On this day, Louis XV writes from Saint-Hubert to the Duke of Parma:
“I have not found your letter here, my dear grandson, which is a small misfortune. I must have burned it by mistake. You do very well to take much exercise at Colorno. I hope that the relief plan will arrive in good condition. We expect a courier with news of your grandmother’s death at any moment. Since the 5th, we have expected nothing more than that cruel news. For several days now, it has rained almost continuously. With that, the weather is very mild. All the living things of the earth, which are admirable, are beginning to suffer from it, which would be very unfortunate. Adieu, my dear grandson, I love you and embrace you tenderly. Louis.”
Commentary:
Please see 7 June for the previous mention of the lost letter. It is common at this date for confidential correspondence to be burned once read. The King does not normally burn Ferdinand of Parma’s letters — we are reading them, after all — which is why he says it was by mistake. Saint-Hubert, in the forest of Rambouillet, is one of the King’s favourite hunting lodges. As for Colorno, it is to Parma as Versailles is to Paris.
The Dowager Queen of Spain in fact died on 11 July at Aranjuez. She was Ferdinand of Parma’s paternal grandmother.
Pictured: Elisabeth Farnese/Isabel de Farnesio (1692-1766), Princess of Parma by birth and Queen of Spain by marriage.
The last lines of the letter indicate that the overly wet weather might not be good for the year’s crops.
Pictured: An 18th century view of the palace at Aranjuez, where the Dowager Queen of Spain died.
The translation from the French is my own, as it always is unless I credit someone else. If you have questions that I have not addressed in the commentary, please ask in the comments.
Love your inclusion of letters. Makes things feel so personal like you’re stepping back there.