The analysis of Marie Antoinette’s letters to a Swedish count revealed words like “beloved” and “tender friend,” suggesting their relationship was more than a close friendship.
French National Museum of Natural HistoryThe swirly black ink atop the text in Marie Antoinette ’s letter had made them inconceivable to read until now .
For two C , a censor ’s squiggly black ink made letters exchanged between French queen Marie Antoinette and the Swedish count Axel von Fersen inconceivable to learn in full . Now , X - re technology has helped reveal the redacted word — as well as the nature of the queen ’s family relationship with the enumeration .
“ The redacted passages are the most intimate passage of the correspondence,”explained Anne Michelin , an assistant professor at the French National Museum of Natural History and the lead writer of a late study on Marie Antoinette ’s letter .
French National Museum of Natural HistoryThe swirly black ink atop the text in Marie Antoinette’s letters had made them impossible to read until now.
By using disco biscuit - ray fluorescence spectroscopic analysis — which identifies subtle difference in the ink in the letter and the ink used by the censor — Michelin and her squad were able to name 45 passage across eight letters that someone once tried to blot out . They admit versed language like “ deadly , ” “ beloved , ” “ adore , ” and “ tender friend . ”
All this lends acceptance to the rumour that the Gallic queen and the Swedish count had a romantic human relationship .
“ In this time , the great unwashed used a lot of flowery language,”Michelin say . “ But here , it ’s really stiff , really intimate language . We recognize with this textbook , there is love relationship . ”
French National Museum of Natural HistoryX-ray fluorescence spectroscopy revealed a number of blotted out words and phrases.
French National Museum of Natural HistoryX - ray fluorescence spectroscopy divulge a number of blotted out word of honor and phrases .
Her enquiry also revealed something else surprising about Marie Antoinette ’s letter of the alphabet — the identicalness of the censor , which has long eluded historians . Michelin conceive that von Fersen himself decided to obstruct specific passages . That ’s because his letter — and diligent copies he made of Marie Antoinette ’s letters — used the same ink that the censor used .
“ The happenstance was too braggy ! ” Michelin say . “ In add-on , on one varsity letter , Fersen contribute a few words above a redacted passage ( his handwriting was confirmed by a specialist ) but with an ink of the same physical composition as the editing ink used on this same varsity letter . ”
Wikimedia CommonsMarie Antoinette as depicted in 1775.
In that alphabetic character , von Fersen blotted out“the missive of the 28th made my happiness ” so that it learn “ the alphabetic character of the 28th reached me . ”
Marie Antoinetteand Axel von Fersen convert the letters between June 1791 and August 1792 as the French Revolution tore across the country . She was under household arrest at Tuileries Palace in Paris with her family ; he was abroad , essay to elicit accompaniment for the Gallic regal family .
In their varsity letter , which were write on chummy cotton paper , Marie Antoinette and von Fersen hash out government and personal feelings . Overall , the blotted - out words do not change the signification of the letters . alternatively , they shed some light on the affection share between the queen and the counting .
Theirs was , however , a doomed romance . Marie Antoinette was carry out on Oct. 16 , 1793 . Von Fersen never wed . In any case , accord to Michelin , their relationship was far from strange .
“ All the queens and all the kings in France had this passion affair , ” she observe . “ It ’s coarse . ”
Wikimedia CommonsMarie Antoinette as depicted in 1775 .
The count ’s feelings for the fag also possibly explicate why he chose to censor , and not destroy , the varsity letter he receive from Marie Antoinette before her death .
“ Fersen probably want to keep this proportionateness , of import to him perhaps for bathetic reasons or political scheme , while protecting the queen ’s laurels and perhaps his own , ” Michelin said .
The poof ’s letters , too , admit political information about the situation in France . Michelin ’s speculated that von Fersen may have also wanted to show them to extraneous courts to build keep for Marie Antoinette and her kinsperson .
Though Michelin’stechniquehelped see past the censor ’s ink in eight letters , seven more were too difficult to interpret . The ink in those letters was too exchangeable for the tenner - ray to identify any differences .
Still , they offer a peek into the judgment of one of history ’s most controversial womanhood . As Marie Antoinette awaited her execution , she spend her days writing to von Fersen . Before she died , she write in one letter :
“ I will stop not without telling you my dear and loving Quaker that I love you madly and that I can never be a moment without adore you . ”
After understand about Marie Antoinette ’s uncensored letters , learn aboutCharles Henri Sanson , the public executioner of the French Revolution . Or , take aboutMarie Antoinette ’s final days , before her execution sated the bloodlust of the French Revolution .
