The theory of substitution around Madame Royale

The theory of substitution around Madame Royale

Prehistory


Madame Royale	Marie Thérèse Charlotte of France was a daughter of king Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette. She was born on the 19th December 1778 in Versailles and grew up in the castle there. As a first-born daughter of the king's pair she got the official title "Madame Royale". During the events of the French revolution the royal family had to leave Versailles in 1789 and inhabited the city Castle Tuileries. While in the first time many liberties still existed, the king and his family were prisoners since the failed escape attempt to Varennes in June 1791.
Temple	With the storm on the Tuileries on August 10th 1792 and the following dismissal of the king the situation changed basically. Madame Royale was arrested together with her parents, her brother and her aunt in the Paris prison "Temple". Her parents and her aunt were executed in 1793 or in 1794 on the guillotine, her brother should have died in the middle of 1795 in the prison. In the end of 1795 Madame Royale as the last survivor of the royal family came free after more than three years captivity. She was handed over to relatives by an exchange against several prisoners of Austria. For more details about the life read the Chronicle (only German).

The theory of substitution


Hotel Huningue	The so-called theory of substitution assumes from the fact that Madame Royale did not come to Austria. She has been substituted secretly in December 1795 on the trip from Paris to Vienna in the border town Huningue with another person. This exchange-person has taken over the position and the name of the Madame Royale and played later an important political role as the "Duchess of Angoulême", especially during the restoration in France between 1814 and 1830. As a reason for a personal substitution an unintentional pregnancy is assumed. Madame Royale should have been violated in 1795 during her time in the Temple. A person of her state whom unmarried a child awaited from a man of low state was not "able of court" in that time any more. So a planned wedding with the archduke Charles of the court of Vienna became impossible. Also one of Louis XVIII (a brother Louis XVI) aimed wedding with his nephew, the Duke of Angoulême, was not conceivable any more. That's why the princess was substituted by another, not pregnant, marriageable person. Beside the assumption of the pregnancy the supposition insists furthermore that Madame Royale has suffered psychic damages during her captivity. She should have felt overtaxed with her intended role as an archduchess at the Viennese court or as a wife of the Duke of Angoulême and the social obligations linked with it. Maybe the substitution took place at her own wish.
Louis XVIII	Nobody wants to renounce a marriage at that time, because there were too many economic and political interests. Madame Royale was as the only survivor of the royal family an heiress of the whole abroad deposited property of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. These funds the Viennese court wanted to protect itself (by a marriage with archduke Charles) and for these reasons Louis XVIII was also interested in a marriage with his nephew, the Duke of Angoulême. Besides, for Louis XVIII prestige reasons played a role, because he was the next candidate on the French throne and a "poor orphan daughter of a dead king" could protect him many sympathies in the French nation. Also the Austrian court hopes for the French throne by a skilful marriage of Madame Royale. For a long time it was unclear who should have taken over the role of the Madame Royale in case of a substitution. On the basis of the researches of Otto Victor Maeckel, researchers could present a suitable person: Ernestine Lambriquet. She was born in 1778 supposedly as an illegitimate child of Louis XVI and chamber woman Philippine Lambriquet. After the death of her bodily mother in 1788 she should have been adopted by the queen Marie Antoinette ( see the Family tree of the Bourbons). Because she was educated together with Madame Royale since 1788, she was a perfect exchange-person. Besides, by her "royal descent" she was marriageable in high houses of princes.
Duchess of Angoulême	Thus Ernestine Lambriquet should have come, in the end, instead of Madame Royale to Vienna in 1796. There she was isolated in the first time to the general public, because nobody could be sure that she knew somebody from the old days, in particular the French emigrants who have stayed at the court of Louis XVI and have known the real Madame Royale personally. The marriage with archduke Charles did not take place. In 1799 she married in Mitau (today Jelgava in Latvia) in the interest of Louis XVIII her cousin, the Duke of Angoulême, and got the title Duchess of Angoulême. After some years of the asylum Louis XVIII could enter the French throne in 1814. The Duchess of Angoulême (Ernestine Lambriquet) was a member of his court. The politics of Louis was influenced substantially by the duchess up to his death in 1824. By the revolution of 1830 she had to leave France again. In 1851 she died on Castle Frohsdorf near Wiener Neustadt, in the south of Vienna. She was buried in the Bourbon family crypt of Nova Gorica (today Slovenia). See the map Journey through life.
Leonardus Cornelius van der Valck	According to the theory of substitution the real Madame Royale disappeared from the political world stage. Some researchers supposes that she remained for some time in Switzerland, maybe at Castle Heidegg in the canton Lucerne. Later she possibly proceeded to the family of her former child educator marchioness de Tourzel at Castle Sourches near Le Mans (France). For the representatives of the theory of substitution seems to be certain that she came in the year 1799 under the protection of the Dutch diplomat Leonardus Cornelius van der Valck. Together they were "on the run" in Europe for several years: about 1800 in Gotha and Jena, later in Schweinfurt and Heidelberg, from 1803 to 1804 in Ingelfingen, then possibly in Frankfurt and Mainz, about 1806 possibly in Keukenhof close to Leiden (Netherlands) and in Hildburghausen since 1807, where she is known today as the "Dark Countess".
Madame Royale	There is no doubt that the real princess had to be hidden to keep secret the substitution. Because she should have looked similar to her mother Marie Antoinette, she had to hide her face in the publicity by a veil. If she had been public, people would have notice the resemblance to the former French queen whose picture was widespread at that time. After 1803 pictures of the real king's daughter were published in Germany. At the same time it was important to hide from Napoleon. If he or his informants active in whole Europe had brought in experience that there has been a personal substitution and the Duchess of Angoulême was a "wrong" princess, he surely had tried to find the "real" princess to discredit the royal forces in and beyond France. Therefore, the stay and the person of the Madame Royale always had to be kept secret and nobody has seen her in Ingelfingen, as well as in Hildburghausen and Eishausen without a veil or green glasses. In the end, it is supposed that - in particular after the marriage of the wrong princess with the Duke of Angoulême was anxious in June 1799 when the exchange was not to be cancelled finally any more - certain forces tried to remove the real Madame Royale for safety reasons completely. If she returns to the public life and asserts her claims, the deception would have become evident. Therefore, the secluded life was also a self protection.

