Madame de Pompadour Portrait by Charles-André van Loo |
Just today, Darling Diva and I watched a Dr. Who episode which involved the woman above, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour. This was the woman known to all as chief mistress to the King of France Louis XV. Imagine that, chief mistress, the head honchetta of other women. She was second only to the Queen, but really, I wonder, did she truly come in second place or did the Queen do her duty and produce the heirs then to be left alone while the King maintained an actual relationship with his mistress? Where the King/mistress relationships the real love matches while the marriages were about business only?
From what I've read the opposite seems like it would be true and the mistress' view this life like a business contract. Wealth, notoriety, the endless trappings of a 'good' life and mostly the freedom to do what they wished with out being shackled by society, it sure seems like the good life. Only if that were true, then were the Queen's considered the love match?
Doubtful considering how they were treated most of the time. Heck, Madame de Pompadour lived in apts above the kings rooms which were probably close to the Queen's rooms as well. Let's be honest here, you know the Queen probably had to listen to the grunts and groans, yelps and delightful squeals of the King and mistress in what was most likely an above average sex life. Two times a week? Right ~rolls eyes~
This, of course, leads me to believe there was little emotion between the King and Queen. So what happened to love?
Now in all honesty, the Queen probably had a stable of lovers, or at least one steady herself, but the point is how did people live with this lack of love? Emotion?
So, back to the original thought, the other woman, what an odd thing to be going on about, but it makes me wonder if I could write a story involving a husband, a wife and TOW? Probably not as I just can't wrap myself around the emotions, or lack there of, involved. No one would "win" in my story, mainly because I can see the situation from all angles and while I'm pro-love, back then, marriage was like a business deal and love took a back seat. Maybe then I should take up the challenge and try to write said story...
Who knows, maybe it'll go to the bottom of my to write list.