Beside the theory of substitution around Madame Royale there are other theories on the identity of the Dark Countess of Hildburghausen. In the essentials it concerns three acceptances: the theory around Sophie(a) Botta, the theory around Joseph II and a certain Sophie von Botta as well as the theory around Cécile Renault.

Theory around Sophie(a) Botta

grave of the
Dark Countess

When the Dark Countess died in 1837, the authorities asked van der Valck for more information about the lady. After some hesitation he told: Name: Sophie(a) Botta. State: civil. Birthplace: Westphalia. Place of residence: Eishausen. Age: 58 years. Single or marries: single. Time of the demise: November 25th 1837. When the information became known in 1845 after the death of van der Valck, nobody believes it. One assumed from the fact that the name is fictitious, because nobody could find a family Botta in Westphalia.

Meanwhile several historical persons with the name Botta could be found. For example, an evaluation of historical newspaper from Hildburghausen has proved that a businessman with the name Botta has stayed in Hildburghausen between 1793 and 1805. Botta came from Minden, a town in Westphalia. Further details about the businessman Botta could not be determined up to now yet. Possibly there exists connections between the businessman Botta and the Dark Countess. Maybe she was in fact a civil woman namend Sophie(a) Botta.

Theory around Sophie von Botta and Joseph II

Joseph II 
of Austria

From memoirs of the baroness Oberkirch the acceptance was deduced, with the Dark Countess it could have concerned in reality Sophie von Botta, an illegitimate daughter of the Austrian emperor Joseph II.

The emperor should have begun during his youth on Castle Schönbrunn a love affair with Wilhelmine von Botta from whom a daughter arose. The child should have grown up after the death of her mother at the court of Versailles with Marie Antoinette, the sister Josephs and had a conspicuous similarity to the French queen. In the end, during the revolution she came to Hildburghausen and Eishausen and died there in 1837 as Sophie Botta.

Further details to this theory are available on the internet under http://madameroyale.free.fr/.

Theory around Cécile Renault

After an other thesis which is based especially on a family tradition the Dark Countess of Hildburghausen should have identical with Cécile Renault.

Madame Royale should have been freed in 1794 from the Temple and should be replaced originally with Cécile Renault. But she was not suitable as an exchange-person and so Ernestine Lambriquet took the roll of Madame Royale in the end. Cécile Renault was brought with the help of the Dutch Legation in Paris to Hildburghausen and Eishausen where she died in 1837 and became known later under the name Dark Countess.

The real Madame Royale fled after her escape from the Temple and after the exchange over Württemberg to Russia. On the way she died on November 16th 1800 in West Prussia during the birth of her child.

Further details to this theory are available on the internet under www.brigitte-klump.eu.