think of little snatches of dialogue.

I was born to be a courtier. “

I understand it is a difficult profession. “

“Receive, take, ask. There’s the secret of it in three words.”

With character and intelligence you may one day rise in your office.

”Intelligence to help advancement? Your lordship is laughing at mine. Be commonplace and cringing and one can get anywhere. “

“Are you a prince to be flattered? Hear die truth, you wretch, since you have not the money to recompense a liar.”

Nobility, wealth, rank, office—that makes you very proud! What have you done for these blessings? You have taken the trouble to be born, and nothing else. “

I was too immersed in my own affairs to be fully aware of the crumbling society in which I was living. I saw nothing explosive in these remarks. To me they were merely excessively amusing. But my husband saw the dangers immediately.

“This man turns everything to ridicule—everything which should be respected in a government.”

“Then won’t it be played?” I asked, showing my disappointment.

“No, it will not,” replied my husband, quite sharply for him.

“You may be sure of that.”

I often think of him now, poor Louis. He saw so much that I could not understand. He was clever; he could have been a good king. He had the best will in the world; he was the kindest, the most amiable of men;

he sought nothing for himself. He had his ministers—Maurepas, Turgot who was replaced by Necker in his turn replaced by Calonne-but none of these ministers was great enough to carry us safely over the yawning abyss which was widening rapidly beneath our very feet. Dear Louis, who wanted to please.

But it was so difficult to please everyone. And what did I do? I was the tool of ambitious factions and did nothing to help my husband, who wanted to please me and wanted to please his ministers, and vacillated between the two. That was his crime: not cruelty, not indifference to the suffering of others, not lechery—not all those crimes which had undermined the Monarchy and set the pillars on which it was erected mouldering to dust: it was vacillation, in which he was helped by a giddy thoughtless wife.

This affair of the play was characteristic of Louis’s weakess and my frivolity.

When Figaro was banned everyone became greatly interested in it. When Beaumarchais declared that only little men were afraid of little writings, how clever that was! And how well he understood human nature I There was no one who wished to be thought a ‘little man,” and his supporters were springing up everywhere. Gabrielle told me that her family believed the play should be performed. What sort of society was this where artists were not allowed to speak their minds I The play could not be performed, but what was to prevent people’s reading it?

“Have you read Figaro’?” It was the constant question asked everywhere. If you had not, if you did not burst into immediate praise, you were a ‘little man or woman. ” Clever Beaumarchais had said so.

There was one section of society which placed itself firmly behind Beaumarchais. Catherine the Great and her son the Grand Duke Paul expressed their approval of the play and declared they would introduce it into Russia. But the most important supporter was Artois. I think he longed for us to play it and therefore he was determined to see it performed. He was as lighthearted as I, and even went so far as to order a rehearsal in the King’s own theatre—Menus Plaisirs. Here my husband showed himself firm for once. As die audience was beginning to arrive he sent the Due de Villequier to forbid the performance.

Shortly afterwards the Comte de Vaudreuil, that most forceful lover of Gabrielle’s, declared that he could see no reason why the play should not be performed privately, and gathered together actors and actresses from the Comedie Francaise, and the play was put on in his chateau at Gennevilliers. Artois was there to see it performed. Everyone present declared it a masterpiece and demanded to know what was going to happen to French literature if its most important artists were muzzled.

Beaumarchais made fun of the censorship in the play itself:

“Provided I don’t speak in my writings of authority, of religion, of politics, of morality, of the officials of influential bodies, of other spectacles, of anyone who has any claim to anything, I can print anything freely, under the inspection of two or three censors.”

This was, many people were declaring, not to be tolerated. France was the centre of culture. Any country which failed to appreciate its artists was committing cultural suicide.

Louis was beginning to waver, and I repeated all the arguments I had heard. If certain offensive passages were removed . “Perhaps,” said the King. They would see.

It was a half-victory. I knew that he could soon be persuaded.

