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Above: Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France in mourning for her family after her release from prison, painted by Heinrich Füger.
Above: Marie-Angélique de Bombelles, artist unknown.
TRIGGER WARNING: DESCRIPTIONS OF ABUSE AND DEATH.
Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France, Madame Royale (born December 19, 1778, died October 19, 1851), was the eldest child of King Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette, and the only one to survive to adulthood; all her siblings died before age eleven. She was married to her first cousin Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, who was the eldest son of the future Charles X.
After her marriage, she was known as the Duchess of Angoulême. She became the Dauphine of France upon her father-in-law's accession to the throne in 1824. On August 2, 1830, between the time that her father-in-law/uncle signed his abdication document and the time that her husband did the same, Marie-Thérèse was Queen of France for a mere twenty minutes.
Marie-Thérèse was named after her maternal grandmother Maria Theresa, the Holy Roman Empress. She did not experience much hardship as a child other than the deaths of two of her siblings: the baby, Sophie, died in 1787, and the Dauphin, Louis-Joseph, died of tuberculosis on June 4, 1789, leaving only her and her other brother, Louis-Charles. But soon her life would change forever with the outbreak of the French Revolution, and the political situation that had so far left her untouched now took and squeezed her in its grip. When the Bastille was stormed on July 14, 1789, said situation reached its peak, and the 10 year old Marie-Thérèse's life began to be affected as several members of the royal household were sent abroad for their own safety. At the king's orders, her uncle, the Comte d'Artois, and her governess, the Duchesse de Polignac, emigrated. The Duchesse was replaced by Princess Louise-Elisabeth de Croÿ, whose daughter Pauline became best friends for life with Marie-Thérèse.
On October 5, 1789, an angry mob of working women from Paris marched to Versailles, wanting to get at food they believed was being kept there, as well as to advance their political demands. After the siege of the palace in the wee hours of October 6, the royal family were forced to hide in the king's apartment, and the crowd ultimately forced them to move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris.
As the political situation deteriorated, Louis and Marie Antoinette realised that their lives were in grave danger, and with the help of Count Axel von Fersen, they organised an escape to the fortress of Montmédy. The escape attempt failed when in Varennes they were seen and recognised, and they were sent back to Paris.
On August 10, 1792, after the royal family had taken refuge in the Legislative Assembly, King Louis XVI was deposed, although the monarchy itself was not abolished until September 21. On August 13, the entire family was imprisoned in the Temple Tower, the remains of a medieval fortress. On January 21, 1793, the former king was executed by guillotine, at which time the eight year old Louis-Charles was recognised by royalists as King Louis XVII of France.
Six months later, on the evening of July 3, 1793, guards burst into the royal family's apartment, forcibly removed Louis-Charles, and put him in the "care" of Antoine Simon, a cobbler and Temple commissioner. Marie Antoinette and Marie-Thérèse were left alone in their apartment with Louis XVI's younger sister, Madame Élisabeth. When Marie Antoinette was taken to the Conciergerie the following month, Marie-Thérèse was left in Élisabeth's care, but on May 9, 1794, Élisabeth too was taken away and executed. At fifteen years old, Marie-Thérèse was the only member of her immediate family to survive the Reign of Terror.
Her time in the Temple Tower was lonely and often extremely boring. The only two books she had, Voyages by La Harpe and the prayer book The Imitation of Christ were read over and over again so often that she grew tired of them. But Marie-Thérèse's appeal for more books was denied by government officials, and many of her other requests were frequently refused. Far worse was having to helplessly listen to the cries and screams of her brother as he was beaten in the next room. He eventually died at the age of ten from abuse and neglect on June 8, 1795.
