Marie Antoinette's Confidante: The Rise and Fall of the Princesse de Lamballe

by Geri Walton

Marie Antoinette has always fascinated readers worldwide. Yet perhaps no one knew her better than one of her closest confidantes, Marie Therese, the Princess de Lamballe. The Princess became superintendent of the Queen s household in 1774, and through her relationship with Marie Antoinette, a unique perspective of the lavishness and daily intrigue at Versailles is exposed.Born into the famous House of Savoy in Turin, Italy, Marie Therese was married at the age of seventeen to the Prince de Lamballe; heir to one of the richest fortunes in France. He transported her to the gold-leafed and glittering chandeliered halls of the Chateau de Versailles, where she soon found herself immersed in the political and sexual scandals that surrounded the royal court. As the plotters and planners of Versailles sought, at all costs, to gain the favor of Louis XVI and his Queen, the Princess de Lamballe was there to witness it all.This book reveals the Princess de Lamballe s version of these events and is based on a wide variety of historical sources, helping to capture the waning days and grisly demise of the French monarchy. The story immerses you in a world of titillating sexual rumors, bloodthirsty revolutionaries, and hair-raising escape attempts and is a must read for anyone interested in Marie Antoinette, the origins of the French Revolution, or life in the late 18th Century."

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, France

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2017

About the author

Geri Walton has long been fascinated by history and the people who create it. As a child growing up in a large family in Utah, she loved to sit around in a big circle with family members, sharing stories. Her father’s many stories—from not only his own childhood but the lives of their ancestor’s—particularly fascinated her.

After a long career in technical writing and publishing in the computer industry, Geri returned to history as her first love. She worked on several different books, articles, and blog ideas before realizing her passion was around the history and people of the 1700s and 1800s. So, she started her current blog in 2013.

Geri lives in Northern California with her husband, son, and two Pomeranians. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, and jogging. She is also a bit of a health nut. Geri graduated summa cum laude with BA in History from San Jose State University.

Reviews

[Carole P. Roman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marie Antoinette's Confident by Geri Walton is a terrific look into pre-revolutionary and revolutionary France. Walton paints a vivid picture of French life, capturing the glittering court and the frenetic energy of the King and Queens world. This book is about the Princess Lamballe, Marie-Antoinette's sometime friend but always loyal supporter. It takes the reader into the day to day life, the court gossip, the petty fights describing the insular world where the aristocrats dwelled, unprepared and ignorant of the growing storm heading their way. The Princess is best remembered for her horrific death, and Walton strives to make the book about her life rather than her murder. Interesting and colorful, this is a great book that defines a person's achievements, describes the drama, joy, and heartache of living, giving the Princess' life substance instead of being remembered solely as a footnote to Marie Antoinette reign.

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is boring and poorly written. It contains multiple errors and feels self published.
The main character barely stars in her own biography. It's just bad.

[Aidan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was it self-published? No editor. Lots of assuming emotions when there's no evidence.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would you give up your life for your best friend? We all know the story of the ill-fated Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. But what about her most faithful lady-in-waiting, superintendent and best friend, the Princesse de Lamballe. Marie Antoinette’s Confidnate: The Rise and Fall of the Princesse de Lamballe tells her story: a story of love and sacrifice. The Princesse de Lamballe was born into one do the wealthiest families in Europe which meant she had to make a political marriage. This marriage to the Prince de Lamballe, a prince of blood to Louis XVI, is what brought her to Versailles and the Bourbon Court. Marie Antoinette fell in love with her instantly. They became best of friends in no time flat. I don’t want to give every detail of her fascinating life away but what ensued after was a tragic story of friendship put to the ultimate test during one of the most violent periods unrest in Europe. While it did take me forever to get though this simply because I knew the tragic ending, I did enjoy this meticulously researched account of what life was like for the beau monde at Versailles. I really admire the Princesse de Lamballe so much for her bravery and courage in the face of certain death for remaining loyal to her queen and best friend.

[Nicole Bannister · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Enjoyed everything about this book there was nothing I didn't like about the book. I Like the setting, the writing style, the plot, the plot twists and the characters in the book were amazing. I would gladly reread it again.

