Gabrielle de Polastron, comtesse de Polignac
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:Gabrielle de Polastron.jpg Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, comtesse de Polignac (September 8, 1749–December 9, 1793) was a French aristocrat and friend of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met at Versailles in 1775.
Comtesse de Polignac typified the aristocratic hangers-on at the Palace of Versailles before the French Revolution. She embodied the exclusivity, the obliviousness and the selfish extravagance of the ruling class. However, historians Pierre de Nolhac and the Marquis de Segur agree that Madame de Polignac was sweet and indolent and most of the problems were with her entourage.
Talented and beautiful, Gabrielle became the undisputed leader of the queen's exclusive circle ensuring that few entered without her approval. The entire Polignac family benefitted enormously from the queen's generosity with the queen spending extravagantly on the family, but their increasing wealth outraged many aristocratic families, who felt they didn't deserve it. The queen's favouritism towards Gabrielle and her family was one of the many causes which fuelled Marie-Antoinette's unpopularity with many of her subjects. "The Polignac Set" was despised by royalist and republicans alike.
Gabrielle was liked by the queen's husband, King Louis XVI, who was grateful for her calming influence on his wife, encouraging their friendship. Gabrielle was eventually appointed Governess to the Royal Children, including the future Louis XVII and Princess Marie-Thérèse.
Gabrielle's marriage was cordial, if not successful. In other words, typical of marriages within the palace: arranged, and mutually agreed by both parties to have affairs. It was rumored at Versailles that Gabrielle's second child was actually fathered by her lover, the Comte de Vaudreuil. Gabrielle's beautiful sister-in-law, Louise, became the life-long mistress of Louis XVI's youngest brother, Charles, Comte d'Artois (later Charles X).
Gabrielle's influence over Marie-Antoinette began to wane after 1785, when the queen's second son, Louis XVII, was born. The queen was becoming increasingly unimpressed with how much the Polignacs were costing her. She confided to another lady-in-waiting, Henriette Campan, that she was "suffering acute dissatisfaction" over the Polignacs. According to Campan, "Her Majesty observed to me that when a sovereign raises up favourites in her court she raises up despots against herself." Eventually, Gabrielle felt Marie-Antoinette's displeasure and decided to leave Versailles for a while, and she went to visit friends in England.
The months leading up to the outbreak of the French Revolution in July 1789 saw the queen and the Polignac set become closer once more. Politically, Gabrielle and her friends led the ultra-monarchist movement in Versailles. Together with the diplomat, Baron de Breteuil, and the Comte d'Artois, they persuaded Marie-Antoinette to help depose the king's finance minister, Jacques Necker. This proved to be a catastrophic decision, especially since de Breteuil had argued that they delay the move for a few weeks. It is generally believed that it was the Comte d'Artois who rushed ahead with the plot, before it was the right time to do so.
After the fall of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, and seeing Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette being put under house arrest, several members of the Polignac Set to emigrate abroad. The Comte d'Artois left on Louis XVI's orders, as did de Breteuil. Gabrielle and her family escaped to Switzerland, where they kept in contact with the King and Queen through letters. After she had left, the care of the royal children was entrusted to the Marquise de Tourzel.
Gabrielle contracted cancer while living in Switzerland. She died in October 1793, shortly after hearing of the execution of Marie-Antoinette. Gabrielle was the mother of Jules, prince de Polignac, who became Prime Minister when the Comte d'Artois became King of France in 1824.es:Yolande de Polastron fr:Yolande de Polastron ja:ポリニャック伯夫人 nl:Martine de Polignac