Lamballe, Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy-Carignan, Princess de, was born at Turin, 8th September 1749, the daughter of the prince of Carignan. Beautiful and charming, she was made by Marie Antoinette superintendent of the royal household, and her own intimate friend and companion. Princess Lamballe proved her devotion to her royal mistress by returning to France (whence she had escaped to England) after the unsuccessful flight from Versailles, by sharing the queen's imprisonment for a week in the Temple, and finally by refusing to take the oath expressing detestation of the king, queen, and monarchy (3d September 1792). As she stepped out of the courtroom on that fatal day she was cut to the ground; her body was given up to the fury of the populace, who paraded her head and heart on pikes in front of the queen's windows. See Lives by Lescure (1865), Bertin (2d ed. 1894), and Sir F. Montefiore (1896).
Lamballe, Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy-Carignan, Princess de,
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 6: Humber to Malta, p. 493–494
Source scan(s): p. 0508, p. 0509