Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers: Chapter 12
100 Days of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers June 1 - August 31, 2024
100 Days of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers
June 1 - August 31, 2024
All for One and One for All: "The Three Musketeers" at 180
June 23
Chapter 12
And so, we crossed the Pont Neuf and entered the Louvre palace - which looked very different in the 17th century - see the image below!!!
AND - what madness!!! What folly!!! The first minister of England is promising to bring an army to fight the French - ANYTHING to get a chance to see Queen of France!!! He will support the Protestants of La Rochelle - all consequences be damned - in order to be in her presence one more time!!! Mon Dieu!!! The Queen is committing treason with a man who adores her!!! And what a man!!!
“Buckingham, left alone, went up to a mirror. This musketeer's outfit suited him perfectly.
At thirty-five, as he then was, he rightly passed for the most handsome gentleman and the most elegant cavalier in France and England.
The favorite of two kings, rich by millions, all-powerful in a kingdom that he stirred up at his whim and calmed at his caprice, George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, had undertaken one of those fabulous existences that remain over the course of the centuries as an astonishment to posterity.
And so, sure of himself, convinced of his power, certain that the laws which ruled other men could not touch him, he went straight to the goal he had set himself, even if that goal was so high and so dazzling that it would have been folly for another man merely to conceive of it. It was thus that he had happened to approach the beautiful and proud Anne d'Autriche several times and to make her love him, by dint of bedazzlement.
George Villiers thus stood before the mirror, as we have said, restored the waves to his handsome blond hair, which had been flattened by the weight of his hat, twirled his mus-tache, and, his heart swelling with joy, proud and happy to have reached the moment he had so long desired, smiled to himself in pride and hope.”
And the Queen?!
“Anne d'Autriche was then twenty-six or twenty-seven; that is, she was in the full radiance of her beauty.”
Please recall my note on the Hapsburgs - Anne too is the descendant of a few genetically close marriages…
“Her mouth was small and bright red, and though her lower lip, as with the princes of the house of Austria, protruded slightly beyond the upper, she was eminently gracious in her smile, but also deeply disdainful in her scorn.”
Anne of Austria was a remarkable beauty - see the portrait below:
“Her skin was much mentioned for its velvet softness, her hands and arms were of a surprising beauty, and all the poets of the time sang of them as incomparable.”
War and the deaths of thousands is but a small price to pay for the privilege of coming back to the queen of his heart in triumph…
"I cannot hope to penetrate all the way to Paris by force of arms, I know that very well; but this war may lead to a peace, that peace will need a negotiator, and that negotiator will be me. They will not dare refuse me then, and I will return to Paris, and I will see you, and I will have a moment of happiness. True, thousands of men will have paid for my happiness with their lives; but what will that matter to me, provided I see you again! All this may well be mad, it may well be absurd; but tell me, what woman has a more loving lover? What queen has ever had a more ardent servant?"
Yes, this folly may cost him his life - but who cares!!!
“As you have said yourself, I have been drawn into a trap, and it will perhaps cost me my life, for, you know, it's strange, for some time now I have had presentiments that I am going to die." And the duke smiled a sad and at the same time charming smile.”
He does not leave till getting a keepsake from the queen - and, fortified with a small rosewood box inlaid in gold, Buckingham finally departs!!!
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Please note that he did die 3 years after the time when this scene takes place in 1625 - Anne’s horrifying dream is prophetic… Not a spoiler - just a historical fact!!!
Anne of Austria - Anne d'Autriche in French, (1601-1666), ALSO by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640).
View of the Louvre Palace from the Pont Neuf, 17th century, French School.