I was right. In April 1784 in the theatre of the Comedie Francaise, Le Manage de Figaro was performed and there was a stampede to get tickets. Members of the nobility stayed all day in the theatre to make sure of their places, and all through the day the crowd collected and when the doors were open they rushed in; they were standing in the aisles; but they listened spellbound to the performance.

Paris went wild with joy over Figaro; he was being quoted all over the country.

A victory for culture! What the nobility did not realise was that it was a step farther in the direction of the guillotine.

I believed that I had been right to add my voice to those who persuaded the King. I wished to show my appreciation of Beaumarchais and to honour him, so I suggested that my little company of friends should perform his play Le Barbier de Seville at the Trianon, in which I myself would play Rosine.

At the beginning of August in that year 1785, five months after the birth of my adorable little Louis-Charles, I was at the Trianon; and I intended to stay there undl the festival of Saint Louis, and. while I was there to play in Le Barbier de Seville.

As always, I was happier there than anywhere else. I remember walking round the gardens to look at the flowers and to see what progress my workmen had made—there were always changes being made at the Trianon—and pausing close to the summer house to look at my theatre with its Ionic columns, supporting a pediment on which a carved cupid held a lyre and a wreath of laurels. I remember the thrill I always experienced when I entered the theatre and the joy I took in its white and gold decorations. Above the curtain concealing the stage were two lovely nymphs holding my coat of arms and the ceiling had been exquisitely painted by Lagrenee. It looked very small with the curtain hiding the stage—that . stage which was my pride and delight—and which was enormous, large enough for the performance of any play; and if the space provided for the audience was small, well, it was a family affair, so we did not need the space of an ordinary theatre.

What I enjoyed most at the Trianon—apart from acting-was what were called the Sunday balls. Anyone could attend if suitably dressed. I had said that mothers with children and nurses with their charges were to be presented to me and I enjoyed talking to these guardians of the little ones about their charming ways and their ailments. I talked to the children and told them about my own. I was happiest then.

Sometimes I would take part in a square dance, passing from partner to partner, to let the people know that the Trianon was conducted without the formality of Versailles.

I was particularly happy at that time, having no idea that a storm was about to break. Why should I have had? It all began so simply.

The King was giving a present of a diamond epaulet and buckles to his nephew, the Due d’Angouleme, son of Artois, and had ordered these through Boehmer and Bassenge, the Court jewellers; he asked them to deliver them to me.

After the manner in which Boehmer had behaved about his diamond necklace before my little daughter I had ordered that he was not to come into my presence but should deal with my valet de chambre.

I was with Madame Campan rehearsing my part in The Barber when the epaulet and buckles were delivered to me. The valet de chambre who brought them told me that Monsieur Boehmer had delivered a letter for me at the same time as he had brought the jewels.

I sighed as I took it. I was really thinking of my part.

“That tiresome man,” I said.

“I do believe he is a little mad.”

One of the women was sealing letters by a lighted wax taper and I went on talking to Madame Campan: “Do you think that I put enough emphasis into that last sentence? Do you think she would have said it in that way? Try it show me how you would do it, dear Campan.”

Campan did it excellently. What a way she had with words! Not that she looked in the least like Rosine . my dear serious Campan I “Excellent!” I said, and opened the letter. I ran my eye over it yawning slightly. Boehmer always made me want to yawn.

“Madame, ” We are filled with happiness and venture to think that the last arrangements proposed to us, which we have carried out with zeal and respect, are a further proof of our sub mission and devotion to Your Majesty’s orders and we have real satisfaction in thinking that the most beautiful diamonds in existence will belong to the greatest and best of Queens. “

I looked up and gave the letter to Madame Campan.

“Read it and tell me what that man means.” She read it and was as mystified as I was.

“Oh dear!” I sighed, taking the letter from her.

