The Princesse de Lamballe & the Duchesse de Polignac: Rivals for the Queen's Favour

The duo of the Princesse de Lamballe and the Duchesse de Polignac are usually mentioned as the friends of Marie Antoinette; generally, the three women have been depicted as forming a trio of female friendship through turbulent times. While it is true that both Lamballe and Polignac were integral parts of Marie Antoinette's inner circle, their mutual friendship seem to have been somewhat more prone to petty jealousies and rivalry.

The Savoyard princess Marie Thérèse was married into the extended royal family in 1767 when she became the Princesse de Lamballe. Being widowed at just 19 years old, she enjoyed the privileges of being a princess of the blood. As such, she was there to welcome the new dauphine, Marie Antoinette, when she arrived in 1770.

Meanwhile, Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron was French by birth, but had moved in rather obscure circles of nobility before being invited to Versailles by her cousin, Diane, in 1775. It was there that she was introduced to Marie Antoinette who was said to have been immediately struck by the newcomer. Thus, Yolande was the latest edition to the little group and she would soon become well-acquainted with Madame de Lamballe.

Coincidentally, the two women shared an exact birthday - 8 September 1749. Hierarchically, however, Polignac was far beneath the Princesse de Lamballe. Not only was Marie Thérèse a member of the Savoyard royal family - and thus related to the kings of France - she was also a princess of the blood by marriage. In contrast, Gabrielle's family was old nobility but had become quite impoverished and had hitherto failed to break through into the very elite of the aristocracy. 

Ideally the two women would have found a common cause in the resentment their favour with the queen brought; after all, Marie Antoinette was an extremely generous friend. Both ladies were showered in favours, positions, even money when at the height of their respective favour. While the position of Surintendante of the Queen's household was reinvented for Lamballe, Polignac was granted the post of governess to the royal children. These were two of the most prestigious positions available for women and its distribution shows both the queen's wish to benefit her friends - and their rivalry.

Madame de Polignac

Conveniently, the Austrian ambassador Mercy-Argenteau kept the queen's august mother, Empress Maria Theresia, abreast of everything regarding her daughter's life. This included her social life, and it is partially thanks to the assiduous ambassador's frequent missives to Vienna, that we are able to follow the unfolding rivalry between Lamballe and Polignac.

As early as 15 November 1775, Mercy-Argeanteau wrote:

"Her Majesty (Marie Antoinette) does not know how to reconcile the princesse de Lamballe to the Comtesse de Polignac, because these two favourites, who are jealous of each other, have been presenting the queen with respectful little complaints disguised as marks of the most loving sensitivity"

Remember that Yolande had only been presented to the queen earlier that year. Perhaps - not entirely unfounded - did Lamballe see the new-comer as a threat to her position. Undoubtedly, the queen began to spend more time with the headstrong Yolande and slightly less with the sensitive Lamballe. If Marie Thérèse did indeed feel herself slipping out of royal favour, she was not handling it well.

By May 1776, Marie Antoinette was showing clear signs of being very irritated with Lamballe who was picking fights with everyone in the queen's household. Thus, the queen turned even more to Polignac which only further exasperated the frustrations of Lamballe. As mentioned by Mercy-Argenteau, this (quite frankly silly behaviour) caused the queen to constantly having to act as peacemaker in her own household.

As time went on, Marie Antoinette continued to split her favour somewhat equally - at least outwardly. When Yolande's husband was made the queen's Premier Écuyer, the Duc de Chartres (a dear friend to Lamballe and son of the Duc d'Orléans) was immediately made governor of Poitou. Tit for tat. Yet, these attempts at keeping the peace only worked for brief periods of time.

By January 1777, Mercy-Argenteau once again reported on the state of the queen's closest friends:

"The queen often has some difficulty in keeping up the appearance of friendship between the princesse de Lamballe and the Comtesse de Polignac."

