List of The Rose of Versailles characters
Encyclopedia
This is a list of characters of The Rose of Versailles
, a shōjo
manga
/anime
created by Riyoko Ikeda
which centers around the main character, Oscar François de Jarjayes
. Most of the characters are based on French
historical personages, such as Marie Antoinette
and Madame du Barry
.
of Queen Marie Antoinette
. She has no reason to pretend to be a man because most of those at Versailles
know that she is a woman. Oscar falls in love with Hans Axel von Fersen, a Swedish
count. But Fersen has eyes for the queen only, and treats Oscar like a friend without knowing her true feelings for him. When the revolution begins, André tells Oscar that he loves her, and she realizes that she loves him too.
and horsemanship together when they were children. As they grew up, Oscar became the Dauphine's guard and the class gap between them widened. He has been described as a "true working-class hero" by Helen McCarthy
.
André is secretly in love with Oscar, but he never tells her until both of them decide to help the insurgents when the French Revolution
begins. Oscar initially refuses him and asks him to leave her but he stubbornly remains by her side until later on she admits to loving him back.
Later in the series, André loses sight in his left eye in order to save Oscar who had been captured by the Black Knight; his condition slowly worsens until he is completely blind. André is a very sensitive and passionate man, suffering for his unrequited love for Oscar but being unable to quench his desire for her and vocally siding with the commoners in their plight.
Sadly André dies from a stray bullet the day after Oscar's declaration of love, able to share only one night of passion with the woman he lived for.
married the Dauphin
to seal the alliance between his grandfather Louis XV
and her mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria
, when she was 14. After her marriage, she realizes that Madame du Barry
, King Louis XV's mistress, is against her. The princess, horrified by what she had heard about du Barry, decides to never speak to her. Meanwhile, she meets Count von Fersen, who becomes her lover.
Madame du Barry, always plotting against Marie Antoinette and Oscar, fulfils her desire to be greeted by her. After the death of Louis XV, Madame du Barry is condemned to die.
Marie Antoinette, after several conflicts with her husband, starts feeling lonely. Fersen, who had left France
on Oscar's advice, returns. Rumors swirl about the Queen and the Count, and Fersen leaves again. A depressed Marie Antoinette befriends the Duchess de Polignac
. Polignac leads Marie Antoinette to her downfall.
Marie Antoinette is described as a "lively, silly girls of shoujo manga". She has been played by Yuri Shirahane in the Takarazuka Revue musicals.
. It is revealed in the series that Oscar also has strong feelings for Fersen.
Rosalie Lamorlière
Rosalie is the adoptive daughter of a commoner named Nicole Lamorlière. She is described as "a stereotypical good girl, sweet, obedient and timid". Her biological mother is the Duchess de Polignac
, referred to as Martine Gabrielle. Nicole tells Rosalie the truth when she is dying after being hit by a carriage. Rosalie swears that she will kill the person in the carriage that killed her mother. She tries to kill Oscar's mother, Lady Jarjayes, because she thought Lady Jarjayes was in the carriage, but Oscar stops Rosalie. 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 discover the true identity of Martine Gabrielle and her relationship to Rosalie.
Rosalie ambushes Polignac's carriage in front of Polignac's daughter, Charlotte, but Oscar stops her. After an incident where Charlotte loses her mind and commits suicide, the Duchess de Polignac goes to Jarjayes's Mansion and tells 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 intends were to marry her to the Duke of 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 take Marie Antoinette prisoner. Marie Antoinette and her family are taken to a prison, where Rosalie serves the queen as a servant, telling her all she knew about Oscar. Marie Antoinette, before the day of her execution, gives Rosalie a paper rose, and tells her to paint it with Oscar's favorite rose color.
After The Rose of Versailles ends, she appears in its sequel, Eikou no Napoleon - Eroica.
Rosalie was unpopular amongst readers and so Ikeda wrote her out of the plot.
is the King of France and grandfather of the Dauphin
. He has a lover, Madame du Barry
. He dies of smallpox
in the Palace of Versailles
. After his death, his heir and grandson becomes the King of France. The people of all the cities celebrate the birth of a new kingdom.
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had four children: Marie Therese
, Louis Joseph, Louis Charles
, and Sophie
. Louis Joseph is the heir to the French throne. Rather mature for his age, he admires Oscar and wants to be the King of France to make the country better. However, he dies at age 7.
