Note 326 — BOOK V I MARIE LOUISE OF ORLEANS (continued 2)

The tragic end of the Queen so distressed the French ambassador Rebenac that for a time he lost his reason after attending the funeral ceremony. In his subsequent correspondence with the King of France he made no secret of his belief that she had been murdered. The Duchess of Orleans, the Queen’s stepmother, thus refers to Rebenac’s statements in her correspondence: ‘Rebenac’s feelings have done no wrong to our young Queen of Spain. It is the sharp-nosed Count of Mansfeldt who poisoned her.’ De Torcy, in his ‘Mémoires,’ says: ‘The Count of Mansfeldt and Count Oropesa are both suspected of having been the authors of Marie Louise’s death, and take little care to exonerate themselves. The Marquis de Louville, in his ‘Mémoires,’ also distinctly states that the Queen was poisoned, and several other contemporary French authorities are no less certain.