“That man was born to torment me. Diamonds ! He thinks of nothing else. If he had not sold that wretched necklace of his to the Sultan of Turkey he would be pestering me about that, I am sure. Now apparently he has some more diamonds which he would like me to buy. Really, Campan, when next you see him, tell him that I do not like diamonds now and that I will never buy any more as long as I live. If I had the money to spare I would rather add to my property at Saint Cloud by buying the land around it. Now do be careful to impress this on him. Tell him what I have told you and make him understand.”

“Would Your Majesty wish me to make a point of seeing him?”

“Oh no, there is no need for that. Just speak to him when the opportunity arises. To talk to him specially might set some other notion going in his crazy head. He will get an obsession with emeralds, doubtless, if he thinks I no longer care for diamonds. But do make it clear to him … without making it seem as though I have specially commanded you to do so.”

“He visits my father-in-law frequently, Madame. It may well be that I shall meet him some time at his house.”

“That’s an excellent idea.” I smiled at her.

“You are so discreet… so reliable. I am thankful for that, dear Madame Campan.”

I was still holding Boehmer’s letter and looked down at it with distaste.

Then I held it in the flame of the taper and watched it bum.

“Now, I said, ‘no more of Monsieur Boehmer and his diamonds.”

How mistaken I was!

Madame Campan left Versailles for a few days to stay at her father-in-law’s country estate at Crespy. I missed her because no one else—not even Gabrielle or Elisabeth—was as good as Madame Campan at rehearsing with me, and I made up my mind that I should call her back very soon. I was obsessed by the play. It was going to be the best we had ever done.

Rosine was a perfect part for me. I liked to read Beaumarchais’s description of her:

“Imagine the prettiest little woman in the world, gentle, tender, lively, fresh, appetising, nimble of foot, slender-wasted with rounded arms, dewy mouth; and such hands, such feet, such teeth, such eyes..” The aunts said: Was that a fitting description of the Queen of France? It sounded to them more like a coquette. It was undignified of the Queen of France to ape commoners on the stage.

I laughed at them. Louis was a little uneasy, but I could always bring him to my way of thinking. He knew how much I wanted The Barber to be played, and that I should have been heartbroken if I had not taken part in it. So he refused to listen to the aunts’ criticism, and was only de lighted to see me so happy over my part. After all, had I not only just given him another son?

Madame Campan had not been gone more than a few days when Monsieur Boehmer presented himself at the Trianon and begged for an audience with me, saying that Madame Campan had advised him to see me without delay.

One of my women came to me to tell me this, adding that be seemed very agitated.

I could not understand why he should come if Madame Campan had delivered my message correctly. But of course she had, and he, construing it that I was no longer interested in diamonds, had come with emeralds or sapphires or some such stones. He had worried me with his diamonds; I was not going to allow him to repeat the performance with other jewels.

“I will not see Monsieur Boehmer,” I said.

“I have nothing to say to him. He is mad. Tell him I will not see him.”

A few days after that, I decided that I must have Campan to help me with my part, so I sent for her. If I had not been so immersed in the production for I liked to do more than play the most attractive parts and I would supervise the costumes and scenery and plan the decor I should have noticed that Madame Campan was very uneasy. When I had run through my part, however, I did say to her: “That idiot Boehmer has been here asking to see me and saying that you advised him to come. I refused to see him, but what does it mean? What could he want? Have you any idea?”

She burst out: “Madame, a very strange thing happened at my father-in-law’s house. I wanted to speak to you of it as soon as I was admitted to your presence. Have I your per mission to tell you all?”

“Please do so.”

“When Monsieur Boehmer came to dine with my father-in-law, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to pass on your message to him.

Madame, I cannot describe his astonishment. Then he stammered out that he had written a letter to you and had had no reply. I understood it was the one which had come with the King’s gift to Monsieur d’Angouleme. I told him I had seen it and it had not seemed very comprehensible. He replied that he supposed it would not be to me but that the Queen would understand. Other guests were arriving and it was my duty to help receive them, so I. tried to excuse myself, but Monsieur Boehmer asked me if I would allow him to talk to me later.