Madame du Barry
was not born noble
. She used to be a prostitute, and thanks to that she manages to enter into the court by becoming the lover of King Louis XV. When Marie Antoinette becomes princess of France
, they become enemies. Maria Theresa of Austria
, queen of Austria
and mother of Marie Antoinette, sends her advisor, Comte de Mercy
, to France. Mercy advises the princess to stop fighting with Du Barry, but Marie Antoinette does not obey the warnings until King Louis XV shows his displeasure with her attitude towards the countess. Marie Antoinette finally speaks to Du Barry. Months later, King Louis XV gets smallpox
. Before dying, the bishop
, hearing Louis's confession, and orders the removal of the King's sin, that is to say, Madame Du Barry. King Louis XV dies and Du Barry is taken to a convent
, where she remains until 1793, the year in which she is guillotined.
Duke of Orléans
is cousin of Louis XVI, who secretly tried to usurp the throne. Second in row to the throne of France. He is the mastermind in the plot to kidnap Marie Antoinette before she could marry prince Louis XVI, but after it failed thanks to Lady Oscar's intervention, he tried to kill the Prince and make it seem like an accident by switching the rifle Prince Louis XVI used for hunting with a tampered one that would explode once triggered. Later in the story, Duke de Orleans, because of his liberal ideas, lets anti-monarchists like the Black Knight (a masked French Robin Hood) and his followers secretly gather in his Palais Royale. He, masked, helped Jeanne of Valois-Saint-Rémy, the mastermind of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace
, to escape from Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
's prison to a convent. Then, he covered the expenses of the publication of the Jeanne memories, in which Marie Antoinette's visits to clandestine casinos with the Duchesse de Polignac, the "complicity" between the Queen and Lady Oscar
and other rumours are started.
Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
is a singer of the Palace of Versailles, but she does not live there. Marie Antoinette listens to her and quickly makes her her best friend. She impelled Marie Antoinette to bet in clandestine casinos, without the permission of Marie Antoinette's husband, King Louis XVI. She manipulated the queen for her own benefit and made the queen believe that lies would fix her difficult situations. Following her advice, Marie Antoinette lied and announced that the heir of France was on way. In order to remedy the situation, Polignac blamed the death of the heir on Lady Oscar. During the Revolution, she manages to flee with her family.
The Duchess has a daughter, Charlotte, who is traumatized by her mother's plan to marry her to the Duke de Guiche. Charlotte, not knowing what will happen to her, loses all reason, and commits suicide, jumping from one of the towers of the Palace of Versailles
. She dies without knowing that she had a half-sister named Rosalie.
Henri de Guémént is a fictional character. He is a cruel, cold nobleman who resorts to violence and kills a young boy for a petty crime, appalling Rosalie, Oscar and Andre. He appears in the anime episode Fly, Fly, an Austrian Butterfly!
The Comte de Girodel or Girodelle is Oscar's arranged fiance, who treats Oscar only as a woman. To retaliate against him, she dresses in her uniform and dances with women at her engagement party, and the engagement is called off.
François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé
also appears in the story.
and assassin Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are focused on prominently.
.
The Rose of Versailles
.
After his father's death, Alain helped his mother to raise his beloved little sister Diane as much as he could, enrolling in the military. Diane committed suicide after her fiancé married a rich woman just days before their marriage.
Alain was the sergeant of the Company B, the troops assigned to Lady Oscar's service in the National Guard. He accepted Oscar at first, and even befriended André and smuggled him in the troops, but after learning the truth about her he violently rejected her leadership. Oscar had to fight him to win Alain and the group's respect back, since they refused to be ordered around by a noble. After losing to Oscar and begging her to save the life of a companion who was about to be executed, which she did, Alain forgave Oscar and became fiercely devoted to her, even falling in love with her in the manga; still, he knew he couldn't fight against her feelings for André.
Ultimately, Alain survives the French Revolution and the Terror, becoming a major character in Eikou no Napoleon – Eroica
.
The Rose of Versailles
, also known as Lady Oscar or La Rose de Versailles, is one of the best-known titles in shōjo manga and a media franchise created by Riyoko Ikeda. It has been adapted into several Takarazuka Revue musicals, as well an anime television series, produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and broadcast by the...
