Marriage to a King Did Not Stop This Queen from Public Displays of Affection for Another Man
Secret letters were exchanged, and von Fersen’s diary contains entries about a woman named “Elle” – his codename for the queen – whom he madly loved but could not wed because she was already married. In the meantime, it was an open secret that whenever von Fersen was in Paris, he spent days on end at Marie Antoinette’s private chateau, the Petit Trianon. When he left for Sweden a year later, he got the queen a dog, which she cherished and named Odin. King Louis XVI knew of his wife’s love for Axel von Fersen, but did little about it. For a French monarch, this Louis was not much of a womanizer – or any type of womanizer, at all. French kings had long been known for their insatiable lust, and marriage had never prevented their infidelity. Louis XVI was different.
He wed Marie Antoinette in 1770 when he was fifteen and she was fourteen. He showed little interest in her, and the marriage was not consummated until seven years later, in 1777. In a letter to his brother, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II wrote that Louis had confided to him what he did with his queen. Louis: “Introduces the member … stays there without moving for about two minutes“, then pulls out without ejaculation and “bids goodnight“. In addition to inexperience and shyness, Louis might have suffered from phimosis, a foreskin condition that causes pain when the penis is erect. Reportedly, it was only after he underwent surgery that he was finally able to consummate his marriage. Louis and his queen seldom spent much time together. He often ate and drank so much that he became nearly senseless, and had to be carried to bed.