His manner was so extraordinary that I said we would take a walk in the gardens at a suitable moment and then he could tell me what he wished to. “

“The man is quite mad, I am sure of it.”

“Madame, his such an extraordinary story, but he swears it is true.”

“Pray go on ” He said: “The Queen owes me a large sum of money” “

“I’m sure that is not true. His account has been settled.”

“Madame, he went on: ” The Queen has bought my diamond necklace”.”

“Oh, no! Not that thing again. The Sultan of Turkey has it.”

“He says that is not so, Madame. That was merely a tale he was asked to put about. I told him that he must be dreaming. I said: ” The Queen refused to buy the necklace long ago, and as a matter of fact I knew that His Majesty had offered to buy it for her and sdll she refused it” He said: ” She changed her mind”.”

“Oh, Campan, what does all this nonsense mean?”

“I do not know, Madame, but Boehmer tells a very strange story. He assured me that you had bought the necklace. I replied that it was impossible. I had never seen it among your jewels. Boehmer said that he had been told you were to wear it on Whit-Sunday and was very surprised that you did not.”

“My dear Campan, this is the most utter nonsense. I told you Boehmer was mad.”

“Yes, Madame, but he talked so earnestly. He seemed so sensible so sure. I asked when you had told him that you had made up your mind to buy the necklace, for I knew you would not see him and had not done so for a very long time. He then said a strange thing, Madame. He said that the Cardinal de Rohan acted for you.”

“The Cardinal de Rohan I Then he is quite, quite mad. I loathe Rohan.

I haven’t spoken to him for eight years. “

“I told Boehmer this, Madame, and he said Your Majesty pretended to be on bad terms with Rohan, but in fact you were very great friends.”

“Oh, this grows madder and madder.”

“As it seemed to me, Madame. I pointed this out to Boehmer but he was so insistent that he spoke the truth, and indeed, Madame, if he is mad he makes a very good show of being sane. He had an answer to everything. He said that ” Your Majesty’s commands were transmitted to him by letters which bore Your Majesty’s signature and that be had to use them to satisfy his creditors. The necklace was to be paid for in instalments, and that he had already received 30,000 francs which Your Majesty had given the Cardinal to give to him, Boehmer, when the necklace was handed over. “

“I don’t understand this!” I cried; but it no longer seemed a joke.

There was something very mysterious going on.

“I believe,” I said, ‘that a great fraud may well have been played on Boehmer. We must get to the bottom of this. I will send for him at once. “

I sent a messenger to Paris and commanded the jeweller to come to the Trianon without delay.

“Monsieur Boehmer,” I said.

“I wish to know why I am expected to listen to mad assertions that you have sold me a necklace which I have often refused to buy.”

“Madame,” he answered, “I am forced to this unpleasant business because I must satisfy my creditors.”

“I fail to see where your creditors concern me.”

“Madame,” he replied in great distress, ‘it is too late to pretend.

Unless Your Majesty will be so good as to admit you have the necklace and give me some money, I shall be declared bankrupt and the reason will be known to all. “

“You talk in riddles. Monsieur. I know nothing of this necklace.”

The man was almost in tears.

“Madame,” he said, ‘forgive me, but I must have my money. “

I tell you I owe you nothing. I did not buy your necklace. You know that I have not seen it—nor you, for a long time. “

“Madame, the Cardinal de Rohan paid me the first instalment when I handed the necklace to him. I must have the money owing to me….”

I could not bear to look at the man.

I said: “There has been some fraud here. It must be examined. Go now.

Monsieur Boehmer, but I promise you that I will look into this matter without delay. “

He left me and I went into my bedchamber, where I remained. I was trembling with apprehension. Something very strange was happening about me, and at the centre of it was that sinister man—the Cardinal de Rohan.

It was a fraud, of course. The man was a scoundrel. He had acquired the diamond necklace and pretended that I had bought it.

I had heard a great deal about him since that day he officiated at Strasbourg when I had first come to France. My mother was constantly writing to me about him when he was ambassador to Austria and she had urged Mercy to do all he could to get him recalled.