, a shōjo
Shojo
The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...
manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
/anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
created by Riyoko Ikeda
Riyoko Ikeda
is a Japanese manga artist and singer. She is included in the Year 24 Group. She was one of the most popular Japanese comic artists in the 1970s, being best known for The Rose of Versailles.- Biography :...
which centers around the main character, Oscar François de Jarjayes
Oscar François de Jarjayes
is one of the main characters in the manga/anime series The Rose of Versailles, created by Riyoko Ikeda.-Character history:Born the last of five daughters to the Commander of the Royal Guards, General François Augustin Regnier de Jarjayes she is raised by her father as if she were a boy in order...
. Most of the characters are based on French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
historical personages, such as Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
and Madame du Barry
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:...
.
Main characters
Oscar François de Jarjayes
A beautiful woman who was raised as a boy by her father. She is educated in such diverse arts as fencing. Eventually, she commands the Imperial GuardImperial Guard
The Imperial Guard was originally a small group of elite soldiers of the French Army under the direct command of Napoleon I, but grew considerably over time. It acted as his bodyguard and tactical reserve, and he was careful of its use in battle...
of Queen Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. She has no reason to pretend to be a man because most of those at Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
know that she is a woman. Oscar falls in love with Hans Axel von Fersen, a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
count. But Fersen has eyes for the queen only, and treats Oscar like a friend without knowing her true feelings for him. When the revolution begins, André tells Oscar that he loves her, and she realizes that she loves him too.
André Grandier
The friend of Oscar and the grandson of her nanny, André and Oscar learned the arts of fencingFencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
and horsemanship together when they were children. As they grew up, Oscar became the Dauphine's guard and the class gap between them widened. He has been described as a "true working-class hero" by Helen McCarthy
Helen McCarthy
Helen McCarthy is the British author of such anime reference books as 500 Manga Heroes and Villains, Anime!, The Anime Movie Guide and Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. She is the co-author of The Erotic Anime Movie Guide and the exhaustive The Anime Encyclopedia with Jonathan Clements...
.
André is secretly in love with Oscar, but he never tells her until both of them decide to help the insurgents when the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
begins. Oscar initially refuses him and asks him to leave her but he stubbornly remains by her side until later on she admits to loving him back.
Later in the series, André loses sight in his left eye in order to save Oscar who had been captured by the Black Knight; his condition slowly worsens until he is completely blind. André is a very sensitive and passionate man, suffering for his unrequited love for Oscar but being unable to quench his desire for her and vocally siding with the commoners in their plight.
Sadly André dies from a stray bullet the day after Oscar's declaration of love, able to share only one night of passion with the woman he lived for.
Marie Antoinette
Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
married the Dauphin
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
to seal the alliance between his grandfather Louis XV
Louis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
and her mother, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
, when she was 14. After her marriage, she realizes that Madame du Barry
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:...
, King Louis XV's mistress, is against her. The princess, horrified by what she had heard about du Barry, decides to never speak to her. Meanwhile, she meets Count von Fersen, who becomes her lover.
Madame du Barry, always plotting against Marie Antoinette and Oscar, fulfils her desire to be greeted by her. After the death of Louis XV, Madame du Barry is condemned to die.
Marie Antoinette, after several conflicts with her husband, starts feeling lonely. Fersen, who had left France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
on Oscar's advice, returns. Rumors swirl about the Queen and the Count, and Fersen leaves again. A depressed Marie Antoinette befriends the Duchess de Polignac
Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France...
. Polignac leads Marie Antoinette to her downfall.
Marie Antoinette is described as a "lively, silly girls of shoujo manga". She has been played by Yuri Shirahane in the Takarazuka Revue musicals.
Hans Axel von Fersen
Axel von Fersen the Younger is a handsome Swedish aristocrat who comes to the court of Versailles and becomes involved in a forbidden romance with queen Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. It is revealed in the series that Oscar also has strong feelings for Fersen.
Rosalie LamorlièreRosalie LamorlièreRosalie Lamorlière was the last servant of Marie Antoinette, while the queen was in the Conciergerie, awaiting her trial and execution....
Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France...
, referred to as Martine Gabrielle. Nicole tells Rosalie the truth when she is dying after being hit by a carriage. Rosalie swears that she will kill the person in the carriage that killed her mother. She tries to kill Oscar's mother, Lady Jarjayes, because she thought Lady Jarjayes was in the carriage, but Oscar stops Rosalie. 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
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. Later Oscar and André discover the true identity of Martine Gabrielle and her relationship to Rosalie.
