Queen Marie-Antoinette and Mirabeau: the interview in Saint-Cloud castle
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Marie-Antoinette in Saint-Cloud
Then, in 1785, Marie-Antoinette turned up. She had just bought Saint-Cloud for 6 millions of livres and completely re-fit out the apartments.
She was fond of the estate, because it was near Paris, very handy to go to masked balls. And here, there was no etiquette.
She organized gorgeous parties where everyone came, rich, bourgeois, common people. And the queen mixed with everyone. A walkabout with the bourgeois, my gosh!
″We’re going to see Saint-Cloud’s water and the Austrian″, said people. There was a huge crowd, so some fell in river Seine and were fished out...
Save the queen from the guillotine
But in June 1790, after a winter spent in the Tuileries, the queen and her family made a last sojourn in Saint-Cloud.
Here, they had space, fresh air, they felt free. Here took place the secret meeting of Saint-Cloud, on July 3th 1790… Ah, ah!
Summer 1790. The queen withdrew in her estate for this last sojourn. Her last moment of freedom before the jail in Paris…
In the park, Antoinette would meet Mirabeau. Oh my gosh!! She hated him. But people said she needed him to save the monarchy!
Mirabeau the revolutionary man, the one who wrote the Human Rights, the one who wanted a constitutional monarchy… what could he do for the king?
In fact, Mirabeau separated himself from the revolutionary movement, in 1790.
He immediately signed a secret agreement with the king, to become his counselor. And this one paid him all his debts!
And on July 3th, he had this meeting with the queen to save the monarchy, to force the king to accept the Constitutional. To save him from the guillotine!
Marie-Antoinette V.S. Mirabeau: a shock!
Mirabeau came from Auteuil district, in Paris, with his carriage and his nephew dressed up as a coach driver. He entered in the park, by a little lateral door. The rendez-vous was in a discrete place. And the shock happened.
The queen VS the colossal orator, the ″monster″ like she called him…
Antoinette shivered with disgust when she saw him arriving. Oh, she stayed dignified, even if this meeting hurt her in her pride.
But, anyway, it was too late, the fate was sealed: the queen would die…
In short: Mirabeau, at the end of the meeting, said to his nephew: ″She’s a great queen, noble and unhappy, but I’ll save her.″
Hey, by the way, was Mirabeau a revolutionary man? Well, yes he was… when he was with his revolutionary friends!
But he also took part for the king. But it was only in April 1791, after his death, that people discovered his double game.
Oh, they wept at him, he, the first man to enter in the French Panthéon! In 1793, his secret letters with the king were revealed: whoa, scandal! Shoo, his corpse was expelled from the Panthéon, with insults...