[Elspeth G. Perkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sensitive portrait of the price of loyalty in 18th-century Courts of opinions

Between the glamorous trivia concerning donkey races, an elaborate infamous necklace, hedgehog wigs and absurdly sounding unraveling parties; there are serious illustrations to be found of the cost of loyalty in the Hall of Mirrors and condemning public opinions. Those vaguely familiar with the name (Marie-Louise Thérèse of Savoy-Carignan), the Princesse de Lamballe are first introduced to fairy tale beginnings that can flutter from one name (or repetitive scandal and daily minutia) to the next in this work but with a little persistence a direct fascinating timeline emerges of this tragic figure of history who is remembered for her grisly connection to terrifying events of the French Revolution and the queen whose side she refused to leave at the very end. If the reader is searching for a fine easily accessible accompaniment for their 18th-century French history shelves that can encourage lasting reflections and further reading Marie Antoinette's Confidante: The Rise and Fall of the Princesse de Lamballe is definitely worth a look.

*I would like to thank Pen & Sword History and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and enjoy Marie Antoinette's Confidante: The Rise and Fall of the Princesse de Lamballe


~*~For more reviews see http://asthefinalpageturns.blogspot.com

[Christine Cazeneuve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable

I enjoyed the book but felt there was a lot Marie Antoinette rather than the princess Lamballe. Being a big fan of Marie Antoinette I didn't mind too much. I also learned things about Marie that I didn't know. You will come away with knowing who the princess was.

[Tammy Buchli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love history in general, but know less than I'd like to about the French Revolution. I've thought before about digging into it, but it's such a big subject I have felt overwhelmed about where to start. This book, viewing the subject through the lens of just one subject was a interesting way to fill in some of those gaps,

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for me to review.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars for the subject (this is the only biography I've ever seen about the Princesse de Lamballe). Two and a half stars for the sloppy research and uncopyedited writing. One star for the way the author scattered random commas all over the text. No, other, author has ever, added commas so, randomly just like, this. Utterly distracting.

[Krista · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm between a 2 and a 2.5 on this one. "Marie Antoinette's Confidante" is a biography of the Princesse de Lamballe. What's good is that it does give us insight to the elite court from beyond just the view of the Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. What's frustrating is that the book, like many others before it, fall for the lure of Marie Antoinette's story and moves her to primacy of place in the narrative. (Indeed, she's the name in the title.) Given that the subject is the Princesse de Lamballe, while acknowledging the tight connections between the Princess and the royal family, I would have preferred a tighter focus on the Princesse as a member of the ancien regime aristocracy in its final throes. (Note: this book was provided to me for free by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a little torn on this one. On the one hand, it was interesting to read from the perspective of the Princesse de Lamballe, and Walton does a wonderful job at bringing her to life, making me sympathise with her even more than I already did. But on the other hand there were a number of points where the book drifted away from Lamballe and spent a little too much time on others (Marie Antoinette in particular) and the book was severely let down by what felt like a complete lack of editing… With that fixed this would have definitely gotten a higher rating.

[dia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"the queen wants me; I must live and die near her."

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Princesse de Lamballe was the most wonderful friend. She stuck with the doomed Queen through thick and thin, even paying the supreme sacrifice. Sweet and angelic with golden hair, the Princess liked a quiet life and didn't want to join in the Queen's love for playing games and her friendships with some frivolous aristocrats. Her main rivalry for the Queen's friendship was with the Princesse de Polignac, but when Marie-Antoinette wanted a more sensible, loyal companion, she turned back to the lovely Lamballe.



This is a very detailed and sympathetic biography of the Princess, but I thought that Geri Walton was a bit hard on the Queen at times. I also found the account of Madame Lamballe's death extremely graphic, but it had to be included. The bloodthirsty French Revolution is also difficult to read about.



This is a must-read for anyone who likes reading about French royalty.



I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not terribly written (though there are a few typos with dates), but as a biography I'd have to call this something of a failure due the the fact that at the end of the book you probably know more about Marie-Antoinette than you do about the Princesse de Lamballe. The author has a gift for finding interesting little nuggets of information you don't find in other biographies, but having read this I don't have a feeling that I know the Princesse's life in any real depth.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolution

This writing covered well the history of the overtaking of the French people toward the monarchy. It was well researched and that was evident in the writing. This time in history was most unforgiving. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, along with their staff, did not deserve their horrific fates. The economic crisis began long before their reign. They were the scapegoats. It saddens me. Thanks to the writer for filling in information.

