Chapter Two
London
The time came for the little party to set off on their last journey to London.
The 50 miles was to be covered before night time.
As Marie- Celestine got into the coach she noticed that Marie-Josephine had discarded her cloak that she
had worn on their travel to England and she was no longer great with child so she must have been wearing padding to convey the impression that she was.
Also Louis was dressed in a rich wardrobe and tucked into a very ornate cradle, such as might have been suitable for a son of a King!
There was no hiding him now he was his own little being as if he had just been born in Canterbury.
The Hucksteps waved them off sworn to secrecy and very loyal they marvelled at the fact they had been a part of this very odd scene, here in Petham. They had been given a very pretty purse for their help.
As the coach travelled through the garden of England on the Watling Road to London through Rainham, Chatham to Rochester where they stopped at the Bull Hotel to rest the horses and have Lunch as the kind proprietor packed a picnic for their tea when they stopped at Greenwich Park.
Then it was a straight run into London over Westminster Bridge to Oxford Street, into Manchester Square and halted at their Destination.
Spanish Place the Counts English Residence.
The servants rushed out of the palatial mansion excitedly and carried the entire luggage in behind the Count and Countess and Marie-Celestine and helped carry the baby’s crib as the nanny followed with her precious bundle and placed him upstairs in the nursery with her own son who had been placed in her quarters next door to the nursery.
Marie-Celestine was shown to a suite consisting of a sitting room, bedroom and dressing room decorated rich beyond compare.
The furniture was elegant with Louis XV1 Chairs and gold leaf tables Marie looked around and was well pleased.
The Countess was a very elegant lady dressed in her finery as Marie And the Count sat down for dinner that night but there was coldness between the couple.
The Countess thanked Marie-Celestine for agreeing to be Louis Governess and they then sat down to their first meal together in Spanish Place.
Louis Simon was baptised, by Archbishop Albin Cabart Danneville, at a chapel, since replaced by the Gothic church St. James, Spanish Place, on the 19 July 1796 and given the name
Louis Simon de La Roche. The record of the baptism exist’s in the Guildhall Library London, which also records, anglicized, his father as Peter Simon and his mother as Marie Josephine.
St James Roman Catholic Church Spanish PlaceWI.
The translation of the entry in the baptism register is as follows:
“On 19 July 1796 I the undersigned baptized Louis Simon La Roche, son of Peter Simon La Roche and Maria Joseph La Roche, formerly Detavaux.
The godfather was Louis de Combos; the godmother was Catherine Smeyers. Signed Albin Cabart Danneville, Archpriest and Rector of the church of St Mary’s
(himself an Émigré and later became the Counts confessor and adviser)
London
The time came for the little party to set off on their last journey to London.
The 50 miles was to be covered before night time.
As Marie- Celestine got into the coach she noticed that Marie-Josephine had discarded her cloak that she
had worn on their travel to England and she was no longer great with child so she must have been wearing padding to convey the impression that she was.
Also Louis was dressed in a rich wardrobe and tucked into a very ornate cradle, such as might have been suitable for a son of a King!
There was no hiding him now he was his own little being as if he had just been born in Canterbury.
The Hucksteps waved them off sworn to secrecy and very loyal they marvelled at the fact they had been a part of this very odd scene, here in Petham. They had been given a very pretty purse for their help.
As the coach travelled through the garden of England on the Watling Road to London through Rainham, Chatham to Rochester where they stopped at the Bull Hotel to rest the horses and have Lunch as the kind proprietor packed a picnic for their tea when they stopped at Greenwich Park.
Then it was a straight run into London over Westminster Bridge to Oxford Street, into Manchester Square and halted at their Destination.
Spanish Place the Counts English Residence.
The servants rushed out of the palatial mansion excitedly and carried the entire luggage in behind the Count and Countess and Marie-Celestine and helped carry the baby’s crib as the nanny followed with her precious bundle and placed him upstairs in the nursery with her own son who had been placed in her quarters next door to the nursery.
Marie-Celestine was shown to a suite consisting of a sitting room, bedroom and dressing room decorated rich beyond compare.
The furniture was elegant with Louis XV1 Chairs and gold leaf tables Marie looked around and was well pleased.
The Countess was a very elegant lady dressed in her finery as Marie And the Count sat down for dinner that night but there was coldness between the couple.
The Countess thanked Marie-Celestine for agreeing to be Louis Governess and they then sat down to their first meal together in Spanish Place.
Louis Simon was baptised, by Archbishop Albin Cabart Danneville, at a chapel, since replaced by the Gothic church St. James, Spanish Place, on the 19 July 1796 and given the name
Louis Simon de La Roche. The record of the baptism exist’s in the Guildhall Library London, which also records, anglicized, his father as Peter Simon and his mother as Marie Josephine.
St James Roman Catholic Church Spanish PlaceWI.
The translation of the entry in the baptism register is as follows:
“On 19 July 1796 I the undersigned baptized Louis Simon La Roche, son of Peter Simon La Roche and Maria Joseph La Roche, formerly Detavaux.
The godfather was Louis de Combos; the godmother was Catherine Smeyers. Signed Albin Cabart Danneville, Archpriest and Rector of the church of St Mary’s
(himself an Émigré and later became the Counts confessor and adviser)