“All our young and plain women are bewitched by him,” she had written.

“His language is extremely improper and this ill becomes his position as priest and minister. He insolently uses these expressions no matter what company he is in. His suite follow his example they are without merit or morals.” Neither I nor Mercy had been in a position to have him removed from Vienna, but when my husband became King it was a different matter. My mother wrote that she was pleased to see an end to ‘his horrible and shameful embassy. ” She had written warning letters, I must be wary of this man;

he would bring me no good, I must not be charmed by him for he was a flatterer and could be very amusing. I saw him as a kind of ogre and had refused to receive him. My feelings towards him were not softened when I heard that he had written a letter to the Due d’Aiguillon about my mother and that Madame du Barry had read it aloud at one of her salons. In it he wrote:

“Maria Theresa wept over the misery of oppressed Poland, but she is an adept at concealing her thoughts and seems to produce tears at will.

In one hand she holds a handkerchief to dry her tears and in the other a sword, so as to be the third sharer. “

This letter had arrived at the time when I was making matters worse by refusing to speak to Madame du Barry, and my mother, while making stem rules against the prostitutes of Vienna, was urging me not to irritate the situation between France and Austria by refusing to speak to Madame du Barry.

I loathed the man. I refused to speak to him; and I believe that. the desire to find a way into my good graces obsessed him. The more I ignored him, the more he tried to gain my favour, and I was determined not to give it.

He had scored over me in one way. It was not my wish that he should hold the post of Grand Almoner of France. I had been annoyed when I had heard that he had baptised my babies; but what could be done about it when he held that high post?

Madame de Marsan, Rohan’s cousin, had asked my husband, without my knowledge, that the post should be Rohan’s, and Louis, who liked to please people, had given his word that it should be. When I discovered this, I determined to prevent it, particularly as Mercy and my mother were urging me to do so. I told Louis that he could not allow a man who had insulted my mother to hold the post of Grand Almoner of France. It was unfortunate, said my husband, but he had promised Madame de Marsan, and he did not see how he could go back on his word.

“I can see!’ I cried.

“It is impossible. This man has insulted me—through my mother. Could you grant a favour to a man who had insulted your wife I could not, of course….”

“Then you must tell him he cannot have the post. You are the King.”

“My dear, I have given my word….”

It seemed imperative that I have my way. If I did not, my mother would say that I had no influence with my husband. I began to cry. I was of no importance, I wept. My husband preferred to grant favours to other women rather than to me.

Tears always distressed Louis. It was not so. He would do anything to please me. What about those chandelier earrings I had admired? They contained some of Boehmer’s best diamonds.

I continued to weep. I did not want diamonds. I wanted him to forget his promise to Madame de Marsan. Was it much to ask?

He would do it, he said. He would tell Madame de Marsan that she would have to forget his promise.

I threw my arms about his neck. He was the best husband in the world.

I had counted without Madame de Marsan.

She complained bitterly. The King had given his word. Was she not to rely on the King’s word?

“Madame, I cannot grant your wish,” Louis told her.

“I have given the Queen my word.”

Because Louis was kind he was also weak. Had his grandfather or Louis Quatorze declared that they wished to break their word, it would have been accepted as law. But with my husband it was different. People were ready to reason with him, even to criticise him . and in this case threaten him.

“I respect the Queen’s wishes, Sire,” said the impertinent Marsan, who had always hated me, ‘but Your Majesty cannot have two words. The Queen would not wish that the King, in order to please her, should do what the threat of death would not force from the meanest gentleman. I therefore most respectfully take the liberty of assuring Your Majesty that having published the promise he gave me, I should find myself reluctantly compelled to make it known that the King had broken it to please the Queen. “

As Louis explained to me afterwards, there was nothing he could do but give way, for it was true that he had given his word to her first.

I was angry, but I knew that neither tears nor pleading could help, so I accepted the situation and forgot about it-until now.

