Home > Gabrielle de Polastron, comtesse de Polignac

Talented and beautiful, Yolande became the undisputed leader of the queen's exclusive society circle. The entire Polignac family benefitted enormously from the queen's generosity, but their increasing wealth outraged many aristocratic families, who felt they didn't deserve it. The queen's favouritism towards Yolande and her family was one of the many causes which fuelled Marie-Antoinette's unpopularity with many of her subjects. "The Polignac Set" were despised by royalist and republicans alike.

Yolande was greatly liked by the queen's husband, King Louis XVI, who was grateful for her calming influence on his wife. Yolande was eventually appointed Governess to the Royal Children, including the future Louis XVII and Princess Marie-Thérèse.

Yolande's marriage was cordial, if not successful. It was genereally believed at Versailles that Yolande's second child was actually fathered by her lover, the Comte de Vaudreuil. Yolande's beautiful younger sister, Louise, became the life-long mistress of Louis XVI's youngest brother, the Comte d'Artois.

Yolande's influence over Marie-Antoinette began to wane after 1785, when the queen's second son was born. The Queen was becoming increasingly unimpressed with how much the Polignacs were costing her. She confided to another lady-in-waiting, Henriette Campan, that she was “suffering acute dissatisfaction” over the Polignacs. According to Campan, “Her Majesty observed to me that when a sovereign raises up favourites in her court she raises up despots against herself.” Eventually, Yolande deemed it wise to leave Versailles for a while, and she went to visit friends in England.

The months leading up to the outbreak of the French Revolution in JulyJuly is the seventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days. July was renamed for Julius Caesar; previously, it was called Quintilis in Latin, since it was the fifth month in the Roman calendar which started in March. Because of its orig 1789Events January 7 First nationwide United States election January 21 The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth is printed in Boston, Massachusetts January 23 Georgetown College becomes the first Catholic coll saw the Queen and the Polignac Set become closer once more. Politally, Yolande and her friends led the ultra- monarchist movement in Versailles. Together with the diplomat, baron de BreteuilLouis-Auguste le Tonnelier, baron de Breteuil (1730 1807) A French aristocrat, statesman and politician. He was the last Prime Minister of the Bourbon Monarchy, appointed by Louis XVI only one hundred hours before the Fall of the Bastille. He was born int, and the king's brother the Comte d'Artois, they persuaded Marie-Antoinette to help depose the king's finance minister, Jacques Necker. This proved to be a catastrophic decision, especially since de Breteuil had argued that they delay the move for a few weeks. It is generally believed that it was the Comte d'Artois who rushed ahead with the plot, before it was the right time to do so.

After the fall of the Bastille Prison on 14th July 1789, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette advised several members of the Polignac Set to emigrate abroad. The Comte d'Artois left on Louis XVI's orders, as did de Breteuil. Yolande and her family went to Switzerland, where they kept in contact with the King and Queen through letters. After she had left, the care of the royal children was entrusted to the Marquise de Tourzel.

Yolande contracted cancer whilst living in Switzerland. She died in October 1793, shortly after hearing of the execution of Marie-Antoinette.

She was the mother of Jules, prince de Polignac, who became Prime Minister when the Comte d'Artois became King of France in the 1820s.