The Queen's Dollmaker. Christine Trent

      Versailles, October 1781. It was unbelievable. Finally, the queen’s dream had come true, and she was safely delivered of a baby boy, the heir to the throne of France. If the streets of Paris were wild with joy and pealing bells, the scene inside the delivery chamber was no less chaotic. Attending the queen’s delivery were no less than eight people, not including her accoucheur. The king was not present, but came later to tell her that she had provided the kingdom with a Dauphin, as everyone else in the room had forgotten to do so in the pandemonium following the birth. In the aftermath of delivering France with the longed-for heir, Marie Antoinette was, for a short while, portrayed in newspapers almost spiritually as a perfect mother and wife. It was mild compensation for the years of libel and slander, but she basked in it.