But Cardinal de Rohan was a man I would never accept. I had disliked him even more than ever. Then I had in fact ceased to think of him.

Now I was forced to.

As my anger subsided I began to tell myself that the only reason I had become so agitated was because the Cardinal de Rohan appeared to be so deeply implicated. All the same I must tell my husband about it without delay.

Louis listened gravely and said that Boehmer should be immediately commanded to give his account of what had happened. Knowing that Mercy would most certainly have communicated something of the affair to my brother Joseph-for he still wrote to Vienna, although not as frequently as he had when my mother was alive—I myself wrote to my brother . giving him what at the time seemed the most logical explanation.

“The Cardinal has made use of my name like a vile and clumsy forger.

It is probable that he did so under pressure and an urgent need for money and believed he would be able to pay the jeweller without anything being discovered. “

I was very angry. I hated that man. Not only had he slandered my mother but he had slandered me. I wanted revenge and I was determined to have it.

When Boehmer sent in his account of how he had been approached by the Cardinal with orders to buy the necklace for me, my fury increased. He had sworn on oath that he had received the commission from me.

I said: “He shall be disgraced. He shall be robbed of all his posts.

Louis, you must promise to arrest him. “

“Arrest the Cardinal de Rohani But my dear …”

“He has used my name. He has lied and cheated. He shall be arrested.

Louis, you must swear it. “

Louis was uneasy.

“We must look into this matter. We are a little in the dark at the moment.”

“In the dark! We have Boehmer’s word that he went to them with this story … this lie. If you do not arrest that man it will be as though you believe this story against me.”

That I would never do, but . “

“Then arrest him.” I put my arms about his neck.

“Louis, you must arrest him. If you do not it will seem that even you are against me.

Promise me—promise me now, that you will arrest the Cardinal. “

My poor Louis! Was there ever a more clear example of a man who had the intelligence to know what was the wise thing to do and lacked the will-power to do it? Louis wanted peace. He wanted to hurt no one; he could not stand up against my blandishments even though he knew that I was acting against my own interests. He could not reason against tears and the fury of feather-brained women.

“The Cardinal shall be arrested,” he promised; and I was satisfied.

It was the 15th of August, the Feast of the Assumption. The King summoned the Baron de Breteuil, Minister of his Household, and Monsieur de Miromesnil, Keeper of the Seals, to his cabinet. I was there. The King quickly explained the reason for our presence there and added that he intended that the Cardinal de Rohan should be arrested without delay.

Monsieur de Miromesnil immediately protested: “Sire, Rohan’s rank and family entitle him to be heard before he is arrested Louis wavered, in fact agreeing with Miromesnil, but I put in hastily:

“He has forged my name. He has behaved like a common swindler. I insist that he be arrested.”

I saw Breteuil’s eyes gleam. He hated the Cardinal as much as I did, because be had followed the Cardinal as ambassador to Vienna and since then the Cardinal had made him a butt of his malicious wit.

Breteuil said: “It is clear what has happened. Rohan is the most extravagant man in France. Not only has he rebuilt the episcopal palace in Strasbourg think how much that must have cost him but he has a retinue of women on whom he lavishes a fortune. He has taken up with the sorcerer Cagliostro, who lives at his palace in luxury and who, although he is reputed to make gold and jewels for his patron, costs the Cardinal a great deal to maintain. He has been embarrassed for money for years in spite of his great revenues. He is undoubtedly in debt and this is his means of satisfying his creditors.”

“He has disgraced his cloth and his name,” I said hastily.

“He does not deserve any consideration because of them.”

I could see my husband wavering between what he considered right and what would please me, and I threw him my most appealing glance;

Monsieur de Breteuil, unable to hide his satisfaction in an enemy’s imminent downfall, came in decisively on my side.

The King decided that Rohan should be arrested.