If Mercy-Argenteau was correct in his assessment (and he did have access to the queen which few others did) the relationship had become more than strained. The ambassador was personally in no doubt of the reason for this enmity. In the same letter, he wrote:

"As the latter's favour (Polignac) grows, that of the Surintendante withers away so that she has now become a bore and an annoyance to the queen"

Mercy-Argeanteau might be slightly harsh here. Marie Antoinette was not known for doing things she rarely wished to do and it would have been very easy for her to dispense entirely with the social company of the Princesse de Lamballe. Yet, she did not. As her surintendante, the queen could not escape her company but she did have the option of excluding her from social events which she refrained from doing. There can be little doubt that Lamballe - despite often being likened to an angel - was intensely jealous of her rival.

Madame de Polignac herself was entirely aware of this and - equally as petty as Lamballe's jealousies - took full advantage. As her company was increasingly considered necessary to the queen, Madame de Polignac did not rise above the temptation to "bad-mouth" Madame de Lamballe. Both Marie Antoinette and Yolande de Polastron shared a somewhat sharp sense of humour which (unfortunately) occasionally delighted in ridiculing others. It can easily be imagined that such snide comments were carefully intertwined in otherwise casual conversation in the queen's private company.

Mercy-Argenteau - the man who had
plenty to say of the two ladies

While the Princesse de Lamballe was not known for her intelligence, she was clearly not unaware of the decline of her favour with the queen. The later years of the 1770s, she spent an increasing amount of time away from court, primarily for health reasons. Publicly, this was widely seen as a natural consequence of the clear change in favorites exhibited by the queen; however, when she returned, Lamballe was still welcomed into the queen's inner circle, albeit with less warmth than before. Even so, Lamballe did not surrender without a fight. Knowing the queen's near-constant search for amusement, she ensured that her well-stocked coffers offered what the royal treasury increasingly could not: balls, high-stakes gambling, operas. Alas, even these attempts had little impact as Lamballe often found herself snubbed in favour of La Polignac. 

Socially, they moved in slightly different circles. Besides the all-important company of the queen, the two women drew support from separate groups at court. Whereas Madame de Polignac surrounded herself with her family members and the male members of the queen's entourage, Madame de Lamballe found support in the princes of the blood. Particularly, the Duc de Chartres was a close friend as was the Comte d'Artois. Unfortunately, this division only further added to the schism between the women as their individual supporters gladly took sides in any conflict between them.

By 1780, Mercy-Argenteau bluntly reported Lamballe's deroutement to the Empress of Austria:

"The Comtesse Jules (Polignac) has completely succeeded her rival in the affection of the queen"

Did this mean that Madame de Lamballe was entirely excluded? Not quite. Hers was the lot of previous royal favourites whose time has run its course. She was welcomed politely into the queen's circle but over the following years, the queen made no attempt at hiding her preference for Polignac. There was nothing for Lamballe to do but to accept her new position and attempt to regain her former ascendancy. For a brief period towards the latter half of the 1780s, Madame de Polignac felt briefly out of favour with Marie Antoinette. The result was a trip to London where Gabrielle basked in the company of the Duchess of Devonshire. Upon her return, things seem to have mended (perhaps she had rid herself of a noisome alleged lover, the Comte de Vaudreuil, infamous despised by the queen?).  

Marie Antoinette

If Lamballe was jealous, what was Polignac? Considering the immensity of the favours she reaped from her friendship with the queen, it is possible that Yolande never truly considered Madame de Lamballe a threat to her position. The queen's generosity ensured that she had amble proof of Marie Antoinette's esteem, so maybe her somewhat backhanded comments regarding Lamballe was considered sufficient to keep her rival at bay.

While Mercy-Argenteau provides a wonderful insight into the private sphere of the queen, it should be remembered why he was at the French court. He was, first and foremost, a politician. Throughout his correspondence, he rarely refers to the two ladies solely in their own capacity. In his eyes, they each represented a different faction; each was carefully weighed and measured according to the level of threat he regarded them as. It should be pointed out that Mercy-Argenteau had continuously reported to the Empress that Polignac was the greater threat but he still would prefer if the two ladies could cancel their respective influences out. Either one - he mused - presented a threat in her own right to the queen's reputation and proper conduct. This should be kept in mind when discussion his depiction of their relationship.