Rosalie ambushes Polignac's carriage in front of Polignac's daughter, Charlotte, but Oscar stops her. After an incident where Charlotte loses her mind and commits suicide, the Duchess de Polignac goes to Jarjayes's Mansion and tells 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
Affair of the diamond necklace
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace was a mysterious incident in the 1780s at the court of Louis XVI of France involving his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. The reputation of the Queen, which was already tarnished by gossip, was ruined by the implication that she had participated in a crime to defraud...
". Rosalie decides to go; soon, she realizes that the Duchess de Polignac intends were to marry her to the Duke of 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
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
.
After the storming of the Bastille, the people burst into Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
and take Marie Antoinette prisoner. Marie Antoinette and her family are taken to a prison, where Rosalie serves the queen as a servant, telling her all she knew about Oscar. Marie Antoinette, before the day of her execution, gives Rosalie a paper rose, and tells her to paint it with Oscar's favorite rose color.
After The Rose of Versailles ends, she appears in its sequel, Eikou no Napoleon - Eroica.
Rosalie was unpopular amongst readers and so Ikeda wrote her out of the plot.
Royalty and nobility
Louis XVLouis XV of France
Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...
is the King of France and grandfather of the Dauphin
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
. He has a lover, Madame du Barry
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:...
. He dies of smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
in the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
. After his death, his heir and grandson becomes the King of France. The people of all the cities celebrate the birth of a new kingdom.
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had four children: Marie Therese
Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France
Marie Thérèse de France was the eldest child of King Louis XVI of France and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette...
, Louis Joseph, Louis Charles
Louis XVII of France
Louis XVII , from birth to 1789 known as Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy; then from 1789 to 1791 as Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France; and from 1791 to 1793 as Louis-Charles, Prince Royal of France, was the son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette...
, and Sophie
Princess Sophie Hélène Béatrix of France
Marie Sophie Hélène Béatrice de France, Fille de France, Madame Sophie was a French princess, daughter of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI of France.-Biography:...
. Louis Joseph is the heir to the French throne. Rather mature for his age, he admires Oscar and wants to be the King of France to make the country better. However, he dies at age 7.
Madame du Barry
Madame du Barry
Jeanne Bécu, comtesse du Barry was the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France and one of the victims of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.-Early life:...
was not born noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
. She used to be a prostitute, and thanks to that she manages to enter into the court by becoming the lover of King Louis XV. When Marie Antoinette becomes princess of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, they become enemies. Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
, queen of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and mother of Marie Antoinette, sends her advisor, Comte de Mercy
Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau
Florimond Claude, comte de Mercy-Argenteau was an Austrian diplomat.He was the son of Antoine, comte de Mercy-Argenteau, and entered the diplomatic service of Austria going to Paris in the train of Reichsfürst Kaunitz...
, to France. Mercy advises the princess to stop fighting with Du Barry, but Marie Antoinette does not obey the warnings until King Louis XV shows his displeasure with her attitude towards the countess. Marie Antoinette finally speaks to Du Barry. Months later, King Louis XV gets smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
. Before dying, the bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
, hearing Louis's confession, and orders the removal of the King's sin, that is to say, Madame Du Barry. King Louis XV dies and Du Barry is taken to a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
, where she remains until 1793, the year in which she is guillotined.
Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans
Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror...
is cousin of Louis XVI, who secretly tried to usurp the throne. Second in row to the throne of France. He is the mastermind in the plot to kidnap Marie Antoinette before she could marry prince Louis XVI, but after it failed thanks to Lady Oscar's intervention, he tried to kill the Prince and make it seem like an accident by switching the rifle Prince Louis XVI used for hunting with a tampered one that would explode once triggered. Later in the story, Duke de Orleans, because of his liberal ideas, lets anti-monarchists like the Black Knight (a masked French Robin Hood) and his followers secretly gather in his Palais Royale. He, masked, helped Jeanne of Valois-Saint-Rémy, the mastermind of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace
Affair of the diamond necklace
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace was a mysterious incident in the 1780s at the court of Louis XVI of France involving his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette. The reputation of the Queen, which was already tarnished by gossip, was ruined by the implication that she had participated in a crime to defraud...
, to escape from Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital
The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Paris, France. Part of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, it is one of Europe's largest hospitals...
