Sunday 5 January 2014

A Thoughtful Gift

Diamond Aigrette  Gift of Louis XVI to Marie Antoinette.  He hoped to lower the cost of the huge feathers that she used in her hairdos.  "I beg you to limit yourself to this ornament. This present should please you more that it has not increased my expenditure, since it is composed of diamonds I possessed when I was Dauphin"    Frugal fellow!

Louis XVI gave this as a gift to his wife, Marie Antoinette. It was no new expense to the already strained royal treasury since all the diamonds had been in the King's possession since he held the title of Dauphin. Actually, by giving this gift Louis XVI hoped that he could stop Marie Antoinette's expensive habit of wearing costly feathers in her hair with the words: "I beg you to limit yourself to this ornament. This present should please you more that it has not increased my expenditure, since it is composed of diamonds I possessed when I was Dauphin."

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