The Duchess Of Berry Was The Most Scandalous Woman In France D
Louise Elizabeth The Duchess of Barry was the 18th century French princess whose short yet scandalous life had the City of Paris completely enthralled The Duchess of Barry had a string of tragic miscarriages before her sudden death and the autopsy results revealed the biggest Twist of all but more on that later Louise Elizabeth was born in August of 1695 to Philipe II region of France and franois Marie De bulon her parents were first cousins through King Louis the 14th from the time she was born Louis Elizabeth had the honorary title of Mademoiselle Doon she got the playful nickname JL which roughly translates to Chubby Louise was never the image of perfect health even if she was plump as a peach when she was just 6 years old
she felt terribly ill the mysterious illness seemed poised to take her life prematurely but her father nursed her back to health staying at her bedside all day and all night Louise’s paternal grandmother Elizabeth charot saw her resilience in the face of terrible illness she wrote that Louise had entirely her own way so that it is not surprising she should be like a headstrong horse unfortunately Louise Elizabeth felt painfully ill once again at the age of 10 she contracted small poox and this time it definitely seemed like she wouldn’t make it in fact depending on who you ask she didn’t make it at all the little Louise was presumed dead for 6 hours having miraculously survived not one but two close encounters with the Grim Reaper Louise Elizabeth’s parents were eager to get her married before it
was too late they arranged for Louise to Wed Charles Duke of Barry when she was just 14 years old the Duke of Barry was 10 years her senior at the time after her marriage Louisa’s first cousin Marie and de bulon became her lady in waiting maranne served Louise Faithfully for years but eventually had to resign in protest the young Duchess was a little too prone to Scandal and disaster for her cousin’s liking Louise Elizabeth’s heart hard and fast lifestyle took its toll before long one year into her marriage Louise became pregnant with her first child however before she could celebrate being a mother tragedy struck Louise Elizabeth had never been in great health so a pregnancy was a lot to bear as she approached full term her doctors advised her to stay either in
Versailles or the pal Royale her husband however insisted that she make the voyage to Fontan Blau for the delivery the arduous trip was rough on the very pregnant Louise and unfortunately she delivered a stillborn girl at fonan Blau after the fact the doctors blamed the journey they claimed that the stress of traveling and the accidents along the way had all been too much for the near-borehole and went right back into her Antics Louise Elizabeth tried to give it another go in 1712 and the following March she delivered a boy he was also not so healthy not 4 months after she had given birth the poor infant began convulsing uncontrollably he passed in June of that
year Louise had her son’s heart extracted and taken to a Convent in Paris the rest of him she had buried at a basila in the Parisian suburbs this was a religious tradition in France at the time to her credit Louise Elizabeth looked after her son’s governesses the attendants were probably more devastated by the loss than she was and she wanted them compensated Louise ensured that her son’s governesses received their full salaries for Life The Duke Barry must have been sick SI and tired of his wife’s inability to successfully give him a child later that year he took one of Louise’s chambermaids as his mistress as if that insult wasn’t enough the affair was public knowledge Louise Elizabeth took the insult to Heart Louise had been carrying on an affair of
her own well several of her own to tell the truth with a certain Monier de sal but when her husband took one of her chamber ma as his mistress she had to upgrade to the mysterious but no doubt dashing mon Le she was going to make the Duke very jealous Louise practiced more discretion in her extramarital Affairs than she did in her excessive partying she had managed to keep her original Affairs relatively quiet but her affair with Le was about revenge and she flaunted it she couldn’t have predicted the Duke’s chilling reaction the Duke of Barry was outraged at his wife’s new Affair jealous as he was he was probably more upset at how Brazen she had become in retaliation he threatened to have her shipped off to a Convent Louise Elizabeth definitely
wouldn’t have had a good time at a Convent she wouldn’t have been able to party and then of course there was that vow of celibacy none of that screams Louise but at least it was better than hanging around her husband a second longer their broken relationship reached a peak when the Duke viously kicked her in public for her indiscretions she had to get away no matter the cost Louise had had enough of her husband he was responsible for the loss of their first child insulted her honor and took to physically attacking her in public Louise developed a secret plan to rid herself of the wretch one once and for all he wasn’t going to be sending her anywhere Louise plotted with her lover Monier Le to make a daring getaway The Forbidden lovers hatched a scheme to escape France for the Netherlands where they could live free of her husband’s
influence fate however had other plans for the Duke of Barry Louise elizabe wouldn’t have to flee France or even lift a finger to get exactly what she wanted Louise’s husband the Duke of Barry suffered an accident while on a hunting trip he sustained severe internal injuries from which he would never recover in May of 1714 when the Duke drew his last breath Louise officially became a dowager Duchess she was finally free to live as she wanted if anything her story up to this point has been tame compared to what was coming next seven weeks after Louise Elizabeth’s husband passed she once again gave birth she had another baby girl but sadly the infant passed away only days later it was another terrible tragedy but as always