[Joyce Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This historical non-fiction book was very throughly researched and has tremendous citations. The title indicates that it is about the Princesse de Lamballe a confidante of Marie Antoinette, and a member of the Royal Court under King Louis the XVI. The author does speak to the Princesse, but the book is primarily focused on Marie Antoinette, the fall of the monarchy and the French Revolution. The Kindle edition would have benefitted from better editing.

[The Logophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was hard for me to rate. I feel like most of the information was good (I occasionally found contradictions when I looked at the notes in the back of the book), but my biggest complaint was the writing style. I felt like my pre-teen daughter was explaining something to me that she learned in school. The information is there, but the articulation was non-existent. It was almost like it was the first draft that never got edited & was immediately sent to print.

[Brittany Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of interesting detail about Marie and Louis, however the book lacked detail about the main character it was supposed to star. Lamballe was infrequently featured, and by infrequent, multiple pages would go on before she made an appearance. At times read more like a book about Marie and her relationship with Polignac.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing that would have made this book better would have been to have it more in a novel format. Thoroughly researched--I learned so much. Highly recommend.

[Malani Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting

[Dicey100 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and portrayed in a respectful way, without glossing over the truth of what happened during this era. The perspective is both national and international.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t feel like I learned anything about the Princesse de Lamballe. This book also needed an editor as the author has the Marquis de Lafayette going to America in 1881!

[Anna From Gustine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This biography suffers for about 2/3 of the book because of its subject. The Princess de Lamballe is the friend of Marie Antoinette who died for her loyalty to the queen, killed by a revolutionary mob. She only becomes compelling once her life is endangered.

There is enough information for a biography, sure, but just not enough to make her an engaging subject. I'm not sure if it's because she was pretty dull in real life, except for her horrible death. She was widowed at a young age and never remarried. She doesn't appear to have had lovers. She was generous and a decent person. She doesn't appear to have written much about herself so I didn't feel like I got to know her, even though I read the whole book. What were her thoughts and feelings? Hard to tell.

There were also typos. I'm not a big stickler for typos in general, but when you are writing that the Princess did something in 1879 instead of 1789, well, that's bad.....

I also think that one couldn't tell her story without telling the story of Marie Antoinette. That lady is a historical figure that takes over any narrative. As much as this bio was about the Princess, it was more about Marie Antoinette and her fall. It was impossible to avoid that. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, the Princess story was doomed to pale in comparison.

[Jill Parry Blonsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. I don't understand the negative posts.

[Liz Davidson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the parts that were *actually* about the Princesse de Lamballe, but a majority of this was about Marie Antoinette and didn't really feature the Princesse. Misleading title

[Elena Woontner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing that I did not know already from other sources. I just cannot believe that what purports to be a historical biography contains glaring date errors and typos. Some are in the same paragraph, placing events over a century ahead and back. I do not understand why the author did not contact an editor or, at the very least, read the text herself multiple times. Pity because there is a sizeable amount of research documented at the end of the book.

[Gio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marie Antoinette's Confidante: The Rise and Fall of the Princesse de Lamballe is supposed to be a a biography of the Princess De Lamballe. Problem is, there's so little information on the princess - and Walton has poured it all in - it ends up being more of an account of the historical times she lived in and the circles she moved in. That's equally fascinating - just not what I was expect. Still, the portrait that emerges is that of a kind, dutiful woman who stood by her friend, the Queen's side to the very end, and lost her life because of it. If you're obsessed with Marie Antoinette or the French Revolution, it's well worth a read.

[The Suburban Eclectic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marie Antoinette's Confidante is part history lesson and part gossipy tale, however, it is missing the essence of the central character, the aforementioned confidante, Marie Therese. But as Marie Therese’s name does not warrant a mention in the title of her own story, perhaps that says it all. There is some backstory in the beginning, but when mole placement and underlings get more word count than the main character then the whole focus shifts, and the reader is left wondering, what is the whole point? This is unfortunate as Marie Therese’s family connections have enough drama that surely could have carried a story or two. Alas, Marie Therese is but a footnote in her own story. This is a shame as the basis of Marie Therese’s character may be skewed. The author states that Marie Therese was known for her amiability and nobility, but she was best known for her epic swoons. In fact, it is the vapors that push Marie Therese to the background as she all but disappears in the middle of the book. Too much Marie Antoinette and not enough Marie Therese.