It is highly unlikely that the queen considered her relationships with the same political cynicism. To be sure, she might have found Madame de Lamballe slightly boring after a while, but she never ceased caring for her first friend in France. When Madame de Lamballe fell ill at her private estate, the queen assiduously inquired after her and never excluded her entirely from her private apartments.

What the queen did do, however, was almost as mortifying. As Madame de Polignac's influence grew, so did the number of relatives of hers who surrounded the queen. It was noted by Madame Campan (another insider to the queen) that Lamballe had been greatly concerned at the rapidity with which Madame de Polignac gained the queen's favour. Her concern turned to mortification when the queen began shutting herself in her private apartments. This, of course, had always been the queen's tendency, but hitherto, Madame de Lamballe had been on the other side of the door. While not exiled from the queen's presence, she was not invited to the gatherings when they consisted of Madame de Polignac and her family and friends.

The possibility exist that Mesdames de Polignac and de Lamballe were not so irreconcilable as observers such as Mercy-Argenteau mused. Both would have known full well that royal favour was fleeting. Considering that they seemingly kept any quarrels somewhat private - very few contemporary sources noted any concrete examples of outright infighting - it is possible that their relationship had developed into one of necessary tolerance rather than blatant enmity. After all, by the mid-1780s, they had both been in the queen's company for ten years and neither had succeeded in formally ousting the other. Perhaps, then, it was better to seek the queen's good graces by more subtle, courtly manners. 

While neither Lamballe nor Polignac have left written testament to their personal feelings for one another, their outward conduct tells its own tale. Neither woman visited the other at their private estates - not even following an illness or an accouchement. The separation of the Polignac-clan from Madame de Lamballe's company is a further indicator that they did not see eye to eye. Finally, whereas Marie Antoinette wrote them both assiduously, they did not seem to have corresponded.

Madame de Lamballe

When the revolution broke out, once again the two ladies found themselves in completely different situations - but with the same outcome. By the end of 1793, Marie Antoinette, the Princesse de Lamballe and the Duchesse de Polignac were all dead.

The first to succumb to the violence of the time was the Princesse de Lamballe. Having been hauled before a tribunal, her captors demanded that she swore an oath to liberty and denounced the royal family. She agreed to the former but utterly refused to denounce her friend. Upon leaving the courthouse, a furious mob set upon her and massacred her. Stabbed, beaten and decapitated, her head was placed on a pike and placed outside the queen's window. The queen herself died on the guillotine just a month later. 

This left Madame de Polignac. By the time of her erst-while rival's grisly death, she was long gone. Her unpopularity had reached almost unprecedented heights and she had fled France and gone to Vienna, the birthplace of Marie Antoinette. There, she died in December 1793 of an unknown illness.

Mesdames de Lamballe and de Polignac had certainly been rivals for the queen's affection and the bounty of royal favour. Yet, they had also shared years of their lives together with their mutual friend. None of them survived the Revolution and thus their relationship remains inextricably tied with their lives at Versailles. 

Were They, Weren't They? Yolande de Polignac & the Comte de Vaudreuil

The relationship between the Duchesse de Polignac and the Comte de Vaudreuil was a stormy one, at best. The queen's (in)famous friend, Yolande de Polastron, had been married to Jules de Polignac since 1767 whereas Joseph Hyacinthe François de Paule de Rigaud remained unmarried until after Yolande's death. While at Versailles, the Comte served as Captain of the Gardes du Corps which would have brought him into contact with both the queen and - by extension - Yolande. He might already have known Yolande, though, as they were distant cousins. Legend has it that the two were actually intended to have married when both very young but Joseph refused after glimpsing her in a convent and finding her not pretty enough - he would later drastically change his mind but she had already been married off. He had also attached himself to the company of the Comte d'Artois and therefore already had an "in" with the royal family's inner circle.

As the relationship between the two grew, it caused many of Yolande's friends - including Marie Antoinette - to worry. The Comte de Vaudreuil was known for his violent temper and his extreme ambition which made him unwelcome in most circles. However, as the two became closer, he became indispensable to the queen's favourite. Even Marie Antoinette begrudgingly accepted his presence in their small circle of friends, despite often lamenting his presence - notably, the queen was outraged that a raging Vaudreuil had broken one of her billiard cues. 

