Fighting to reclaim the French crown for the Bourbons, the duchesse de Berry faces betrayal at the hands of one of her closest advisors in this dramatic history of power and revolution. The year was 1832, a cholera pandemic raged, and the French royal family was in exile, driven out by yet another revolution. From a drafty Scottish castle, the duchesse de Berry — the mother of the … of the eleven-year-old heir to the throne — hatched a plot to restore the Bourbon dynasty. For months, she commanded a guerilla army and evaded capture by disguising herself as a man. But soon she was betrayed by her trusted advisor, Simon Deutz, the son of France’s Chief Rabbi. The betrayal became a cause célèbre for Bourbon loyalists and ignited a firestorm of hate against France’s Jews. By blaming an entire people for the actions of a single man, the duchess’s supporters set the terms for the century of antisemitism that followed.
Brimming with intrigue and lush detail, The Betrayal of the Duchess is the riveting story of a high-spirited woman, the charming but volatile young man who double-crossed her, and the birth of one of the modern world’s most deadly forms of hatred.
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The Duchess De Berry affair captivated the whole world yet we in the modern world have never heard of her. Isn’t it amazing how such momentous affairs just fade from the collective consciousness? The first few pages sum up everything for me. First, and this has nothing to do with anything, the Duchess was 4 foot 7 inches tall. Secondly, she spent 16 hours in a priest hole next to a fireplace to evade capture by her enemies and almost got away except for a soldier lighting a fire in the fireplace to ward off a chill and yet she still did not come out until she almost perished. So small and so formidable. Thirdly, her betrayal by a man of Jewish descent ushered in anti-Semitism into France.
The story begins with the duchess’ birth in Naples, at the Caserta a 2 million square foot palace with 1200 rooms in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius. WOW. Maria Carolina, after a childhood fraught with uncertainty that went with the Two Scililies thrones of her grandfather and having Napoleon lose on the continent, Carolina is sent to France to be married as she is Catholic and a Hapsburg, complete with drooping lip. Now know as Caroline she is the hope of the Bourbon dynasty as they need a make heir to continue. The Orleans line has one. Caroline and the Duc De Berry have a daughter, the Duc is assassinated and Caroline delivers a son posthumously. The other person in the story Simon Deutz who betrays the Duchess changed his religion to Catholic and thought that by attaching his hopes to the perhaps, if she were successful he would perhaps find his fortune and maybe she would give him a title for his efforts on her behalf. Meanwhile, the duchess hoped if she could secure the French throne for her son Henri V, who was 10 and the last of the Bourbon line, she would be regent until he reached his majority. However, she would have to dislodge Louis-Phillipe who held the throne at present and was of the house of Orleans. The barricades of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables were up in arms over this same King Louis Phillipe as the Duchesse de Berry was fighting. Also during this time France and in particular Paris was undergoing a cholera epidemic. Brutal times. Filthy times. A great time to starve.
Deutz said in his memoirs he betrayed the duchess to save France from the rack and ruin of a civil war brought on by the Bourbons and Orleans fighting each other. Nobody bought it. He betrayed her for greed. He figured out who was going to win and lose and hoped to profit from it. He had delusions of grandeur. He thought everyone would praise him for it. Everyone hated him for the betrayal. Plus there was something in his personality just was not likable. The duchess was pretty after a fashion, rich, female, charming, audacious, sympathetic, and had a kid. She had everything going for her. Until she didn’t. She lost the war and was deported to Italy. Deutz got 500,000 francs but still had nothing. He died penniless in New Orleans. She had more adventures. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in return for a review.