Louis the Well-Beloved (16 page)

Fleury would not be satisfied until he had rid the Court of his enemies. He did not wish to include the Queen among these for naturally he could not rid the Court of her. He thought her a foolish woman to cling so stupidly to the Duc de Bourbon’s faction when any sensible person would have known that it was in decline.

It was not that they had any affection for her. They were using her now as they had used her from the beginning; and she, poor fool, seemed unable to see it.

There was no need, Fleury decided, to try to ingratiate himself with the Queen. At one time he had thought she might be an influence at the Court; now it was clear that she never would be. Louis was turning from her; very shortly there would be a mistress. Fleury hoped there would not be one only. A necessary evil, he decided, but less dangerous in the plural than in the singular.

He was exerting all his efforts to oust Bourbon from Court. The time had come for him to take the helm, now that he had proof that the King was loyal to him. The sooner Bourbon, Pâris-Duverney and Madame de Prie were relegated to obscurity the better.

Marie asked the advice of the old Maréchal Villars whom she believed she could trust.

‘The king once loved me,’ she said, her voice breaking in a sob. ‘I fear he no longer does.’

The old Maréchal looked at her sadly. ‘It is clear, Madame,’ he said, ‘that the King’s feelings towards you have changed. You should not appear sullen because of this, but remember that there are many watchful women of the Court who are looking for an opportunity which could well arise out of such a situation.’

The frightened Queen could not resist the temptation to appeal to Fleury himself.

‘Madame,’ the Bishop reproved her, ‘you so clearly support those who do not please the King.’

‘You mean Monsieur le Duc and Madame de Prie?’

‘Those two and Monsieur Pâris-Duverney.’

‘But what have they done? Why should I suddenly cease to feel affection for my friends?’ wailed Marie.

‘Pâris-Duverney has lowered the value of money. His laws have made chaos in the factories. The Duc and his mistress are completely egotistical. They do not seek to bring prosperity to France but to themselves.’

‘How could I turn against them when they have been my friends?’

Fleury smiled wanly. ‘They may have been friends to you once, Madame,’ he said; ‘but they are so no longer.’

He was implying that, but for them and their selfish policy, the Queen of France would not now be Marie Leczinska. It was true, thought Marie. Her fairytale marriage had been the result of the determination of two ambitious people to seize power.

Marie laid her hand appealingly on Fleury’s arm.

‘I . . . I find the King grown cold towards me,’ she said.

Fleury looked at her, and there was a mild pity in his eyes. ‘That, Madame.’ he said, ‘I cannot change.’

There was no help from any quarter. Marie could not tell her parents what was happening to her marriage. They believed that the fairytale was going on; they believed in the ‘happy ever after’ ending. It did them no harm and much good to go on believing – for, as in the case of Fleury, they could not make Louis fall in love with her again.

The Court was waiting. They knew it could not be long delayed, for Fleury was impatient, and Louis was leaning more and more on his counsel.

The people were restive; they showed very plainly that they were dissatisfied with the rule of Monsieur le Duc and his mistress. Every day there were demonstrations in Paris. The heavy taxes must be abolished. Bread must be cheaper. On every occasion the Duc de Bourbon, his mistress, or the Minister of Finance were blamed for this state of affairs.

Suddenly the King seemed to have forgotten his enmity towards the Duc de Bourbon; he took to receiving him more frequently and in the most friendly fashion.

One summer’s day Louis decided to visit Rambouillet that he might hunt for a few days.

The carriage, which was to take him there, arrived and, as he was about to step into it, he saw the Duc de Bourbon among the courtiers.

‘You will join me at Rambouillet,’ he said to Bourbon, smiling affably. ‘Do not be late. We will expect you to supper.’

Bourbon’s face flushed with pleasure; his eyes glinted as he met those of Fleury and his other enemies. See, he seemed to be saying, you thought this was the end of me. You forget I am a Prince of the Royal House – ties of blood bind me to the King. I am not so easily dismissed.

The King’s carriage had rumbled away and Bourbon was preparing to enter his when the Duc de Charost came towards him.

‘Monsieur le Duc,’ he said, ‘I have been commanded by His Majesty to give you this.’

Bourbon stared at the paper in the other’s hand. A terrible suspicion came to him as he took it; that his suspicion was correct was clear to see when his face paled for a second before the blood rushed back into it as he read:

‘I command you, if you will avoid punishment for disobedience, to retire to Chantilly. There you must remain until I give further orders. Louis.’

This was his
lettre de cachet
, the dismissal from Court.

It was the first indication of Louis’ methods, of his determination to avoid unpleasantness.

Those who had seen the friendly smile he had bestowed on Bourbon before he stepped into his carriage were astonished that he could have behaved so, knowing that the worst blow which could befall an ambitious man was about to be dealt to the Duc de Bourbon.

The Queen was distressed.

Her friends dismissed from Court! She felt it would have been disloyal not to plead for them.

The King listened to her coldly. ‘Madame,’ he said, ‘you waste your time.’

‘But Louis . . . these were my friends!’

‘You have acted foolishly in giving your friendship to such people.’

‘But . . . they have been so good to me. When I first came to Court . . .’

‘When you first came to Court you were the Queen. If you had shown that dignity which your rank demanded, you would not have allowed such people to dominate you. You must understand that the Duc de Bourbon is no longer First Minister. I do not think Madame de Prie will be long at Court. And you, Marie, will listen to what Monsieur de Fréjus tells you, for he will make my wishes known to you.’

‘But Louis, surely
you
will make your wishes known to me.’

He smiled at her, almost tenderly, not because he felt tender towards her but because he could sense her growing hysteria.

He patted her arm. ‘All is well,’ he said. ‘We have rid the Court of those who did harm to the State. The people will be pleased that we have acted firmly.’

Marie controlled her feelings and bowed her head.

Was there no way back to that ecstatic honeymoon?

Although Fleury was not named First Minister he assumed power. His first acts were to assign Pâris-Duverney to the Bastille and banish Madame de Prie to her castle of Courbépine which was in Normandy. She went, raging against Fleury and her fate.

A Cardinal’s hat arrived from Rome for the Bishop of Fréjus – an additional honour. Fleury had proved that his waiting game had been a successful one.

The people applauded his accession to power, since the first law he made revoked the unpopular tax known as the
Cinquantième
. They believed that, with the dismissal of Bourbon and his mistress, prosperity would return to France; and the day on which the Duc’s retinue left for Chantilly was one of rejoicing throughout the capital.

Marie soothed the distress caused by the loss of her husband’s love, with her passion for food. Her appetite astonished everyone; she would sit at table calmly eating, for she let nothing disturb her at meals, and the amount of food she consumed was phenomenal.

There was an occasion when, after having eaten a hundred and eighty oysters and drinking a great quantity of beer, Marie suffered such acute indigestion that it was believed she had contracted a fever.

Louis had been hunting, and had reached the Palace very fatigued and hungry. After consuming a large quantity of figs, walnuts and milk, he too was taken ill.

The rumour spread through Paris. ‘The King and Queen are ill of fever. Both ill! Can it be poison?’ The King however quickly recovered; not so Marie, and her illness lasted for several days.

During that time Louis visited her and, feeling sorry to see her so wretched, he was more affectionate towards her than he had been.

Marie’s spirits rose. She believed then that now the Duc de Bourbon and Madame de Prie were safely exiled and Cardinal Fleury was making the country prosperous again, Louis might forget his disappointment in her.

While Louis was with her it was easy to believe this. Later that year the good news was spread throughout the country; the Queen was pregnant.