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The 'Scandalous' Mistress of King Louis XV | The REAL Jeanne du Barry

Famous Faces, Hidden Lives

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Madame du Barry, the mistress of the French King Louis XV who divided opinion in the court at the Palace of Versailles during the later 18th century. But what was her story? How did a young woman of common blood, with only a light education and no experience of the royal court, rise to become Louis XV's most trusted companion and lover? This video looks at the rise and fall of Versailles' most scandalous royal mistress, the infamous Madame du Barry...

Sources and Related Books:

Madame Du Barry: The Wages of Beauty by Joan Haslip - https://amzn.to/3RI6naH

The Creation of the French Royal Mistress: From Agnès Sorel to Madame Du Barry by Tracy Adams and Christine Adams - https://amzn.to/3RE8TP9

Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser - https://amzn.to/3DEMXNZ

The above book links are affiliate links, and by clicking and buying a book, you're helping support this channel. Thank you very much! 🙌

For my images and footage, thanks to:

Videvo
Pixabay
Wikimedia Commons, especially:
Zairon
Jean-Marie Hullot
G.Garitan
Trizek
Communicationmna
Jorge Láscar
Ketounette
Eric Pouhier

20 Comments

@insoromanoworries7923 3 years ago

Don't hate the player. Hate the game.

It's interesting the trouble they went thru to make her the king's mistress

@thisis.michelletorres 2 years ago (edited)

She was kind to others and showed mercy but in the end was shown none. The movie with Johnny Depp was a moving portrayal of their love for each other.

@jacquesrenou2850 3 years ago

I admire her,she did what she did and if a man would have been looked upon different.All in all she was a good kind generous person.Telling in the fact of the first thing she asked of the king,which was to pardon someone she didn't know from being guillotine as well for another person.Enjoyed this episode, thanks so much.

@elaineanderson4966 3 years ago

Du barry is a fascinating story of a much more caring soul and determined individual than is depicted. Thank-u for this more realistic portrayal of her. It would be wonderful to see a movie about her much like the Marie Antoinette story.

@rule6511 3 years ago

How interesting! French history never ceases to amaze.

@SyriusStarMultimedia 3 years ago

People have been canceling each other for thousands of years. Let’s not bring back the guillotine.

@medievalmystic_ky 3 years ago

Definitely not the most scandalous mistress of Versailles, in my opinion. That would be, as far as I've read and studied, and that is a great amount, Madame de Montespan, Louis XIV's longtime mistress and mother to several of his illegitimate children. She, upon being userped from her pedestal at the Palace by Louis, invoked the infamous " Affair of the Poisons", where she nearly poisoned the King and many others in the palace.

@laurieerickson8661 3 years ago

This movie is going to be fire... We need it in the USA now!!! 😮😢

@Shineon83 2 years ago

For a moderately bright woman, Du Barry showed remarkable ignorance regarding the deteriorating social & political conditions in France….The fact that she was raised in relative poverty, and attended a convent school filled with poor girls, proves that she could hardly plead ignorance to the horrific conditions that the poor endured…

Du Barry’s sins were of selfishness & folly. I have never heard of her using her wealth to help the poor—and to continue living luxuriously amongst so much poverty—not even bothering to flee France when she had plenty of opportunity to do so—rather highlights both her sense of entitlement and her sheer detachment from reality….

@stormwatkins1204 3 years ago

I didn't know she was killed that way wow.

@ShirleeKnott 3 years ago

This comment is for feeding the algorithm.
It really enjoys snacking on comments, replies and likes to both.
Toss it a treat or two and watch the channel grow.

@editorblip9658 3 years ago

She would have been an Instagram star in today’s world. Interesting life. Thank you - not heard of her before.

@Bagowind 3 years ago

Most interesting. Yours is always the compassionate and balanced point of view. Many thanks.

@kristengaitanides8611 3 years ago

I adore her!
Who could acuse her for her actions, even on terms of today's professional possibilities for women, who end up extremely often using their charms in order to take or maintain a job!
Nothing has really changed throughout the centuries, just the ways of doing the same things...

@keithallen5795 3 years ago

Its better too be a old mans sweetheart , then a young mans slave.
The men died.The jewels lasted.
I lived it.

@jamiemohan2049 3 years ago (edited)

I would say madam de Montespan is the more infamous and scandalous. Giving her involvement on the affair of the poisons and her children being legitimised making her an ancestor of many noble and royal houses.

@FamousFacesHiddenLives Creator 3 years ago

Thank you for watching! I apologise once more for my butchery of the lovely French language - I really can't say 'Choiseul' properly. 😂

What are your opinions of Madame du Barry? Was she merely making the best of what she had? And was she guilty of the charges against her during the Revolution?

@elaineanderson4966 3 years ago

Anybody watching this really would enjoy the movie " Cheri " with Michelle Pfeiffer as an absolutely exquisite Parisian courtesan in this time period. Oh my g the beautiful gowns and decor alone are worth watching it for. ❤ this.

@lfgifu296 3 years ago

Louis sure got to plenty of fun!… Usually, when talking of his mistresses, we speak only of Madame de Pompadour, so it’s refreshing to hear of someone other than her (not that her (Madame de Pompadour) story isn’t interesting, ofc :) Have a nice weekend in the company of History, as I sure will!

@Incognitogo 2 years ago

You would think the revolutionists would realize she pushed herself through the classes and survived. She was one of the pleebians. They killed one of their own. But maybe she forgot where she came from. What a balance you'd have to keep. You'd be shuned by both classes.