Who Was the Black Woman at Louis XIV’s Court?
The Real Reason Bridgerton Was a Success
Why do you think people binged Bridgerton? Because it was the first historical drama on Netflix? I don’t think so. The show became a pop culture statement because it finally showed Black characters in positions of power in European historical settings.
I’m French and I’m Black. How many Black people do you think I’ve seen in French history manuals at school? Well, since France doesn’t even have a Black history, you’re damn sure it was close to none.
I know for a lot of you Bridgerton was about the Duke. Yes, he’s cute, I said it. Moving on. But for me, it was always about the Queen.
How many Disney movies did you watch as a kid? How many Black princesses did you see growing up?
None.
That’s why we grew up to be so strong and unapologetic. Since we couldn’t be princesses, we learned to be our own queens.
And the Queen of Bridgerton, she’s the incarnation of Black girl magic.
Not a Woman but a Provocation
If there is one king in French history who is impossible to forget, it’s Louis XIV. The Sun King. He got his nickname because of how extravagant he was. If you’ve traveled in France and visited Versailles, you already know the man was big on spectacle.
That looks shallow and foolish, right? Well, behind all the chandeliers and mirrors, there was a real strategist. He knew the nobles’ real power was regional, and he couldn’t stand giving up even an inch of his own power. But instead of being confrontational, he tricked the nobles into giving their power away themselves. He made them believe real power was proximity to power. If you’ve ever had a coworker licking your boss’s boots, you’ve seen for yourself that some people still believe this today.
Louis XIV trapped the nobles in etiquette and ceremony, all smoke and mirrors, while he was effectively centralizing power. But why would the king himself keep a Black woman at court in a racist country, you’ll say?
You’re not asking the right question.
The right question is why wouldn’t he?
The world can hold two truths at once. Black people were exploited like cattle, and at the same time, some Black children were treated as exotic rarities the nobles would show off like pets.
At that point in time, parrots, parakeets, and Black children were all the same.
Why Does This Feel So Familiar?
Louise Marie-Thérèse was a Black girl from the Caribbean who arrived in France young and alone. No family. No lineage. No recorded past. Her godmother was Madame de Maintenon, who was arguably the most powerful woman in France at the time, despite not being an official queen. No matter how powerful women can get, they rarely receive public praise.
Louise Marie-Thérèse received an education in literature, arts, Christianity, and French sophistication. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it mirrors later policies around assimilation. You won’t be a slave, but you still won’t know where you come from, and you’d better conform. It’s tragic how her story is still felt in Black women’s bones today.
Eat Caviar and Watch Them Burn
Louise Marie-Thérèse later became a nun at the abbey of Moret-sur-Loing. I keep asking myself why she chose exile. I will never know, but I’m left to wonder how it felt to be protected and live in luxury while other Black women were owned, beaten, raped, and worked to death.
How can you really enjoy a life of pleasure among your enemies?
I’ll never get answers, because history rarely gave a voice to women. But we can choose to give them one in fiction. That’s why I wrote Marie-Louise, an enslaved woman from the French Caribbean who refused to lose at life. There will never be enough silk, gold, or refinement to temper her rage.