Indications for the theory of substitution

Madame Royale

Duchess of Angoulême
(painting by Aubry)

Numerous indications are stated by the advocates of the theory of substitution for the fact that the Duchess of Angoulême cannot have been the real Madame Royale. So portraits before and after the exchange in Hüningen apparently show two different persons. While Madame Royale shows at the early portraits an elegantly straight nose, on later portraits the Duchess of Angoulême is seen with a curved nose.

Considerable divergences in the traits of the Madame Royale should be noticeable too. Before the exchange she was described as a shy and affectionate person. The person after the exchange, was a gruff, unfeeling type.

For the acceptance, the Dark Countess of Hildburghausen has been the real Madame Royale, also indications are named. The Dark Countess was always veiled, but some persons nevertheless had occasion to see her at close range. Several claimed to have ascertained a resemblance to the Madame Royale or Marie Antoinette. Others meant, she has had Bourbon features. Beyond it, there were found a desk, jewellery as well as on clothes of the Dark Countess with lilies, which where interpreted as Bourbon lilies. This should be an instance of a Bourbon provenance of the lady.

Criticism of the theory of substitution

cover "Balance"

The theory of the personal substitution of Madame Royale has kept itself insistent since her first publication in 1852. During the time more and more arguments and indications seemed to speak for the correctness of the theory, but a proof could not be found.

Nevertheless, new research results point to the fact that the theory can be maintained in the present form no longer. So is proved that Ernestine Lambriquet cannot have been the exchange-person, because she lived still in France after 1795, married in 1810 and dead in 1813.

A detailed critical consideration of the single indications you find in the article "The Dark Countess of Hildburghausen. Balance of a 160 years of research" from the year 2007 (only in German).

Solution attempts

There are several possibilities to prove the theory of substitution around Madame Royale:

A dependable method of the verification of the theory of substitution around Madame Royale would exist in a DNA analysis. With the help of this investigation researchers could prove or disprove a family relation between the Dark Countess and her supposed mother Marie Antoinette. In the same way would be conceivable to prove the unauthenticity of the Duchess of Angoulême who lies buried in the Royal vault of the Bourbons in Kostanjevica near Nova Gorica town (Slovenia). If an investigation proved that she cannot have been the daughter Marie Antoinette's, this would be an important indication for the correctness of the theory of substitution.

An investigation likewise practicable on scientific basis would exist in a comparison of handwritings. If experts investigates written tests of Madame Royale and the Duchess of Angoulême from different life phases, one could ascertain common similarities or divergences in the handwriting. If the handwritings agree, a personal exchange can be excluded. If they deviate from a certain time significantly of each other, this could be a proof of a personal substitution.