1791 - Oct 92
Queen Marie Antoinette
The preparation of Rice House to receive Queen Marie Antoinette of France
Sometime between October 1791 and August 1792, the interior on the upper floor of Rice House, which stands on the corner of Main St and Green St in Dingle, had been remodelled to receive and briefly accommodate the ill-fated French queen, Marie Antoinette, as part of an attempt to liberate her from captivity in the Tuilleries in Paris. James Louis Rice, a military intelligence officer of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, masterminded the plan, which would be financed by his brother-in-law, George Waters, a Parisian banker. Thomas Trant of Ventry, a colonel in the French service and associate of the reformer La Fayette, would escort the queen in a closed coach to the coast near Nantes, where they would board a wine-ship owned by Rice`s brother, Dominick, and sail for Dingle. It was intended that Marie Antoinette would rest at Rice House and then be conveyed to Vienna via London. She, however, decided to remain with her family.
