Rosalie Lamorlière
Rosalie Lamorlière (or simply Rosalie Lamorliere in English) was the last servant of Marie Antoinette, while the queen was in the Conciergerie, awaiting her trial and execution.[1]
She was born on 19 March 1768, in Breteuil, France, to a shoemaker and his wife (who later died when Lamorlière was 12), and was one of seven siblings. Although she was never married, she had a child by an unknown man.[2]
Lamorlière lived some part of her life on la rue de Sèvres.[2] Following the September Massacres, she was engaged for work by the Richards, up until 1799.[2]
It is unknown what she looked like exactly, as the only portrait known to be painted of her has been lost. Apart from that, the only other existing painting of Lamorlière is Marie-Antoinette, le matin de son exécution, painted by Tony Robert-Fleury during the 19th century, and he had never seen her.[2]
Her tomb was erected by her daughter at the Père Lachaise Cemetery.[1]
Rosalie Lamorlière, dernière servante de Marie-Antoinette by Ludovic Miserole, a book on Lamorlière, was published in 2010. It is only available in French, and there are no plans for an English translation.[3]
Popular media
Riyoko Ikeda's manga and its adaptation anime Rose of Versailles features Rosalie as one of the central figures in the story which takes liberties to link her life with other characters both historical and fictional. She is depicted as the illegitimate daughter of Valois de Saint-Rémy and Yolande de Polastron, future Countess of Polignac. Secretly the 15-years-old Yoland gave Rosalie birth and got fostered by the mother of Jeanne of Valois-Saint-Rémy. After her foster mother died, Rosalie is eventually taken in by Oscar (a fictional character and the protagonist of the story), the head of the royal guards who first introduces her to the queen, Marie Antoinette. Rosalie is blackmailed by Polignac into coming to live with her after her younger sister commits suicide, to fill her place in a betrothal but runs away from Polignac and back to Paris. She marries Bernard, a follower of Robespierre, is present at the storming of the Bastille where she witnesses her old friend's death and narrates the end results of the French Revolution (including the execution of the queen) to conclude the story.
Ikeda features Rosalie in her other manga, Eikou no Napoleon – Eroica which focuses on the life of Napoleon.