The Rose of Versailles

     This is a letter from Riyoko Ikeda to her readers at the end of the publication of Versailles no Bara (1973) in Shueisha Margaret magazine.

     I have finally finished my work with the episodes of my manga Versailles no Bara, published every week on the Shueisha Margaret magazine: I started them on n. 21 of 1972, and now we are at no. 52 of 1973. 82 episodes are not so few!

     This work is like a monument to my youth. I have wanted to write a story on the first years of the French Revolution for such a long time. I think that I have carried on my work with all my strength and all my passion. Some time ago, publishing stories with historical plots in girls' magazines was also considered very risky. So I had to convince the editors, assuring them that I could tell the story in a clear and attractive way. I conceived the main plot on historical events, then I made up an original story. I had to change some facts -still trying to follow the original events in an objective way- for the logical development of the story. I am very enthusiastic though to know that my work has been accepted with so much passion by the readers and I will also answer some questions that I have been asked during the publication.

     Starting with the characters. Being the author, I did not want only one main character, so I made three of them: Oscar, Antoinette and Fersen. Some characters (Oscar, Andre, and the people from the Jarjayes family) are made up from my fantasy, with no reference model. Only Oscar's father is inspired by General Jarjayes who really existed. Anyway, the relationships between the characters are the result of my imagination. Bernard Chatelet is inspired by Camille Desmoulins, as some readers have understood, but there is no connection between him and the Black Knight. I must excuse myself for not correcting the French soldiers' uniforms' drawings, which were actually the French Royal Guards' uniforms. I cuold not change them: I didn't get the right documents on time. Oscar's uniform is the one of the Napoleonic age, of early 1800, but from the esthetic point of view I have made some changes. I preferred to change the name of the Queen, which was Maria Antonia in German, into Marie Antoinette from the start.

     I will use this space to tell you something about the future of Antoinette's children: the limited number of pages didn't allow me to do so in the story. Princess Marie Therese, the daughter, will marry her cousin, the Prince d'Angouleume, after being exchanged with some French soldiers that had been imprisonned. Her brother, Prince Louis Charles, died when he was only 10 years old, in 1795, in the Temple Tower. They say that he was killed by Louis XVI's brother, the Count of Provence, who later became Louis XVIII.

     I must thank all of those who have stimulated and encouraged me and who have worked with me: the readers, the editors, and my two assistants. And my husband who has always been a great, loving help.

Riyoko Ikeda

     I would like to thank Renata Manno for providing this translation from an Italian publication.