t was, after all, the Queen that tried to prevent him from being appointed Grand Almoner of France. Campan replied that the gentleman must be mistaken. Bohmer answered that Campan was the one being deceived. His eminence, he said, sees [the Queen] in private and he has brought me thirty thousand francs from the Queen as a down payment. Madame Campan immediately notified the Queen of his visit. When Marie Antoinette called the jeweler back for questioning the diabolical plot was discovered (Komroff 86). The plot began in 1777 when, against Marie Antoinettes wishes, Rohan was named Grand Almoner. Trying desperately to soften the Queens anger, realizing that if she wouldnt acknowledge him, his power in court would diminish greatly, he wrote many letters to her but to no avail. She still refused to honor him with the slightest sign of recognition (86).His desire for recognition led to his involvement with an adventuress and swindler by the name of Countess de la Motte-Valois (Affair). Countess Jeanne la Motte-Valois came from a very strange background. She was a direct descendant of King Henry II of France but generations of bad marriages had reduced the family to poverty. She married an officer of the gendarmes and the couple assumed the titles of Count and Countess (Komroff 87).When a chance meeting brought the Countess and the Cardinal together, he was captivated by her. In the following months the Countess and her husband received many generous gifts of money from the Cardinal. On becoming aware of the Cardinals wishes to get into the good graces of the Queen, the Countess evolved a daring scheme (87). She led Rohan to believe that she had a very intimate friendship with Her Majesty and she would win the Queens forgiveness for him. As time went on she, very secretly reported to him that the Queens opinion of him was becoming higher and higher (87). The conniving Jeanne, one day, brought great news to the Cardinal. He w...
