The Princesse de Lamballe and the Duchesse de Polignac are primarily known as two of Marie Antoinette's closest friends - yet, there was another young woman whose charm quickly earned her a place in the inner circle of the queen.
Thérèse-Lucy de Rothe came to Versailles as the Comtesse de Dillon; she had married her cousin, the Irish Arthur Dillon, in 1770. Although her rank made her appearance at court acceptable, there was nothing in her family relations to suggest that she would initially be considered as a suitable companion for the queen. Her parents - Charles Edward de Rothe and Lucy Cary - were hardly amongst the most well-known names at court. Yet, they were not entirely unimportant. For instance, they were amongst the highest ranking nobles of Ireland and Arthur Dillon became Maréchal de France. As such, the young Thérèse-Lucy - as a Maréchale - was not entirely unsuitable but there were many of other (French) candidates for the queen's attention.
What, then, attracted the attention of the one woman whose company was sought by all? For one, Thérèse-Lucy was a very beautiful woman which always help - particularly at the rather superficial world of Versailles. The queen was taken in by the charm and beauty of the newcomer and quickly considered her indispensable. Certain of her contemporaries noted that Thérèse-Lucy could be sweet as sugar which was another trait which had always attracted the queen.
The queen's attentions towards to the Comtesse was noted at the typical card parties of the court. The queen began paying increasing attention and extending various minor courtesies towards the otherwise somewhat unknown young Thérèse-Lucy which caught the courtiers' attention.
The Comtesse de Dillon was not in a position which warranted an immediate place in the queen's entourage. Marie Antoinette herself came up with the solution of attaching Thérèse-Lucy to her personal household as a supernumerary dame du Palais. Typically, the queen had twelve such but Thérèse-Lucy was soon made a thirteenth.
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| Thérèse-Lucy - she has a slight resemblance to Marie Antoinette in this portrait |
The court was quite outraged at the Comtesse's sudden rise in the ranks; however, her lack of pedigree was not the primary concern for everyone. Some were uneasy at the behaviour of the new dame; the queen's abbé de Vermond even warned Marie Antoinette of the undesirable company of certain of her friends. The clergyman primary referred to Thérèse-Lucy and the Princesse de Guéménée - as it happens, Thérèse-Lucy was the mistress of the Prince de Guéménée.
But was Thérèse-Lucy truly so bad? The Abbé de Vermond was not wrong in warning the queen of the people she associated with. For instance, the Duchesse de Polignac was notoriously grasping and quite blatantly used the queen's friendship to further herself and her family. Meanwhile, Thérèse-Lucy does not appear to have been an active part in the increasing amount of scandals which surrounded the royal court but she died share Polignac's tendency to be grasping. Her own mother, Madame de Rothe, was notoriously avaricious and relentlessly used her daughter's connection for further gain. It is said that Thérèse-Lucy's requests to the queen eventually caused Marie Antoinette to look elsewhere for companionship. It is only ironic that the person who took the lion's share of the queen's attention at this time was none other than Madame de Polignac who was just as bad in that department.
That Marie Antoinette genuinely cared for Thérèse-Lucy becomes apparent in the fact that she never gave up their friendship. Instead, the queen seemed to have listened to her advisors and made it clear to the Comtesse that her continuous requests for favours had to come to an end. Even after that, the queen continued to extend her personal friendship.
There might have been another reason for Thérèse-Lucy's seemingly reluctance to engage herself in court squabbles. By the early 1780's, Thérèse-Lucy was thirty years old. She had borne a single child at the age of 18 but does not appear to have conceived again. It is not unlikely that there were complications with her first pregnancy, as it was noted that her health had never quite been the same. Despite being young, Thérèse-Lucy was not healthy. It should be said that her absence from specific scandals does not necessarily mean that the Comtesse was a saint of a woman. Some attributed her health issues to her "nastiness" which could indicate that there were something less pleasant about her.
In 1782, she began coughing up blood. On the recommendation of her doctor, she planned a trip to Spa but lacked the funds. Eventually, Marie Antoinette aided her dear friend but it seemed to have little effect. Returning to Paris in the autumn, Thérèse-Lucy worsened to the point of her having to remove herself from court. Marie Antoinette's genuine nature is evidenced in the fact that the queen herself visited her. Afterwards, the queen sent her royal pages on daily trips to enquire after her health. Alas, there was no hope for Thérèse-Lucy; she died on 8 September 1782, at the age of 31.
It is likely her early death which has rendered her somewhat anonymous in the eyes of history. She died seven years before the revolution broke out and before the even larger scandal of the Diamond Necklace befell the queen. Also, the Duchesse de Polignac was taken up a large portion of the queen's time which naturally lessened the focus on the increasingly absent Thérèse-Lucy. Thus, she was not connected to these turbulent times nor was she a target of particular ire from the public. Her husband, Arthur Dillon, was less fortunate. He served in the army and saw little of his wife - he did not return for her final illness. In the end, he was guillotined during the revolution just like Thérèse-Lucy's erstwhile friend Marie Antoinette.
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