Castelot, after waxing lyrical about the success of Louis' operation in his biography of MA, goes on to assert that:

"Marie Antoinette soon admitted to one of her "associates": "I should be neither grieved nor very annoyed if the King were to develop a passing and temporary attachment, as he might thereby acquire more vitality and energy".

Is she saying that she wouldn't mind if he took a mistress??

Yes Therese , very clever , but do you think it was heartfelt?

You mean about MA loving her husband? yes, I do.

If she did say that, then that is probably her meaning. That she might think this would not surprize me too much, but that she would admit it to someone is more surprizing, except perhaps Mme de Polignac. I feel that MA really only fell in love with Louis XVI in 1789, at the start of all their adversity and probably it started with their togetherness during the terrible illness of the dauphin and his subsequent death.

I think that she fell in love with her husband earlier than that actually Baron.But i do think that you're right , she wouldn't not easily admit it .

I think a good choice would have been "they cared for each other deeply but were not in love." That's what I always thought.

That's also my opinion, Monsieur André. I think Louis and Antoinette learned to appreciate each other and, when reading their testaments, you can see that they succeeded. Even if it was not easy... they were so different !

In my opinion, Marie Antoinette was not attracted to her husband, but, leater she learned to love the father in Louis, progressively.

I think that we cannot put royals who were married as teenagers, in an arranged situation, in the same framework as a bourgeois couple who fell in love and chose each other. We are dealing with two people who in spite of everything, had four children together, and stayed together through great calamities. They became devoted and were faithful to each other. That is what love looks like to me.

Avery emotional post, Therese, especially the last sentence, almost made me choke up!

Thank you. It should make us all cry when we think of them, such a rare example of total fidelity and commitment.

Because of the things I have read, I can say that he was in love with her and Marie Antoinette respect him like her husband and King, and maybe she felt sympathy for him.

I don't think he was in love with her, but I do think he cared for her more than she cared for him, although she cared for him a great deal.

Was Louis XVI in love with his wife? It's the question...we don't really know...He had respect for her it's true, a big respect, but love...

EM Vidal posted this beautiful piece earlier this week:
http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2007/0 ... sband.html

I wanted a choice of "They learned to love eachother and respected eachother deeply." I believe there is a significant difference between the concepts of being 'in love' and 'loving someone.'

[url]I think that we cannot put royals who were married as teenagers, in an arranged situation, in the same framework as a bourgeois couple who fell in love and chose each other. We are dealing with two people who in spite of everything, had four children together, and stayed together through great calamities. They became devoted and were faithful to each other. That is what love looks like to me.[/url]

To me, that looks like they learned to love eachother.

Obviously, we are working in a system with different rules, that is correct Therese, but it remains an important fact that they did not choose eachother, but were, in fact, sold to eachother in a way.

Everyone knows about their rocky start and their strong finish, so I won't elaborate. They spent the majority of their lives together, and they cared for eachother an incredible amount. Were they in love? No, but they certainly loved eachother.