handkerchief Queen Marie Antoinette handed her. She tucked the white linen handkerchief into the sleeve of her dress. “Thank you, your majesty. I will launder this and return it to you.”
“You need not bother to return it. Please don’t give it another thought.”
Jacques returned with his easel, paints and canvas.
“Let us plan one of our little plays. We need some festivities to cheer us,” said Queen Marie Antoinette.
The household members gathered around the Queen.
“Monsieur Roleau, will you do some sketches for us?” the Queen asked Jacques.
“I would be delighted, your majesty,” Jacques replied with a sweeping bow.
Monique approached the Queen. “I have an idea. We could do a play about life in Austria . Perhaps about a large royal family.”
Queen Marie Antoinette clapped her hands in glee. “Fantastic! I have many fond memories of my childhood and my family in Austria . Let’s write a play about a family like mine.”
Jacques Roleau began his sketches. The Queen described the ballet she and her brother, Ferdinand, had been in. They had danced the Il Trionfo d’ Amore at the wedding of Archduke Joseph and Josepha of Bavaria in 1765. Ferdinand and Marie Antoinette portrayed a shepherd and shepherdess. Their brother, Max, was cupid in the production. Jacques made sketches of Marie Antoinette dressed in a blue dress with a tight bodice. The neck was cut low, and the skirt was extremely full. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and her high forehead was accentuated. Ferdinand was dressed in similar attire but his skirt stopped at mid-thigh, and he wore white tights underneath.
“Your Majesty, are you certain that a play about your family in Austria will make you happy? Sometimes you get lonely for them and I’m concerned it will cause you melancholy,” Genevieve ventured.
“Of course, my dear. You are right. Let us think of something else,” the Queen replied. “Anne-Marie. Do you have any thoughts? Something joyful.”
“Oh, my. I don’t know of any plays.”
“Come now, Anne-Marie. You are usually full of ideas.”
Anna realized she’d better come up with something fast or risk being discovered an imposter. “Well...let’s do a play about a beautiful Princess. She lives in a huge castle with her father, her wicked stepmother, and her two stepsisters. Her father loves her but the stepmother and the stepsisters are jealous of her because she is so beautiful.”
Queen Marie Antoinette was listening closely to Anna. “Go on, please, Anne-Marie. I, of course, must be the Princess.”
Anna was getting all the old fairy tales she’d heard as a child mixed up with Shakespeare, but continued with the proposal.
“But of course, Madame. Well, the wicked stepmother poisons an apple and feeds it to the Princess--we’ll name her Juliet--and Juliet falls into a deep sleep.”
Monique sits on the floor at Anna’s feet, listening intently.
Anna continued, “The wicked stepmother wants to get rid of Juliet so she calls upon eight small men that work around the castle and instructs them to take her out into the woods to a cabin she knows is there. They are to place her in the cabin and leave her.”
“Oh, what an evil stepmother!” said Monique.
“They do as they are told, but they take turns keeping watch over her so no harm comes to her as she sleeps.”
Anna looked around the room and saw
“You need not bother to return it. Please don’t give it another thought.”
Jacques returned with his easel, paints and canvas.
“Let us plan one of our little plays. We need some festivities to cheer us,” said Queen Marie Antoinette.
The household members gathered around the Queen.
“Monsieur Roleau, will you do some sketches for us?” the Queen asked Jacques.
“I would be delighted, your majesty,” Jacques replied with a sweeping bow.
Monique approached the Queen. “I have an idea. We could do a play about life in Austria . Perhaps about a large royal family.”
Queen Marie Antoinette clapped her hands in glee. “Fantastic! I have many fond memories of my childhood and my family in Austria . Let’s write a play about a family like mine.”
Jacques Roleau began his sketches. The Queen described the ballet she and her brother, Ferdinand, had been in. They had danced the Il Trionfo d’ Amore at the wedding of Archduke Joseph and Josepha of Bavaria in 1765. Ferdinand and Marie Antoinette portrayed a shepherd and shepherdess. Their brother, Max, was cupid in the production. Jacques made sketches of Marie Antoinette dressed in a blue dress with a tight bodice. The neck was cut low, and the skirt was extremely full. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and her high forehead was accentuated. Ferdinand was dressed in similar attire but his skirt stopped at mid-thigh, and he wore white tights underneath.
“Your Majesty, are you certain that a play about your family in Austria will make you happy? Sometimes you get lonely for them and I’m concerned it will cause you melancholy,” Genevieve ventured.
“Of course, my dear. You are right. Let us think of something else,” the Queen replied. “Anne-Marie. Do you have any thoughts? Something joyful.”
“Oh, my. I don’t know of any plays.”
“Come now, Anne-Marie. You are usually full of ideas.”
Anna realized she’d better come up with something fast or risk being discovered an imposter. “Well...let’s do a play about a beautiful Princess. She lives in a huge castle with her father, her wicked stepmother, and her two stepsisters. Her father loves her but the stepmother and the stepsisters are jealous of her because she is so beautiful.”
Queen Marie Antoinette was listening closely to Anna. “Go on, please, Anne-Marie. I, of course, must be the Princess.”
Anna was getting all the old fairy tales she’d heard as a child mixed up with Shakespeare, but continued with the proposal.
“But of course, Madame. Well, the wicked stepmother poisons an apple and feeds it to the Princess--we’ll name her Juliet--and Juliet falls into a deep sleep.”
Monique sits on the floor at Anna’s feet, listening intently.
Anna continued, “The wicked stepmother wants to get rid of Juliet so she calls upon eight small men that work around the castle and instructs them to take her out into the woods to a cabin she knows is there. They are to place her in the cabin and leave her.”
“Oh, what an evil stepmother!” said Monique.
“They do as they are told, but they take turns keeping watch over her so no harm comes to her as she sleeps.”
Anna looked around the room and saw
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