DETOUR: THE FRENCH MONARCHY'S LASTING ÉCLAT

FRENCH CULTURE'S FIRST EMISSARY, ANNE BOLEYN

She had grown up in the court of Francis I where her father was England's ambassador to France, and her French fashions and repartees stood out in the rustic English court.

(In 1522) 

               Believed to be Anne Boleyn, by Hans Holbein  (1532-1536) / zoom

        Scouts de France, gone from the web; source was not named.

Skinny Anne was the opposite of the voluptuous beauties that were admired then as now, but she had absorbed the sophistication, allure and flirtatious repartie of Francis's court. Brilliant and cultivated Henry VIII composed motets in Latin to sing with her...

Their love letters are in French. 

-- Une reine pas très catholique ("An Unconventional Queen") by Dominique Muller, 1996:

Having the main characters speak for themselves

 — Anne, her awful father, Henry  —  

makes this story still more gripping. 

The modern aura:

• A servant's daughter (Audrey Hepburn) returns to Connecticut from Paris:

Sabrina by Billy Wilder, 1954

 

• "Christine Lagarde's Power Dressing" 

Forbes, 2011

• The Denver Kiwanis club makes a French dinner a raffle prize:

French-flag cupcakes

John Kelly

The competition was for a dinner of French cuisine at the home of member who had learned French, come regularly to Paris and followed classes in French cooking. 

Americans admire an "art de vivre"

that harks back to the court.

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