Rosalie is the biological daughter of Duchess Of Polignac, half-sister of Charlotte de Polignac, and adoptive sister of Jeanne Valois de la Motte. Her adoptive mother is Nicole Lamorlière.
Appearance[]
Rosalie is a young, beautiful girl with blond hair, blue eyes, and a slim figure. When she was still poor, she wore a simple but slightly tattered blue dress with a white apron, and brown shoes. After she began living as a noble, Rosalie began wearing beautiful gowns and jewelry and maintained the appearance of a lady.
Personality[]
Rosalie is portrayed as a good natured, well-meaning young woman who is not afraid to work hard to support herself and her loved ones. She is very loyal to those closest to her and is also shown to be very goal oriented when she sets her mind on something.
Background[]
During her earlier years, Rosalie was unaware that she had been given to another family after her birth as her biological mother, Duchess Of Polignac, had to protect her family's reputation as Rosalie's birth father was a lower social class than her mother and she had been conceived/born out of wedlock.
She had been given to the Lamorlière family to raise as their own and grew up believing her adoptive mother and sister were her true blood family.
Plot[]
In the beginning of the series, Rosalie was living with her mother and sister as they struggled to feed themselves. After Jeanne Valois de la Motte had run away, Nicole became severely ill. Rosalie was able to find a job and was hurrying home to inform her mother when she comes across a horrific accident. After Nicole had been struck by a carriage and left to die, Nicole tells Rosalie that they were not actually blood related and that Rosalie's true mother was a noble woman.
Rosalie swore that she will kill the person in the carriage that killed her mother. She tried to kill Oscar's mother, Lady Jarjayes, because she thought Lady Jarjayes was in the carriage due to wearing a similar dress, but Oscar stops Rosalie before any harm is done. Oscar decides to help her, and she teaches Rosalie the art of fencing, manners, history, and other courtly skills. Rosalie comes to admire and love Oscar greatly. Rosalie tells Oscar about Martine Gabrielle. At a party, Rosalie recognizes the Duchess de Polignac and tries to kill her, but Oscar stops her and tells her that killing her won't bring her mother back, and if she killed her, she would be executed. Later Oscar and André discovered the true identity of Martine Gabrielle and her relationship to Rosalie.
Rosalie ambushes Polignac's carriage in front of Polignac's daughter, Charlotte, but was unable to go through with it; to which Oscar believes was due to Rosalie being too kindhearted to do something like harm her birth mother. After an incident where Charlotte loses her mind and commits suicide, the Duchess de Polignac goes to Jarjayes's Mansion and told Rosalie that if she didn't come with her, she would tell the authorities that Oscar was the protector of the sister of Jeanne of Valois-Saint-Rémy, the mastermind of the "Affair of the Diamond Necklace". Rosalie decides to go; soon, she realizes that the Duchess de Polignac intentions were to marry her to the Duke de Guiche, Charlotte's ex-fiancé and cause of her suicide. She escapes, and marries Oscar's friend, Bernard Chatelet and meets Oscar again during the Storming of the Bastille.
After the storming of the Bastille, the people burst into Versailles and took Marie Antoinette prisoner. Marie Antoinette and her family were taken to a prison, where Rosalie served the queen as a servant, telling her all she knew about Oscar. Marie Antoinette, before the day of her execution, gave Rosalie a rose that she made out of cosmetic paper, and asks her to paint it with Oscar's favorite rose color.
Relationships[]
- Jeanne Valois de la Motte: Rosalie's adoptive sister. Rosalie is shown to care very much for her sister before and after learning of her true heritage. While she had been happy that Jeanne achieved her goal of becoming a noble lady, Rosalie was upset at how selfish and deceptive she had become in her new life.
- Oscar Francois de Jarjayes: Rosalie became close friends with Oscar after Oscar had stopped Rosalie from mistakenly attacking her mother. When Oscar took her in, Rosalie came to greatly admire her and was taught many skills needed in order to pass for a woman of noble birth.
- Nicole Lamorlière: Rosalie's adoptive mother. Rosalie is shown to have had a very close relationship with Nicole. She often cared for her mother as best she could and had continued to see her as her true mother after she learned Nicole was not her biological mother.
- Charlotte de Polignac: Rosalie's younger half-sister. At first, Rosalie had tried to get along with Charlotte but quickly found Charlotte's proud behavior to be unflattering and the girl herself to be rather insulting toward Rosalie. Although having at one point claimed that Charlotte was not truly her sister, Rosalie cried greatly for the young girl when she committed suicide and was sad that Charlotte never knew that she had a sister.
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
- The real-life Rosalie was born to the cobbler François de Lamorlière (1738–1812) and his wife Marguerite Charlotte Vaconsin, who died when Rosalie was 12. Rosalie lived most of her life in rue de Sèvres, in Paris, with her six siblings. In 1792, at the age of 24, Rosalie was employed as a servant at the Conciergerie. While working there, Rosalie adopted the name Rosalie Lamorlière, so as not to confuse the nobility. Shortly after her employment, Rosalie was chosen to be the main servant of Marie Antoinette.
- Rosalie died on 2 February 1848, at the age of 79. Her tomb was erected by her daughter at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Although she never married, she had a child named Marie Rosalie de Lamorlière (1801-1895), whose father is unknown.
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