There Were Three of Us in the Relationship: The Secret Letters of Marie Antoinette: Vol I: 1: v. 1 - Softcover

'Riveting...' Choice magazine --Choice magazine

'Remarkable...' funkyfogey.com --funkyfogey.com

'Vivid...unexpected insights...' Society Today magazine --Society Today magazine

Read extracts from the letters at http://www.marieantoinetteletters.co.uk and discover the authentic voice of Marie Antoinette in her secret letters.......Read what reviewers for national magazines think of the book.............Who was Marie Antoinette? What was she really like?.............. Read of the private agonies of the young teenage beauty (married at only 14, to the 15 year old prince), faced with the indifference of her young husband to her universally acclaimed charms. Read the advice of her bewildered mother, empress Maria Theresa of Austria, to show no ill temper but use sweetness and patience only, to seduce her inept husband into consummating their marriage (Ah - how Marie Antoinette tried - long night after long night for months, years even!). And of course, being the hotbed of tittle tattle which was Versailles, everyone heard of every development in this long running saga, and the delicious gossip became the news of the day. The young prince even promised on one occasion, to sleep with his delectable wife, but became so alarmed when his aunt said a few encouraging words that he simply failed to keep his word............ The beautiful but despairing young woman was even obliged to be present five long years later, to endure the torment of witnessing her sister in law give birth to a crown prince. Everyone was moved by her instinctive kindness to the young woman, but afterwards she sobbed in the privacy of her own room......... Spurned by her husband, who preferred hunting for hours on end, and working with the palace labourers moving blocks, or making locks - anything other than sleep with his wife - Marie Antoinette, when she became queen four years later, at the silly age of 18, turned to pleasure seeking, to distract herself from her unsatisfying marriage. After all, she knew for a certainty that no authority existed which could oppose her wishes (Who could have foreseen the riots, the guillotine and the tumbrels laden with aristocrats?)........ Thus began the partying. The nights at the Opera Ball in Paris, without her husband (who disliked late nights). On one occasion the queen stayed at the Opera Ball till 5, came back to Versailles at 6.30 and then left to watch a horse race at 10. The newssheets were full of fanciful stories of her meetings with a succession of different lovers on these occasions - and what did it matter that the accounts were untrue - other stories - such as those of the queen's gambling, were largely true............. In fact the queen's debts were so large that she could not pay them, and she was obliged to borrow from her husband - and again the people heard all the details........... And of course there were the diamonds - which she could not resist......... To compensate for her expenses, her foolish husband doubled her allowance (while the people starved), but nonetheless her donations to charity remained negligible. And in the meantime, taxes continued to rise, and the price of bread continued to rise, as harvests failed.......... Eventually Marie Antoinette s husband was persuaded by a personal visit from his brother in law, emperor Joseph of Austria, to have the minor remedial operation which eventually enabled him to impregnate his wife but by then Marie Antoinette was totally immersed in her pleasure seeking, and remained so until the Revolution broke out, 9 short years after these letter.