Marquise de Créquy

Who was Marquise de Créquy?

Renée-Caroline-Victoire de Froulay de Tessé, marquise de Créquy de Heymont de Canaples d'Ambrières, was a French woman of letters, by marriage a member of the Créquy family, which counted several distinguished public servants and prelates, particularly in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The Souvenirs de la Marquise de Créquy is attributed to her by university librarians.

In her Souvenirs, which consists mainly of accurate noble genealogies and court gossip from the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI and Napoleon, there is a tale for which the author of the Souvenirs is the sole authority. This story, widely believed in France, is her statement, with a detailed story to back it up, that Britain's national anthem, "God Save the Queen", was in fact written by Lully and sung by a French girls' school to greet Louis XIV. The French author of Souvenirs further states that the tune was later plagiarized by Handel and sold to the British crown as their anthem.