Marie Antoinette's Head. The Royal Hairdresser, the Queen and the Revolution by Will Bashor

Author:Will Bashor
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Lyons Press
Published: 2013-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

On the 12th of June 1791, around ten o’clock at night, Léonard opened a note which had just been delivered to him in his bedroom:

Monsieur Léonard is requested to come to the Tuileries at once. He will present himself at the little door opening on the passage leading to the Feuillants; the doorkeeper Parent will let him in. At the door situated at the foot of the Pavillon de Flore, on the side of the garden, a footman will wait for M. Léonard and will lead him to the place where he will be received. No delay.

Once inside the Tuileries, Léonard was led through the dark and deserted apartments to the queen’s bedchamber, where he found the king, the queen, and the dauphin’s sister, Madame Élisabeth.

The king was seated on a small sofa; bloated as usual after his gigantic meal, he had taken off his collar. Nevertheless, his face appeared more animated than normal. The queen and Madame Élisabeth were seated in armchairs on each side of the sofa. Louis XVI eyed Léonard.

“It is long, Léonard . . .” said His Majesty with a softness of voice which, for some years, had been his habit. “Yes, it is very long since your zeal and faithfulness have been known to us, and you have therefore seen that, on several occasions, our confidence has rewarded your devotion.”

“Sire,” Léonard replied bowing, “I am overwhelmed by Your Majesty’s kindnesses and those of the queen.”

“Today, Léonard,” resumed the king, “I expect from that same devotion, a proof of great importance, and I shall tell you without evasion, that for the mission with which I am about to entrust you, requiring both intelligence and zeal, I do not know of a better agent than you.”

“Certainly, certainly!” the queen and Madame Élisabeth added, acting as a chorus to the king’s flattery.

Then Louis XVI continued, “You must know all, sir; listen to me carefully.”

“Sire, all my interest and attention follow Your Majesty’s words,” Léonard said.

“You know better than anyone else, the amount of courageous resignation I have displayed in these late days; when my wife, my sister, my aunts, all those about me were possessed of the greatest fear. I was calm and tranquil, because I had nothing for which to reproach myself. My friends, well-advised or ill-advised, I do not yet know which, urged me to leave my kingdom, but I always answered that a father must not leave his children when passion carries him away from his duty.

“Today without entirely consenting to this advice,” the king continued, “I have decided to follow it in part, by conforming myself to the plan of a very unfortunate man, Mirabeau. In a few days I shall go to a camp, which the General de Bouillé is going to receive the order to form at Montmédy. That order, my dear Léonard, you are going to carry to the general, with the commission and insignia of the Marshal of France.

“You will appreciate the full importance of such a mission. General de

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