The history of the French kingdom knows many favorites who, thanks to the status of the beloved king, were able to gain unlimited power in the country. The last of a series of omnipotent beauties was Marie Jeanne Beckuu, who conquered the heart of Louis XV.
Louis XV
Louis the 15th became king at the age of five. At first the country was ruled by a regent. In 1723, Louis was declared an adult at the age of 13.
In 1725, the wedding of King Louis and the Polish Princess Maria Leshchinsky, who was 7 years older than her husband, took place. In the early years, the marriage was very happy, the newlyweds sincerely loved each other. The queen was pregnant 13 times, gave birth to 10 children, 7 of whom survived to adulthood.
However, the spouses' temperaments were too different. The king was distinguished by amorous fervor, the queen, on the contrary, was somewhat cold, moreover, every year the age difference made itself felt more and more, the relationship of the spouses became cooler. Numerous beauties who were at court constantly used this.
The king had a lot of favorites, but the two monarchs had the greatest influence - the Marquise de Pompadour and Maria Dubarri.
Childhood
Marie Jeanne Bequiu was born in August 1746 in the small town of Vocouleur. She was the illegitimate child of the royal tax collector Gomard de Wobernier and Anna Béquié, who served in his castle. In the future, Marie will use both surnames, both father and mother, and will come up with the pseudonym Lange - an angel.
There is another version of the origin of Jeanne - the girlâs father was a certain monk, Jean Baptiste Wobernier, whom her mother met while working as a seamstress in one of the nearby monasteries.
At the age of six, Jeanne moved to Paris, where her mother entered the service as a cook in the house of the army treasurer Billard-Dumontso. The little girl charmed the ownerâs mistress, the Italian Francesca, who begins to teach her dancing, beautifully dresses and combes her hair. The owner also liked the girl; he often paints her in the form of cupids. However, she did not enjoy such a life for long. On the advice of her sister, the mother sends the girl to be brought up in the monastery of Saint-Auray.
Youth and first love
The Saint-Ore Monastery was located in the center of the capital. In addition to Jeanne, other girls from poor families were trained there. They were taught etiquette, dancing, how to conduct home accounting, forced to read philosophical books.
After 9 years of training, Jeanne, thanks to the patronage of her aunt, got a job as an assistant to the fashionable French hairdresser, Monsieur Lamet, who fell in love with the young beauty at first sight. This connection was not approved by the mother of the young man. Moreover, she even threatened to send Jeanne to the brothel. As a result of the intrigues of the mother of Jeanne and the mother of her lover, the failed bridegroom fled, and the girl had a daughter, Betsy, who was immediately adopted by Uncle Jeanne. Marie will never forget her daughter and will follow her life until her death.
Jean dubarry
Jeanne quickly realized that due to her beauty, she can have an unlimited effect on men. The absence of any morality allowed her to receive from men everything that she wanted. Soon she settles in the studio of Monsieur Labille, where her fateful meeting takes place with Count Jean Dubarry.
Jean Dubarry had a reputation in Paris as a famous pimp and womanizer. He looked for beautiful girls, taught them love tricks and good manners, after which he introduced them to his rich friends (for a fee, of course). Among the count's clients was even Marshal Richelieu. Seeing the charming Jeanne Marie, Dubarry realized that in front of him is a real diamond that needs to be cut accordingly. The count very quickly negotiates with the girlâs mother and takes her to his âharemâ. From this moment, all of Paris begins to talk about young Joan, and evenings in the Countâs house are gaining unprecedented popularity.
Meeting the king
However, Count Dubarry understood that thanks to his new courtesan, he could gain much more influence and wealth. To do this, introduce the girl to King Louis 15th.
The moment was chosen in a very timely manner - the aged king (and Louis was already 58 at that time) had just lost his favorite Marquise de Pompadour. In addition, in the monarch's family, troubles followed one after another - the son and daughter-in-law died, and the wife was on her deathbed. The king became very pious, because he believed that all events are âheavenly punishmentâ for his sins. Mass was constantly held in the courtyard, balls and holidays were strictly prohibited.
The protection for Joan of Versailles was made by Marshal Richelieu. It was he who brought the royal chamberlain Lebel to the house of Dubarry, without whose permission not a single girl entered the royal bedroom. The girl was approved and the next day appeared before the monarch.
Jeanne hit the king in the heart. After the night, the monarch said that he had never met such an amazing and skillful mistress.
Countess Dubarry
The king would be very surprised to find out that they brought him an ordinary prostitute, since royal noblemen could be only noble, married ladies who did not have sexually transmitted diseases. The king learned about the past of the new favorite from the valet, only after some time. Immediately followed by an order to marry the girl to a nobleman. Here Jean Dubarry came to the rescue again - he called his brother out of the province.