's prison to a convent. Then, he covered the expenses of the publication of the Jeanne memories, in which Marie Antoinette's visits to clandestine casinos with the Duchesse de Polignac, the "complicity" between the Queen and Lady Oscar
Oscar François de Jarjayes
is one of the main characters in the manga/anime series The Rose of Versailles, created by Riyoko Ikeda.-Character history:Born the last of five daughters to the Commander of the Royal Guards, General François Augustin Regnier de Jarjayes she is raised by her father as if she were a boy in order...
and other rumours are started.
Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Gabrielle de Polastron, duchesse de Polignac
Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac was the favourite of Marie Antoinette, whom she first met when she was presented at the Palace of Versailles in 1775, the year after Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France...
is a singer of the Palace of Versailles, but she does not live there. Marie Antoinette listens to her and quickly makes her her best friend. She impelled Marie Antoinette to bet in clandestine casinos, without the permission of Marie Antoinette's husband, King Louis XVI. She manipulated the queen for her own benefit and made the queen believe that lies would fix her difficult situations. Following her advice, Marie Antoinette lied and announced that the heir of France was on way. In order to remedy the situation, Polignac blamed the death of the heir on Lady Oscar. During the Revolution, she manages to flee with her family.
The Duchess has a daughter, Charlotte, who is traumatized by her mother's plan to marry her to the Duke de Guiche. Charlotte, not knowing what will happen to her, loses all reason, and commits suicide, jumping from one of the towers of the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
. She dies without knowing that she had a half-sister named Rosalie.
Henri de Guémént is a fictional character. He is a cruel, cold nobleman who resorts to violence and kills a young boy for a petty crime, appalling Rosalie, Oscar and Andre. He appears in the anime episode Fly, Fly, an Austrian Butterfly!
The Comte de Girodel or Girodelle is Oscar's arranged fiance, who treats Oscar only as a woman. To retaliate against him, she dresses in her uniform and dances with women at her engagement party, and the engagement is called off.
François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé
François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé
François Claude Amour, marquis de Bouillé was a French general. After distinguishing himself in the Seven Years' War, he was appointed governor of Guadeloupe in 1768...
also appears in the story.
Revolutionaries
The political leader Maximilien RobespierreMaximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He largely dominated the Committee of Public Safety and was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his...
and assassin Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are focused on prominently.
Bernard Chatelet
Robespierre's follower, Bernard later marries Rosalie, and the pair survive the execution of the two. He and Rosalie along with Alain are also featured in Eikou no Napoleon – EroicaEikou no Napoleon – Eroica
is a manga by Riyoko Ikeda that is a sequel to The Rose of Versailles.It tells the story of Napoleon's empire, including the Thermidorian Reaction, the Italian Campaign, the Egyptian Campaign, the Battle of the Nile, the coup of 18 Brumaire, and the French invasion of Russia.It also includes some...
.
Alain de Soissons
Alain de Soissons is a fictional character in the animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
The Rose of Versailles
The Rose of Versailles
, also known as Lady Oscar or La Rose de Versailles, is one of the best-known titles in shōjo manga and a media franchise created by Riyoko Ikeda. It has been adapted into several Takarazuka Revue musicals, as well an anime television series, produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and broadcast by the...
.
After his father's death, Alain helped his mother to raise his beloved little sister Diane as much as he could, enrolling in the military. Diane committed suicide after her fiancé married a rich woman just days before their marriage.
Alain was the sergeant of the Company B, the troops assigned to Lady Oscar's service in the National Guard. He accepted Oscar at first, and even befriended André and smuggled him in the troops, but after learning the truth about her he violently rejected her leadership. Oscar had to fight him to win Alain and the group's respect back, since they refused to be ordered around by a noble. After losing to Oscar and begging her to save the life of a companion who was about to be executed, which she did, Alain forgave Oscar and became fiercely devoted to her, even falling in love with her in the manga; still, he knew he couldn't fight against her feelings for André.
Ultimately, Alain survives the French Revolution and the Terror, becoming a major character in Eikou no Napoleon – Eroica
Eikou no Napoleon – Eroica
is a manga by Riyoko Ikeda that is a sequel to The Rose of Versailles.It tells the story of Napoleon's empire, including the Thermidorian Reaction, the Italian Campaign, the Egyptian Campaign, the Battle of the Nile, the coup of 18 Brumaire, and the French invasion of Russia.It also includes some...
.