The Feast of the Assumption happened to be my name day and there was to be a special levee at Versailles that I might receive congratulations. Thus the galleries and the Oeil de Boeuf were crowded. As Grand Almoner of France it was the Cardinal’s duty to celebrate Mass in the royal chapel. Unaware of what lay before him he came in his lace rochet and scarlet soutane. He was told that the Ring wished to see him in his cabinet at midday. He must have been surprised that neither the King nor I had appeared in State as was expected on such an occasion; but he came in blithely enough, completely unaware of what was about to break over his head.

He bowed low to the King and me; I deliberately turned my head and behaved as though I did not see him. I was aware of the effect my conduct had on him.

Louis came straight to the point.

“My dear cousin,” he said, ‘did you buy diamonds from Boehmer? “

The Cardinal turned pale, but he answered: “Yes, Sire.”

“Where are they?”

“I believe they have been given to the Queen.”

I gave an exclamation of anger, but the King went on as though he had not noticed: “Who gave you the commission to buy these diamonds?”

“A lady called the Comtesse de la Motte-Valois. She gave me a letter from Her Majesty the Queen. I thought that I should please Her Majesty by carrying out this com mission.”

I could no longer contain myself.

“Do you think. Monsieur, that I should entrust such a commission to you, to whom I have not spoken for eight years? And could you really believe that I would choose to carry through the negotiations by means of this woman?”

The Cardinal was trembling.

“I can see that I have been cruelly deceived. I will pay for the necklace.” He turned to me and his expression was one of humility as though he were begging me for a little sympathy. He would certainly not get it.

“My desire to please Your Majesty blinded me. I did not suspect fraud until now. I am deeply sorry. May I show Your Majesty how I became involved in this matter?”

The King gave his permission, and with shaking hands the Cardinal took a paper from his pocket which he handed to the King. I went swiftly to my husband’s side. There was an undoubted order to buy the necklace; it appeared to have been written by me and addressed to a Comtesse de la Motte Valois

“That is not my writing,” I cried triumphantly.

And see,” said the King, ‘it is signed ” Marie Antoinette de France”.”

He turned sternly to Rohan, who looked as though he would faint, “How could a Prince of the House of Rohan and the King’s Chaplain believe that this is how a Queen of France would sign herself? Surely you know that Queens only sign their Christian names, and that even Kings’ daughters have no other signature, and that if the Royal Family added any other name it would not be ” de France. ” I have a letter here. It is signed by you and addressed to Boehmer. Pray look at me and tell me if this is a forgery.”

The Cardinal swayed slightly. Louis thrust the letter into his hand.

“I … I have no recollection of writing this,” he said.

“It bears your signature. Is that your signature?”

“Yes, Sire. It must be authentic if it bears my signature.”

“I must have an immediate explanation of these matters,” said the King. I could see that he was feeling sorry for Rohan. Such a proud arrogant man, accustomed to making fun of others: now he was about to be brought low. That would seem pathetic to Louis, no matter how villainous the fellow was.

He said gently: “My cousin, I do not want to find you guilty. I should like you to justify your behaviour. Now explain to me the meaning of all this.”

“Sire,” stammered the Cardinal, “I am too distressed to reply to Your Majesty at present…. I am not in the condition …”

The King said kindly: “Try to calm yourself. Monsieur Ie Cardinal, and go into my study. There you will find paper, pens and ink. Write what you have to tell me He left us.

“He is a very guilty man,” said Breteuil; but the King was silent. An affair like this distressed him greatly.

We waited for a quarter of an hour. Outside in the Oeil de Boeuf the crowds must be becoming restive. They would know there was something wrong. The King sat at his table frowning now and then glancing at the dock. Miromesnil looked very uneasy.

It was fifteen minutes later when the Cardinal appeared with a paper on which he appeared to have written very little.

I stood beside the King and read it with him. It was only about fifteen lines and seemed very confused. All I could gather was that a woman calling herself the Comtesse de la Motte-Valois had persuaded him that the necklace was to be bought for me, and that he knew now that this woman had deceived him.

The King sighed and laid down the paper. I would not look in Rohan’s direction but I was aware how his eyes kept turning towards me. I had never hated him so much.