Interestingly, the exact nature of Yolande and Joseph's relationship is not quite clear. Even at the time, people were doubting whether their liaison had become physical. Yolande was considered to be a rather cold woman who did not lend herself easily to a physical relationship. This has been further evidenced by the ease with which she distanced herself from Vaudreuil when he overstepped the queen's patience. If they were in love, it was evidently not a blinding sort of love, and Yolande was not willing to risk her position for him.

Yolande de Polignac

Meanwhile, others gleefully (and loudly) speculated that when Yolande gave birth to a son in 1780, it was Vaudreuil's. Neither Marie Antoinette nor Louis XVI believed that particular rumour, though, and even went so far as to visit the infant which was otherwise not done.

Another intriguing fact about their relationship is the utter lack of correspondence between them. It is possible that they burned or otherwise destroyed such evidence - or maybe they did not write to each other? 

Greed was an unfortunate characteristic shared by both Yolande and Joseph. They both shamelessly exploited their proximity to a generous queen, although Yolande was considerably more successful. However, as the 1780s wore on, Marie Antoinette became increasingly disillusioned with the grasping nature of Madame de Polignac. The queen had already showered her with money, favours, positions, etc. yet, the demands kept coming. The relentless pressure from Vaudreuil is said to have contributed to the cooling of their relationship, although it did not end entirely.

When Yolande died in late 1793, Joseph wrote a letter to the exiled Comte d'Artois. The letter clearly expresses the Comte's seemingly heartfelt sorrow at her death - but also ends on an entirely different note. Rather than focusing the short letter on the death of a woman he cared for, Joseph ends it with a practical note regarding his financial matters. It does give the impression that Joseph was not that distraught - despite his eloquent expressions.

On another note, the memoirs of Yolande's life - written by her own sister-in-law - does not mention Vaudreuil at all. Likewise, Yolande's last will and testament also left nothing to Joseph. Rather unhelpfully, the attitude of Yolande's husband does not help clear the situation up. The relationship between husband and wife was rather more like two friends; they got along, but no one suspected that they had any particular romantic love for one another. The fact that Joseph was welcomed into their home - by both parties - consequently cannot be taken as a token of platonic relationship.

Collectively, these clues give their relationship an odd character. Joseph was clearly important enough for Yolande for her to risk the queen's wrath by bringing him with her - but not important enough to risk the queen's displeasure. It poses the question of whether Vaudreuil - in his capacity as a relation - was yet another blindly ambitious family member who was more than willing to use Yolande's relationship for his own advantage? If so, he succeeded, as he was granted both a pension of 30.000 livres and the position of Grand Fauconnier of France - neither of which he would have gained without Yolande.

Comte de Vaudreuil

Their behaviour during the revolution is quite telling, too. Both fled France during the revolution but went in separate directions. Yolande embarked on a journey through Europe, ending in Vienna where she herself died shortly after Marie Antoinette's execution. Joseph, meanwhile, had left far in advance. Already by the storming of the Bastille in 1789 - before the attack on Versailles, mind you - Joseph had left for the Austrian Netherlands. Furthermore, there is nothing to suggest that Yolande made any attempt at contacting Joseph after she fled France. It should not be ignored, either, that Joseph did not attend her funeral. Therefore, it seems likely that any connection they might have had in France was well and truly over by 1789.

Coincidentally, Yolande experienced a resurgence in her relationship with Marie Antoinette in the dying years of the 1780s. Whereas the queen had - as mentioned - become exasperated by her friend's demands, something changed after Yolande had spent a bit of time in England. Perhaps that change was the discarding of Vaudreuil? It would explain both why the queen happily accepted her friend back as her pushy lover would no longer be an inconvenience. It would also explain the seemingly sudden rupture of Yolande and Joseph's relationship. Considering that just a few years before, Yolande had been constantly flanked by Joseph, it would have taken quite a turn-around for something to change that drastically.

Given Yolande's willingness to remain in the queen's good graces, it might have become obvious that her relationship (whatever its nature) with Vaudreuil was more hindrance than help.