Throughout history there have been many Kings who had many royal mistresses.
King Henry VIII for example even had Anne Boleyn’s sister as a mistress before he
married his second wife, and many were expected to serve the King’s desires whenever he
called.
Many mistresses were also married, but there was one woman inside of France who was executed
during the French Revolution, as it was accused that she was involved of assisting criminals
flee from the Revolution.
Madame Du Barry was the royal mistress of King Louis XV of France, and she had a very
interesting life close to the heart of the French court.
But inside of Paris she was brought to the guillotine, and was quickly executed on the
8th December 1793.
But what is the story of her execution?
Join us today as we look at the brutal execution of Madam Du Barry, and remember to support
our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Jeanne Becu was born in August 1743, and was the illegitimate daughter of a seamstress.
Her father isn’t known, but one of her mother’s lovers took her in at the age of 3 and they
moved to Paris.
Jeanne was a well liked young girl, and was educated in a convent but at the age of 15
it was believed that she had come of age.
Along with her mother, she was evicted she was force to find a source of money to help
support herself.
She travelled daily throughout the streets of Paris finding anything she could to sell,
and she would try to raise whatever money she could.
She worked different jobs and then became an assistant to a young hairdresser who she
had a relationship with.
She also worked as a companion to an elderly window, but she began to become involved in
affairs with the married sons of her.
Jeanne was considered a beautiful blonde woman, who had bright blue eyes, and she caught the
attention of Jean Baptise du Barry, who was the brother of a wealthy casino owner.
But then Guillaume du Barry the casino owner brought her into his household and made her
his mistresses.
But then she became part of the highest aristocratic circles inside of Paris, and she took many
men from high up families as lovers.
However Jeanne or Madame du Barry became a sensation in the French capital, and she had
many aristocrats who would visit her, and many were her lovers.
She even managed to capture the King’s minister’s eyes, and his own courtiers.
But because of this it was believed she was holding influence over the King himself who
became aware of her looks and beauty in 1768 when she visited the palace of Versailles.
The King from this point on, Louis XV began to take an interest in her, and she was often
taken to the royal boudoir where she would sleep with the King.
However many believed this was just a fling and nothing of note, and Jeanne could not
qualify as the King’s mistress because at the time she was a commoner, and was not a
member of the aristocracy.
But the King would sort this out, and he wanted her to be married to a man of strong heritage
and background, and she married Comte Guillaume du Barry on the 1st September 1768, which
even was backed up by a fake birth certificate making her three years younger, and from noble
and aristocratic parents.
But this was not the case, and with this marriage she was now free to be the King’s Chief
Royal mistress.
She was given quarters in the royal palaces, and she lived a lonely life but many at court
did not want to get to know her, and they were shocked that a woman of Jeanne’s standing
could make her way to such a significant position of power within the French royal court.
Many including her husband wanted to use her to gain more influence and power, as she had
the ear of the King.
But Jeanne was presented to court at Versailles on the 22nd April 1769 where thousands had
gathered outside the palace gates, and she wore a silvery white gown which had jewels
encrusted in the dress.
The King had given these the night before for her, and Jeanne then became friends with
some people at court.
But she was living at the time a life of luxury and she quickly adjusted to this, and she
had been given a slave who she dressed in luxurious clothes to show him off.
Every day she would wake up at 9am when her slave brought her a cup of chocolate, she
would then be dressed and her hairdresser would come in and sort out her hair.
She would then be visited by her friends and other jewellers who wanted to sell their wears,
and she did ask a few favours from the French King.
She was also seen as rather powerful, and during one incident a man visited her to ask
for a pardon for a condemned young girl who was found guilty of infanticide, but Madame
du Barry’s actions led to her being pardoned.
She continued to wear extravagant gowns which cost the treasury an absolute fortune, and
diamonds covered her neck and ears, but she did attract some hostility at court.
She had some rivals who fought for supremacy in the King’s eyes, and some did slander
her at court.
But she did become unpopular as time went on with the amount of money the King was spending
on her increasing, and she remained as the Chief Royal mistress to the King until the
day he died.
She was involved in the Diamond Necklace Affair in which Louis XV had commissioned an elaborate
diamond necklace which cost over 2 million livres to be made for Jeanne.
But this was not completed by the time the King died, and it would then cause scandal
with Marie Antoinette who was accused of bribing a Cardinal to get it for her.
Jeanne did remain by the King’s bedside whilst he was ill with smallpox, and she was
brought to him along with his daughters so that they could help him prepare for confession
and the last rites.
Following the death of the King, his grandson King Louis XVI came onto the throne, and Jeanne
was exiled into an Abbey where she was not well accepted by nuns as she was the King’s
31 year old royal mistress, but they soon got close to her.
She was then allowed greater freedoms but was told not to go near Versailles, and she
brought lands and property.
However the French Revolution would signal her brutal and barbaric end.
During the Revolution, a man she was having a fling with was slaughtered by a mob, and
one evening Jeanne heard the sounds of a crowd approaching her chateux, and as she opened
the window someone threw a blood stained cloth in which had the head of her lover.
Her slave even became a member of the revolution, and he then denounced Jeanne to the committee,
and with this Madame du Barry was accused of financially assisting people who had fled
the French Revolution which was seen as treason.
She was arrested in 1793, and before she had been accused of treason and had been condemned
to death, but she did spare herself some time when she told the committee where she had
hidden gemstones.
But on the 8th December 1793, months after Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had been executed
on the guillotine, Madame du Barry was brought out onto the scaffold.
On the way to the guillotine she collapsed and cried, ‘You are going to heart me, Why?’
She was terrified and screamed loudly to the crowd asking for mercy.
She was then handed over to the executioenr, and she said ‘One more moment executioner,
I beg you.’
She was then tied to the wooden board, and was quickly slid under the guillotine.
Then quickly the executioner released the blade that fell, taking her head clean off.
She was buried with many others who were executed during the Reign of Terror.
But Madame du Barry was a woman who began life in very poor and humble beginnings, but
her beauty captivated many and elevated her into the French royal court.
Her poor background was erased, and she then became the King’s chief mistress, and with
this became incredibly wealthy with incredible gifts of clothing and jewels.
Ultimately she was executed for the fact she was linked to the monarchy strongly, and also
that she was accused of treason and helping people flee the fate of the Revolution.
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