On a more cheerful note, I was now able to crosscheck Horowski's book re: Madame de Monaco/both Madames. Horowski is 100% certain Minette/Monaco was real. He doesn't provide a footnote or a quote, but he has read way more about the court of Louis XIV than I have, so I trust him on this. Otoh, he does provide the Liselotte quote re: the failed pass Madame de Monaco made at her.
Horowski: It was observedhow (Madame de Monaco) approached the new Madame with the same tender gestures she had used on the first one, but aside from a few excited incognito walks through Paris, this didn't go anywhere. Much later, as an old woman, Madame herself describes it to an interested niece thusly: "It's true that Madame de Monaco loved women. She would have liked to introduce me to this, but she didn't win me over, which grieved her so much that she cried."
Alas, the Princess of Monaco was permanently damaged by a botched blood letting in 1772, her health got increasingly worse from 1775, which made courtiers suspect anything from STD to poison (by her husband), and she died in 1778 at age 39. But if the her/Minette affair was real, at least we can say Minette had some enjoyable hours in between marital warfare with Monsieur.
Re: Court of Louis XIV: Madame est morte
Horowski: It was observedhow (Madame de Monaco) approached the new Madame with the same tender gestures she had used on the first one, but aside from a few excited incognito walks through Paris, this didn't go anywhere. Much later, as an old woman, Madame herself describes it to an interested niece thusly: "It's true that Madame de Monaco loved women. She would have liked to introduce me to this, but she didn't win me over, which grieved her so much that she cried."
Alas, the Princess of Monaco was permanently damaged by a botched blood letting in 1772, her health got increasingly worse from 1775, which made courtiers suspect anything from STD to poison (by her husband), and she died in 1778 at age 39. But if the her/Minette affair was real, at least we can say Minette had some enjoyable hours in between marital warfare with Monsieur.