The Private Life of Marie Antoinette

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In one of the earliest memoirs of the young Queen of France, Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan—Marie Antoinette’s First Lady-in-Waiting and one of her closest and most faithful attendants—paints a dramatic portrait of the queen’s personal and political relationship with King Louis XVI of France. First published in two volumes in 1823, this memoir is presented against the backdrop of the French court as it weakens in the madness of an impending revolution. In intricate detail, Campan passionately defends Marie Antoinette’s pride and honor in the face of hateful propaganda against her—propaganda that has continued to haunt her even to this day. Honest, touching, and compelling, Campan’s The Private Life of Marie Antoinette provides a unique insight into the life of one of history’s most beguiling women.