Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flaunting, Extravagant Queen | 1957 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 2 | Louis the Well Beloved | 1959 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
| 3 | The Road to Compiegne | 1959 | Eleanor Burford / Hibbert | Buy |
The French Revolution trilogy by Eleanor Burford Hibbert, writing as Jean Plaidy, tells the story of how the Bourbon monarchy collapsed. Louis the Well Beloved follows the reign of Louis XV, whose personal scandals and political indifference weakened the crown. The Road to Compiegne continues the story of Louis XV’s later years and the increasing tensions at Versailles.
Flaunting, Extravagant Queen focuses on Marie Antoinette, the Austrian princess who married Louis XVI and became a symbol of royal excess in the eyes of the French people. Plaidy portrays Marie Antoinette with sympathy, showing how a young woman with little political training was overwhelmed by a crisis that had been building for decades before her arrival. Readers interested in Plaidy’s other explorations of European royalty may want to explore the Catherine de Medici trilogy, which covers the French court two centuries earlier.