Where is this woman? ” asked the King.

I do not know. Sire. “

Where is the necklace? “

In the hands of this woman. Sire. “

“Where are the documents purporting to be signed by the Queen?”

“I have them. Sire. They are forged.”

We well know they are forged !’ I will bring them to Your Majesty.”

I want to warn you. Cousin,” said the King, ‘that you are about to be arrested.”

He looked stricken.

“Your Majesty knows I shall always obey your orders, but I beg you spare me the pain of being arrested in these pontifical robes.”

I saw my husband waver. He wanted to spare the man this disgrace. I clenched my hands. Louis glanced at me almost apologetically and my lips tightened. He was going to allow his pity for my enemy to overcome his desire to please me.

I showed him by my expression how I should regard such an action, and he said: “I fear it must be so.”

“Your Majesty will remember the close ties of our families,” went on Rohan.

I could see that my husband was visibly moved, and the tears of rage filled my eyes. He saw those tears and he said:

“Monsieur, I shall console your family as best I can. I should be extremely pleased if you can prove yourself innocent. But I must do my duty as a King and a husband.”

Monsieur de Breteuil was on my side. He signed to the Cardinal to make his way to the door which opened on to the Salon de la Pendule. On such an occasion this was naturally crowded; all members of the Court were present, some in the Oeil de Boeuf, others in the long gallery, in the council and state rooms.

Breteuil shouted to the captain of the bodyguard the extraordinary command, it echoed through the Galerie des Glaces:

“Arrest the Cardinal de Rohan.

I was triumphant—triumphantly blind.

“There,” I said, ‘that matter is settled. This wicked man will be proved to be a cheat and be punished for all his sins. “

I sat down to write to my brother Joseph:

“As far as I am concerned I am delighted at the thought of not having to hear this miserable business talked of again.”

I do not understand now how I could have deceived myself and whether I actually believed that, or, deep in my heart, realising the enormity of this affair, refused to see it. I have come to believe I was adept at deceiving myself.

I expected congratulations from my friends. I expected them to say how pleased they were to see that wicked man brought to an account of his sins at last. But there was an odd brooding silence in my apartments.

Gabrielle did not visit me; it did not occur to me that her family might be advising her to keep away. Madame de Campan was quiet and restrained as though she were involved in the affair. I should have been warned. She really cared for me, and when I was in danger her love for me would make her anxious while her intelligence would not allow her to deceive herself. The Princesse de Lamballe agreed with me that it was a good thing, but then as Vermond had once pointed out, she had a reputation for stupidity; and Elisabeth was sad, but then she was so pious that she always deplored trouble of any sort even for those who she knew deserved it. My sisters-in-law seemed smugly pleased. But there was so much to think of. What of The Barber of Seville! Nothing must interfere with that production.

I decided to leave Versailles at once for the Petit Trianon. We must continue with the rehearsals this ridiculous affair of the necklace has interrupted,” I declared.

So I went to the Trianon and thought of nothing else but my part.

When Campan told me that Rohan’s family were furious because he had been arrested and sent to the Bastille I merely laughed.

“It is where he should have been long ago,” I retorted. ‘now hear me in the first act. “

How strange that the dialogue in this very play was like a grim warning. I remember now Basile’s speech on calumny, but strangely enough I took no heed of it then. Now it comes back to me:

“Calumny! You don’t know what you are disdaining when you disdain that. I have seen people of the utmost probity laid low by it. Believe me, there is no false report however crude, no abomination, no ridiculous falsehood, which the idlers in a great city cannot, if they take the trouble, make universally believed—and here we have little-tattlers who are past-masters of the art….”

How true that was to prove, and how foolish I was to believe that I had heard the last of the affair of the diamond necklace. But I thought of nothing then but my performance. At the end I stood triumphantly on the stage to receive the applause; I had played as rarely before.

Such a play in my own theatre, myself playing the principal role! I was happy and excited with my success, and I had no notion then that this was the last time I should play there.