The ROYAL TRIANGLE

BY LENNOX STRONG

HISTORY SHOWS NUMEROUS CAUSATIVE FACTORS FOR THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, CHIEF AMONG THESE REASONS BEING THE GENERAL BEHAVIOR OF THE QUEEN OF FRANCE, MARIE ANTOINETTE. IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT THE FRIVOLOUS QUEEN GIFTED HER FRIENDS TOO GENEROUSLY AND AFFORDED HERSELF DIAMONDS WHILE HER SUBJECTS STARVED. LESS WELL KNOWN IS THE BLIND LOVE MARIE ANTOINETTE HELD FOR ANOTHER WOMAN THAT IN PART HELPED BRING ABOUT HER OWN DOWNFALL.

STEFAN ZWEIG IN HIS BIOGRAPHY, MARIE ANTOINETTE (GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., NEW YORK, 1933), DISCUSSES HER AFFAIRS WITH WOMEN AT LENGTH. IN COMMENTING ON HER LOSING THE LOVE OF THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE, HE SAYS, "MORE DANGEROUS TO THE QUEEN WERE MARIE ANTOINETTE'S WOMEN FRIENDS, FOR STRANGELY MINGLED AFFECTIVE ENERGIES PLAYED A SINISTER PART." HE GOES ON TO EXPLAIN THAT MARIE ANTOINETTE WAS MARRIED TO A PARTIALLY IMPOTENT HUSBAND. "SHE HAD NEED OF SOMEONE WHO WOULD RELIEVE HER SPIRITUAL AND BODILY TENSIONS...MARIE ANTOINETTE TURNED TOWARD A WOMAN FRIEND." LATER HE SAYS THAT "IT WAS NOT LONG BEFORE WHISPERS BEGAN TO CIRCULATE CONCERNING THE QUEEN'S SAPPHIC INCLINATIONS."

THE QUEEN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH HER FIRST FAVORITE, PRINCESS DE LAMBALLE, WAS PROBABLY NOT PHYSICALLY CONSUMMATED BEYOND THE CASUAL CARESS; HOWEVER, ALL THIS PEACEFUL FRIENDSHIP WAS NOT FATED TO LAST. THE PRINCESS DE LAMBALLE STAYED BY THE QUEEN TO THE LAST EVEN GAVE HER LIFE FOR HER. (SHE WAS TORN TO PIECES BY A STREET MOB DURING THE REVOLUTION.) THE LOVE ASPECTS OF

THEIR RELATIONSHIP DIED, THOUGH, LONG BEFORE THIS TIME, WHEN MARIE ANTOINETTE MET THE BEAUTIFUL AND EVIL DUCHESSE DE POLIGNAC. THESE TWO FATED LOVERS MET AT A COURT BALL IN 1775. AS STEFAN ZWEIG SAYS IN THE ABOVE-CITED BIOGRAPHY, "THE PASSION SHE CONCEIVED FOR THE DUCHESSE DE POLIGNAC WAS NOT, LIKE HER FONDNESS FOR THE PRINCESS DE LAMBALLE, THE OUTCOME OF A HUMAN SYMPATHY GRADUALLY INCREASING TO BECOME A FRIENDSHIP, BUT A SUDDEN AND OVERWHELMING INTEREST, A CLAP OF THUNDER, A SORT OF SUPERHEATED FALLING IN LOVE."

VARIOUS BIOGRAPHIES COMMENT ON THE INCREASING ATTACHMENT BETWEEN