Rosalie Lamorlière
Rosalie Lamorlière (Rosalie Lamorliere in English; March 19, 1768 - February 2, 1848) was a French domestic. She is known as the last servant of Marie Antoinette, while the former queen was in the Conciergerie, awaiting her trial and execution.[1]
Life[]
She was born on 19 March 1768, in Breteuil, France, to the shoemaker François de Lamorlière (1738-1812) and his wife (who later died when Lamorlière was 12), and was one of seven siblings. Although she never married, she had a child, Marie Rosalie de Lamorlière (1801-1895), whose father is unknown.[2]
Lamorlière lived some part of her life in rue de Sèvres in Paris.[2] Following the September Massacres, she was engaged as a servant in the Prison by the Richards, and worked in the Prison until 1799.[2]
It is unknown what she looked like, as the only portrait known to be painted of her has been lost. Apart from that, the only other existing painting of Lamorlière is Marie-Antoinette, le matin de son exécution, painted by Tony Robert-Fleury during the 19th century, and he had never seen her.[2]
In the 1830s, she was interviewed by , for whom she described the last days and the imprisonment of Marie Antoinette.[3] In 1824, she was given an allowance by the daughter of Marie Antoinette.
She died on February 2, 1848, at 79 years old. Her tomb was erected by her daughter at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.[1]
Media[]
Rosalie Lamorlière, dernière servante de Marie-Antoinette by Ludovic Miserole, a book on Lamorlière, was published in 2010. It is only available in French.[4]
Popular media[]
Riyoko Ikeda's manga and its adaptation anime Rose of Versailles features Rosalie as one of the central figures in the story which takes liberties to link her life with other characters both historical and fictional. She is depicted as the illegitimate daughter of Valois de Saint-Rémy and Yolande de Polastron, future Countess of Polignac. Secretly the 15-year-old Yolande gave Rosalie birth and got fostered by the mother of Jeanne of Valois-Saint-Rémy. After her foster mother died, Rosalie is eventually taken in by Oscar (a fictional character and the protagonist of the story), the head of the royal guards who first introduces her to the queen, Marie Antoinette. Rosalie is blackmailed by Polignac into coming to live with her after her younger sister commits suicide, to fill her place in a betrothal but runs away from Polignac and back to Paris. She marries Bernard, a follower of Robespierre, is present at the storming of the Bastille where she witnesses her old friend's death and narrates the end results of the French Revolution (including the execution of the queen) to conclude the story.
Ikeda features Rosalie in her other manga, Eikou no Napoleon – Eroica which focuses on the life of Napoleon.
Rosalie is the main character in the 2019 BBC radio play My Friend, Marie Antoinette, written by Carine Adler and starring Lily Loveless.
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Lenotre, G. (1907). The Last Days of Marie Antoinette.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Miserole, Ludovic. Rosalie Lamorlière, dernière servante de Marie-Antoinette.
- ^ Yalom, Marilyn, Blodsystrar: kvinnors hågkomster av franska revolutionen, Rabén Prisma, Stockholm, 1997
- ^ Miserole, Ludovic. "Post by author of 'Rosalie Lamorlière, dernière servante de Marie-Antoinette'".
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- People of the French Revolution
- 1768 births
- 1848 deaths
- French history stubs