The marriage between Guillaume Dubarry and the courtesan was a real farce: according to the prenuptial agreement, the husband had no rights to the spouseâs money or to the spouse herself. Having received a large monetary compensation, Guillaume returned to his province. And Jeanne from this moment received the title of Countess Dubarry (her biography has since received a new development) and was able to correspond to the status of the royal favorite.
Royal favorite
Soon, Jeanne Dubarry moves into new apartments, which were located directly above the king's rooms and were connected by a secret staircase. The king daily showered his mistress with rich gifts, in addition, from the treasury she was paid monthly maintenance in the amount of about 300,000 livres. The countess's rooms were decorated with pompous luxury, but she, on the contrary, chose outfits that were simpler than favorably with the unsettled courtiers.
If the previous favorite de Pompadour loved castles and new estates, then Joan went crazy with precious stones that adorned not only her hair, neck and hands, but even her shoes.
In 1772, the king ordered jewelers to create a diamond necklace worth 2 million livres for the countess, but the king soon died, the necklace was never paid, and the countess did not become a mistress of a precious gift. A few years later, this necklace will play a cruel joke with Queen Marie Antoinette, which will result in a grand scandal.
Life at court
Due to its low origin, the new favorite was not accepted by the court of Versailles, so in 1769 the king presents his favorite, and from that moment she officially takes the place of the Marquise de Pompadour, which further enhances her general envy.
The situation of Jeanne became complicated after the wedding of Dauphin Louis with the Austrian princess Maria Antoinette, who disliked Madame Dubarri and vowed that she would not say a word to the royal mistress. And so it happened, for all the time the Dauphin turned only once to Dubarry, and then the replica was degrading. In this situation, even the king could not help his beloved - he favored the Austrian princess, and France needed an alliance with Austria.
It is worth saying that the people also did not like the royal courtesan, once an angry crowd of Parisians shouting âProstitute!â threw her carriage.
Jeanne had unlimited influence on the king, but she was not interested in politics. If she agreed to protect someone, it was only for artists, so she corresponded with Voltaire's niece and sent money to the philosopher who was expelled from the country. Enjoying power, Madame Dubarry even procured from the king a pension for Minister Choiselle, expelled at her own whim.
The death of the king
Every year, entertaining the aging monarch was increasingly difficult. Jeanne arranged orgies, where she herself brought young girls to entertain the king. With every orgy, forces left Louis.
Before the Easter service in 1774, Jeanne persuaded Louis not to go to Mass, but to go to the Lesser Trianon. On the way, lovers met a funeral procession - they buried a girl who died of smallpox. Louis, curious, wanted to look at the deceased.
For several days, the king and her favorite indulged in amusements, until Louis began to complain of malaise. Rumors quickly reached the royal medic, who immediately appeared to the monarch. Jeanne was accused of concealing the kingâs disease and wanted to expel, but the king banned. Louis was diagnosed with smallpox - during the day, his daughters were on duty at his bed, at night the countess.
On the last night, the king wanted to confess and ordered Jeanne to leave the castle. However, after several hours, he wished to see her again and, learning that she had left, was very upset. Soon the king was gone.
On the day of the death of Louis Marie, Jeanne Dubarry was arrested and sent to Pont-o-Dam. All property donated by the king was confiscated from her. However, the girl was soon released, she settled in a small estate in Saint-Wren, and in 1776 the new king returned her the Louveciennes castle donated by Louis XV.
Marie Jeanne was not very bored after the death of the king. While still young and beautiful, she constantly made influential lovers. So, one of them was the Governor of Paris - the Duke de Cosse-Brissac.
Revolution
Marie Jeanne Dubarry (the cause of death will become known to you later) did not accept the revolutionary events. Moreover, she said that if Louis XV were alive, this would never have happened. Her castle Louvesien became a refuge for nobles and opponents of the new government. She also often sheltered wounded officers. Dubarry even tried to help Marie Antoinette, writing to her that she was ready to give all her jewelry. However, the queen did not answer. Despite this, the countess tried to help the monarchy: after selling part of the jewelry, the proceeds were given to a secret fund created for the flight of the royal family.
In 1791, Countess Dubarry went to London in order to return part of the jewelry stolen from her castle. She didnât succeed. To stay in England, despite the proposal of Prime Minister William Peet, she also did not dare.
Just a moment ...
As soon as Marie returned to France, she was arrested on a denunciation. The accusation was sympathy for the Bourbons. During the trial, Jeanne cried and sincerely did not understand why she was being tried. She wrote a guilty letter, gave all the hidden jewelry, hoping for a pardon, but the court sentenced Madame Dubarry to death.
The behavior of the royal favorite during the execution was radically different from the death of Marie Antoinette. During the execution, Jeanne fought in hysteria, cried and kept repeating the same phrase: "Just a minute, Mr. executioner." She did not want to die ... According to legend, the executioner Henri Sanson, who executed the execution, was among her lovers.