with Louise there were clouds of controversy considering the timing of the pregnancy there were doubts as to who the baby’s father might have been Louise moved into Luxembourg Palace to live out her Widow Hood in a selfish act that would make her eternally unpopular she closed the Luxembourg Garden to the public in addition she received a massive annual income from the state her selfishness would earn her the scorn of the people of Paris for years to come after the passing of Louis the 14th her maternal grandfather and the King of France Louise Elizabeth announced that she would be in mourning for 6 months of course her aidea of mourning had considerably fewer tears and considerably more cheers than everyone else’s she quickly became a merry widow hosting parties attending balls and
gambling in the middle of her morning The Duchess of Barry suddenly stopped partying and shut herself up in her Palace the official story she gave was that she was suffering from a cold the truth as always was much more scandalous Louise was experiencing the Pains of pregnancy once again her clandestine confinement became the subject of a whole lot of Gossip in Paris Louise’s pregnancy so soon after her husband’s passing could only mean one thing backlash the 18th century tabloids jumped on the story comparing Louise Elizabeth to other Jezebels in history there was even a song written in 1716 about Louisa’s many many many failed pregnancies and her growing list of lovers the following year Louise was the
subject of yet another scandal in the tabloids this time involving a foreign royalty she hosted the Russian Zar Peter the Great on his visit to France the tabloids reported that Louise in greeting the Russian ruler was Stout as a tower the famous French writer voler landed himself in hot water with the French authorities when he leveled an insult at the ever pregnant Dowager princess voler called Louise a Goodtime gal in less friendly terms voltaire’s detainment got the tabloids involved again Louise Elizabeth was in all likelihood pregnant again she had confined herself to another one of her residences sh de laet while there she gave up hunting and horseback riding once the tabls got hold
of the story they were merciless they reported that Louise was as your nickname zlot suggested chubby in fact they alleged that she was so big from her latest pregnancy that they feared for her life Louisa’s frequent pregnancies following her husband’s passing were a constant source of entertainment for parisians no one was having a better time however than the songwriters if you ever thought that 18th century French music was boring look up the songs they wrote about Louise Elizabeth which contain lyrics that are too explicit for this video the gossip took a nearly seditious tone in the Christmas of 1717 The Duchess of Barry’s scandalous life expanded to include her father Philipe II had become the region of France following Louis the 14th’s passing with the change in the political
winds the rumor mill turned out a truly disturbing story around Christmas of 1717 a lyrical song appeared accusing The Duchess of Barry of carrying on an intimate relationship with her own father the Regent of France Lord I will no longer have such Lusty ways the lyrics go I only want Ron sometimes my dad here and there my guards and just when Louise Elizabeth thought things couldn’t get any worse voler chimed in voler again took aim at The Duchess of Barry reasserting the rumor that she had become pregnant by her own father but simply reaffirming satirical gossip wasn’t enough for the literary Titan he took it one step further by writing his play edius a tragedy with uncanny real world counterparts oddly enough both The
Duchess of Barry and her father attended the premiere of Volt’s controversial play Louis’s father even congratulated voler on the play’s early success either they didn’t see the irony of their attendance or more likely ignored it hoping that it would go away Louise Elizabeth’s attendance was even more Curious than her father’s and as if to make a joke of herself she showed up to the premiere of edius pregnant her protruding baby belly made her the subject of a few jokes throughout the night and in the tabloids the following morning about a year later The Duchess of Barry showed that she hadn’t learned anything from her previous experiences she attended yet another showing of edus while you guessed it pregnant a real Scandal broke out out when the crowd applauded a plot point that made Illusions to Louisa’s
rumored relationship with her father the scandalous and hugely embarrassing episode inside of the crowded theater was too much for Elizabeth and She fainted being constantly pregnant didn’t stop the Duchess of Barry from partying as long as she could stand then she figured she would still go out well into her latest pregnancy Louise continued attending parties and Downing more than her fair share of Libations sadly this final pregnancy would be no different than any of the others the girl did not survive the Duchess of Barry never fully recovered from her heroin experience in labor Louise contracted a fever and a chill sometime shortly thereafter and became bedridden her condition was Dire Louise Elizabeth The Duchess of Barry passed at the tender age of 23 likely from complications arising from her sixth documented pregnancy that’s right
all that Scandal and drama happened in less than a decade then as if voler himself had scripted her final moments an autopsy revealed something tragic Louise Elizabeth was once again pregnant at the time of her demise a full 2 weeks into this last pregnancy much like her son a close family friend had her heart interned at the Val grass Church in Paris alongside her firstborns the rest of her Remains the family had buried in the Basilica of St Den in the outskirts of Paris her Scandal filled days had finally come to an end if you enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up we’d really appreciate it we also invite you to check out the companion article in the description below if you want to see even more videos on historical figures please subscribe to the channel
