Comtesse du Barry: Life Goes On

Because I failed to look before I leapt, I accidentally deleted a post that took an embarrassing amount of time to write.  It had to do with Madame du Barry's life at Versailles and its culmination at Louis XV's death, her exile to a convent and transition to private life.  Writing the post a second time would be a frivolous waste of time and I'm at an age where I don't have time to waste.  

Now there's a hole in the Madame du Barry story.  Waaah.  

The high points are that she left Versailles, stayed in a convent for a year, lived someplace else temporarily, her fortune was returned to her and she was allowed to return to Louveciennes where she led a relatively quite life, entertained friends old and new.  Stanley Loomis describes the period in detail - all very interesting.

Having said that, it's clear that the bulk of the lost post was unnecessary.  You get the point.  She transitioned.  

Oh, one point that would be of interest to anyone familiar with the du Barry...  According to Loomis, who referenced reliable documentation that I'm not in the mood to look up right now, it was Louis XV, not XVI, that delegated the Comtesse to the convent.  Maybe he thought it might appease God, maybe he thought he was saving her from a worse fate at XVI's hand.  I don't know.  But the fact remains.  (Loomis claims that) Louis XV was responsible for sending her to the convent.  It wasn't a terrible experience, though, and she and the nuns shared a mutual respect and affection.

Château de Louveciennes

gifted to Madame du Barry by Louis XV

previously owned by the Princesse de Lamballe's husband who'd died there of the syphilis he'd contracted while hanging out with the Duc d'Orleans and his crowd