On May 11, Robespierre visited Marie-Thérèse, but their conversation is unknown. During the entirety of her imprisonment, she was never told the fates of her family, and she only knew that her father was dead. In other words, she had no idea that she had been an orphan since Marie Antoinette was executed on October 19, 1793. In late August 1795, when Marie-Thérèse finally found out that the rest of her family had been killed too, she became hysterical and began to cry inconsolably. Before this, she had scratched the following words into the wall of her room in the tower:
"Marie-Thérèse Charlotte est la plus malheureuse personne du monde. Elle ne peut obtenir de savoir des nouvelles de sa mère, pas même d'être réunie à elle quoiqu'elle l'ait demandé mille fois. Vive ma bonne mère que j'aime bien et dont je ne peux savoir des nouvelles. Ô mon père, veillez sur moi du haut du Ciel. Ô mon Dieu, pardonnez à ceux qui ont fait souffrir mes parents."
The translation:
"Marie-Thérèse Charlotte is the most unhappy person in the world. She can obtain no news of her mother; nor be reunited to her, though she has asked it a thousand times. Live, my good mother! whom I love well, but of whom I can hear no tidings. O my father! watch over me from Heaven above. O my God! forgive those who have made my parents suffer."
It was only once the Terror was over that Marie-Thérèse was allowed to leave France. She was liberated on December 18, 1795, the eve of her seventeenth birthday, released in exchange for prominent French prisoners.
Marie-Thérèse wrote this letter to Marie-Angélique de Bombelles on January 22, 1796 in her mother's birthplace of Vienna, Austria, one month after her liberation from the Temple Tower, three years after the deaths of her parents and her little brother, and one year after that of her aunt, to whom Madame de Bombelles was maid-of-honour.
The letter:
Vienne, 22 janvier 1796.
Madame,
J'ai reçu vos deux lettres, elles m'ont fait ainsi que celle que je viens de recevoir beaucoup de plaisir; mais j'en aurais en plus à vous voir si cela avait été possible; mais je ne le peux pas malgré tout mon désir de voir celle que ma bonne tante Elizabeth aimait tant vraiment, j'aurais la consolation de parler d'elle avec vous de vous dire combien elle a été affligée de votre départ, de votre séparation. Elle a appris en prison que vous étiez grosse, elle était très inquiète pour vous, et désirait que vous eussiez une fille. Oui, malgré toutes ses peines elle pensait souvent à sa chère Bombelle et moi à son exemple. Je vous aime, et je pense souvent à vous, et désirerai beaucoup vous voir, mais puisque que c'est impossible, j'ai au moins la consolation de vous écrire de vous dire que je vous ai toujours aimé malgré ma jeunesse quand je vous ai connu, ai le bonheur aussi de voir que dans ce pays-ci tout le monde vous aime et vous admire, ce qui n'arrive pas à tous les français. Votre pauvre mère se porte assez bien du moins quand je l'ai vu. J'espère aussi que Mr. de Bombelles et tous vos enfants se portent bien, vous en avez un grand nombre; puissent-ils ressembler à leur mère. Adieu, Madame, aimez moi toujours et regardez comme une personne qui vous aime autant que ma tante vous aimait, et aimez moi de même, c'est tout ce que je souhaite.
Marie Thérèse Charlotte de France.
English translation (my own):
Vienna, January 22, 1796.
I received your two letters, they gave me, as well as the one that I have just received, a lot of pleasure; but I would have more pleasure to see you if it were possible; but I cannot, despite all my desire to see the lady my good aunt Elizabeth truly loved so much, I would have the consolation of speaking with you to tell you how much she was saddened by your departure, of your separation. She learned in prison that you were expecting, she was very worried about you, and wanted you to have a daughter. Yes, in spite of all her troubles she often thought of her dear Bombelles, and I of her example. I love you, and I often think of you, and I would very much like to see you, but since it is impossible, I at least have the consolation of writing to you to tell you that I have always loved you despite my youth when I met you, I am also fortunate to see that in this country everyone loves and admires you, which is not the case with the French. Your poor mother is doing quite well, at least when I saw her. I also hope Monsieur de Bombelles and all your children are doing well; you have many of them. May they look like their mother. Goodbye, Madame, I love you always, and regard me as a person who loves you as much as my aunt loved you, and love me just the same, that is all I wish.
Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France.
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