Part 4.4 is the fourth part of Chapter 4, and the first of two parts about the royal family’s disastrous, failed flight to Varennes in the summer of 1791.
A Childhood at Versailles consists of the first 5 chapters of the memoirs of Mme de Boigne (1781-1866), née Adèle d’Osmond, who was a French salon hostess and writer. She was born in the Château de Versailles and lived at the court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette until her family fled to England during the Revolution. Later in her long life, she married a rich soldier of fortune 30 years her senior, hosted a brilliant salon in Paris, and became an intimate of the last French queen, Marie-Amélie, consort of King Louis Philippe (r. 1830-1848). Childless herself, Mme de Boigne addressed her memoirs to her grandnephew. The memoirs were not published until 1907, under the title Récits d’une tante, or An Aunt’s Tales. They’ve never been published in English, as far as I know, so I’ve decided to translate the first 5 chapters, the ones that take place mainly at Versailles, and post them here on this blog for interested readers to enjoy for free.
The chapters are quite lengthy, so I’ve broken each one into several parts. In Part 4.4, the author records her father’s projected part in the royal family’s attempted flight from Paris and its aftermath.
A Childhood at Versailles, Chapter 4, Part 4 (4.4)
Once established in Rome, my mother spent several months there in a state of keen anxiety over the dangers to which my father was exposed. He came to join us in the spring of the year 1792,* a few months after the flight to Varennes. Here is what I have heard him tell about it since.
