Sex with the Queen Read Online Free PDF Page B

two-thirds of a husband, and although he loves her, he fears her more. . . . Just imagine, in his marital bed—here is the secret—he has strong, well-conditioned erections; he introduces the member, stays there without moving for perhaps two minutes, withdraws without ejaculating but still erect, and says goodnight; this is incomprehensible because with all that he sometimes has nightly emissions, but once in place and going at it, never, and he’s satisfied. He says plainly that he does it all purely from a sense of duty but never for pleasure; oh, if only I could have been there, I would have taken care of him; he should be whipped so that he would ejaculate out of sheer rage like a donkey.”20
    In 1778 Louis submitted to circumcision for the good of the realm. His physician must have washed his hands and instru-ments thoroughly before the operation because the prince sailed through it. He was able to have sex with his wife a few weeks later, though he never got the hang of lovemaking. Marie Antoinette found him physically repulsive and, after giving him a daughter and son, began a torrid affair with an elegant young Swedish no-bleman, Count Axel Fersen.
    The queen’s son with Louis died young, and it is likely that her second son, who later became known as Louis XVII, was ac-s e x w i t h t h e q u e e n 2 4

    tually the child of her lover, born exactly nine months after Fersen visited Versailles. “The Queen was delivered of the Duc de Normandie at half-past seven,” Louis reported in his diary.
    “Everything happened just as to my son (the Dauphin).”21 The entry seemed to indicate that Louis did not believe the child was his. “One of the most handsome children one could ever see,”
    said one courtier about the queen’s third child, which in and of itself cast doubt as to his paternity.22
    G a y K i n g s
    Many European princes were gay, yet this did not prevent them from fulfilling their marital duties. Married in 1308 to a French princess, the English king Edward II fathered four royal chil-dren, although he spent most of his life in love with other men.
    The transvestite Philippe, duc d’Orléans, launched six chil-dren into the world with two wives, although the clanking saints’
    medallions he tied to his private parts before the act may have helped. In 1614 James I of England fell head over heels in love with young George Villiers; the king made him master of the horse, an earl, a marquess, a duke, and lord high admiral. Yet James could proudly point out that he had made his wife, a Dan-ish princess, pregnant no less than nine times.
    But not all gay princes could force themselves to have sex with their wives. Gustavus III of Sweden was so disgusted at the thought of sex with a woman that he didn’t even want to try.
    “This prince did not pay homage at the shrine of Venus” was the polite explanation of a contemporary.23 Nonetheless, he mar-ried Princess Sophia Magdalena of Denmark in 1766. When a Swedish artist visited the Copenhagen court of Christian VII in 1769, the king asked after the health of his sister. “She was as happy as any woman who had been married nearly three years and yet remained a virgin” was the reply.24
    Yet the queen’s barrenness was a perplexing problem to Gus-tavus who urgently needed an heir to stabilize his tottering throne. Powerful nobles, stripped of their rights by the king, threatened rebellion, and it was easier to topple a monarch with-l i f e b e h i n d p a l a c e w a l l s 2 5

    out an heir. Rumor had it that after eleven years of marriage, the king hit upon an excellent idea.
    He had seen his neglected virgin queen exchanging glances with a sophisticated courtier, Count Adolph Frederick Munck.
    According to the story that raced like wildfire through the Swedish court—the king insisted that the two begin an affair.
    When they hesitated—such treason could result not only in dis-honor but also in dismemberment—Gustavus wrote down his re-quest in his