The hôtel was built betweeen 1655 and 1660 on a commission from Pierre Beauvais and his wife, Catherine. Madame de Beauvais was first chambermaid to Louis XIV's mother, Anne of Austria. The two women had a most intimate connection. As chief chambermaid Beauvais administered the queen mother's colonics. She also deflowered the queen's 16 year old son, the boy who had become king at the age of 4. The queen mother was overjoyed. Her husband, Louis XIII, apparently suffered from sexual dysfunction, it took the couple 22 years to conceive, and Anne had been apprehensive for her son.
At that time it was the fashion at court to imitate the king and so the sexual favors of Catherine de Beauvais became much in demand.
On August 26, 1660, Louis XIV and his wife Marie Theresé made a triumphal entry into Paris passing along Rue François Miron. Louis rode a chestnut mare covered in a brocade of silver and precious stones (it is useful to remember that at that time Louis was quite possibly the richest man in the world), Marie Theresé rode in a carriage covered in gold and silver and pulled by six pearl grey horses.
On their route, the royal procession stopped in front of the Hôtel de Beauvais to salute the Queen Mother standing on a richly decorated balcony, the same balcony in this picture.
Among those standing with the Queen Mother on the balcony was Louis's aunt, Henrietta Maria, widow of England's King Charles I, who had been beheaded only months earlier by Oliver Cromwell during the English revolution.By the end of her life Madame de Beauvais had been reduced to a pauper and lived destitute at the hôtel as a simple renter.
7 comments:
Let that be a lesson to the hussy, I guess?
Still using the appropriate accent keys, I see. Old dog remembers new tricks?
According to the one who knows you only have to know more than the dog. Or perhaps in this case remember more than the dog. I have the instruction page book marked.
That photo (as previously posted) inspired me to paint our back screen porch door bright blue this summer. Not THAT French-ish blue, exactly. Menards does not carry such a lovely shade in their spray paint section. A neighbor asked if it meant something...like a red door does in some districts of foreign towns. Geez, I hope not, but I'm not telling him this story!
That is certainly a very nice balcony... and like jilrubia, I LOVE that blue. It's a sad story, though not too atypical for the time, I don't think.
Marie Therese's son must have been the Sun King - Louis XIV. Catherine was apparently a "cougar," the Demi Moore of her day. With a French accent.
According to Wiki he had six children and "numerous illegitimate children" whom he married off to various branches of the royal family. The sexual dysfunction apparently wasn't hereditary.
That is a really nice color of blue -- I think Jilrubia pegged it with 'french-ish blue.'
Maria Theresé's husband and the son of Anne of Austria was indeed Louis XIV, the Sun King, Louis the Great.
Post a Comment