Beckman Jonathan - How to ruin a queen: Marie Antoinette, the stolen diamonds and the scandal that shook the French throne

How to Ruin a Queen

Copyright 2014 by Jonathan Beckman

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First Da Capo Press edition 2014

Reprinted by arrangement with John Murray (Publishers)

A Hachette UK Company

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ISBN: 978-0-306-82356-5 (e-book)

LCCN: 2014938518

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To the memory of my mother, zl, who I hope would have liked it

Contents

The Main Characters

Jeannes Family

Jeanne de Saint-Rmy, comtesse de La Motte-Valois, an adventuress

Jacques de Saint-Rmy, her father

Marie Jossell, her mother

Jacques de Saint-Rmy fils, her brother

Marianne de Saint-Rmy, her sister

Marguerite de Saint-Rmy, her sister

Marquise de Boulainvilliers, Jeannes benefactress

Marquis de Boulainvilliers, her husband

The Rohan

Louis, Cardinal de Rohan, prince-bishop of Strasbourg and grand almoner of France

Prince de Soubise, his uncle

Comtesse de Marsan, his aunt

Abb Georgel, Rohans vicar-general

Baron de Planta, Rohans major-domo

The Habsburgs

Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria, queen of Hungary and Bohemia, Holy Roman Empress and mother of Marie Antoinette

Joseph II, her son, Holy Roman Emperor and co-regent

Prince Kaunitz, the Austrian chancellor

The House of Bourbon

Louis XVI, king of France

Comte de Provence, his brother

Comte dArtois, his brother

Madame Elisabeth, known simply as Madame, his sister

Louis XV, his grandfather and predecessor

Madame du Barry, Louis XVs mistress

Servants of the Crown

Duc de Choiseul, Louis XVs chief minister

Duc dAiguillon, foreign minister after Choiseuls dismissal

Comte de Calonne, minister of finance

Baron de Breteuil, minister of the kings household

Comte de Vergennes, foreign minister

Marchal de Castries, minister of the navy

Marquis de Miromesnil, keeper of the seals

The Queens Circle

Marie Antoinette, queen of France

Princesse de Lamballe, a favourite

Duchesse de Polignac, another favourite

Madame Campan, a femme de chambre

Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Austrian ambassador to the French Court

Abb de Vermond, reader to the queen and a trusted counsellor

Jeannes Circle

Jacques Beugnot, a lawyer

Nicolas de La Motte, a soldier, later husband to Jeanne

Rtaux de Villette, a messmate of Nicolas

Rosalie Brissault, Jeannes chambermaid

Marie de La Tour, Jeannes niece

Pre Nicolas Loth, a Minim friar

The English Connection

Chevalier ONeil, a friend of Nicolas

Barthlemy Macdermott, a Capuchin monk

Nathaniel Jefferys, a jeweller

William Gray, another jeweller

Costa, also known as Franois Benevent, a language tutor and spy

DArragon, a secretary at the French Embassy

Comte dAdhmar, French ambassador to Great Britain

Charles Thveneau de Morande, a muckraking journalist

The Jewellers

Charles Boehmer, a Parisian jeweller, also crown jeweller and jeweller to the queen

Paul Bassenge, his partner

Louis-Franois Achet, a lawyer and friend of Bassenge

Jean-Baptiste Laporte, Achets son-in-law, another lawyer

Claude Baudard de Sainte-James, a financier

The Suspects

Nicole le Guay, later the Baronne dOliva, a prostitute with a resemblance to Marie Antoinette

Toussaint de Beausire, her lover

Comte de Cagliostro, an alchemist and savant

Seraphina, his wife

The Law Officers

Marquis de Launay, governor of the Bastille

Louis Thiroux de Crosne, lieutenant-general of the Paris Police

Quidor, a police inspector

Etienne Franois dAligre, chief magistrate of the parlement of Paris

Franois-Louis Joly de Fleury, procureur-gnral of the parlement of Paris

Pierre Laurencel, Fleurys deputy

Maximilien Titon de Villotran, one of the investigating magistrates

Dupuis de Marc, the other investigating magistrate

Lawyers

Guy-Jean-Baptiste Target, Rohans lawyer

Matre Doillot, Jeannes lawyer

Why, such have revolutionized this land

With diamond-necklace-dealing!