Quiz IV: The Answer is Finally Revealed
And now, without further ado... The answer is…
Yes, the contemporaries of Louis XVI, even those who supported him, did not hesitate to describe their king in unflattering terms. This is particularly true of Madame de La Tour du Pin. Madame de La Tour du Pin—Henriette-Lucy Dillon, Marquise de La Tour du Pin and Countess of Gouvernet—saw the king with her own eyes and recorded her testimony in the memoirs from which the quiz excerpt is drawn, Journal d’une femme de cinquante ans.[1]
The countess was present at Versailles during the opening of the Estates General of 1789. On Tuesday, 5 May 1789, in the great hall of the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs at Versailles, Madame de La Tour du Pin watched the king ascend to his throne, “set upon a dais covered in purple velvet strewn with golden fleurs-de-lis, backed by a paneled backdrop and surmounted by a canopy of the same fabric.”[2] The royal elevation created a striking contrast with the dark mass of deputies from the Third Estate.
Hardly had the king arrived when the entire assembly of Third Estate deputies rose to greet him with applause. It was the first time many of them had ever seen their sovereign. Were they surprised by his appearance? For it is at this moment that the countess reports, in her memoirs, the manner “in which he waddled,” his lack of “dignity in his bearing,” his “abrupt and awkward movements,” and his “extremely poor eyesight […] which made him grimace.”[1]
The awkwardness of the scene was heightened by an unexpected gesture just before he began his speech: for reasons unknown, the king rose and clumsily replaced his hat. The queen, Marie-Antoinette, naturally rose as well. This added further embarrassment, as the king motioned for her to sit, which she refused with a formal curtsy.
Despite these awkward preliminaries, the delivery of the speech proceeded smoothly. According to the American statesman Gouverneur Morris, who was also present, the address was repeatedly interrupted by “warm and infectious applause.”[3]
This eyewitness testimony illustrates an important point about Louis XVI’s public image at the dawn of the Revolution: even in highly ceremonial settings intended to project royal authority, his natural awkwardness, poor eyesight, and lack of physical poise undermined the impression of majesty that the court hoped to convey. For many contemporary observers, including those not hostile to the monarchy, these physical traits became symbolic of a broader perception of a monarch ill at ease with the role he was expected to embody—an image that would profoundly influence how his reign and downfall were later remembered.
[1] Madame de La Tour du Pin, Journal d’une femme de cinquante ans, p. 180.
[2] Alexandre Maral, Les derniers jours de Versailles, p. 95.
[3] Gouverneur Morris, Journal de Gouverneur Morris, ministre plénipotentiaire des États-Unis en France, p. 27.
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