Vodka at Versailles

This is the first biography of her that manages to handle both the featherhead she was for most of her life, and the woman Marie Antoinette became because of the crisis of 1787-88, and the Revolution from 1789 until 1792 and the September Massacres, when her ability to influence the course of events effectively ended. Hardman has written a curious but effective hybrid. His analysis of the alliance between Barnave and the Queen is very interesting. Antoinette had to balance her epistolary relationship with Barnave, which began after Varennes, with the sexual jealousy of Fersen. Hardman dismisses the idea that Fersen had anything to worry about as Barnave and the Queen were only in the same room once after he rode in the carriage with her that brought the family back from their attempted escape. He does think that the Queen probably flirted a bit with him for pragmatic reasons. However, Hardman accepts the idea that the Queen and Fersen had some kind of sexual relationship, and dates it from the death of Sophie Beatrix in 1786, when the Queen decided she did not want more children. Hardman is careful to explain that there will never be a way to "prove" this because the physical evidence is gone. On the other hand, he also makes the sensible observation that no 18th century woman would have entrusted the details of an affair to a letter. The Queen comes as close as possible with her extravagant protestations of love in letters that she never thought would see the light of day. When they did (thanks to a Fersen descendant) the compromising expressions were largely redacted. The unredacted versions have been published in this century, and for this reader at least they settle the question. This is a scholarly book, but Hardman's style is also sprightly, which I didn't expect after reading his biography of Louis XVI. Some of his acid observations made me laugh out loud. So there's that. Of interest to those who find the subject matter so, but the book is unlikely to change anyone's mind about the hapless Marie Antoinette. Either way.