Madame de Lannoy

Madame de Lannoy, a tire-woman of Queen Anne of Austria, plays a pivotal role as a secret informant for Cardinal Richelieu, her reports of the queen's clandestine meeting with the Duke of Buckingham and the missing diamond studs setting in motion the cardinal's scheme to humiliate the queen at the ball at the Hotel de Ville.

Identity and Role at Court

Madame de Lannoy serves as one of the queen's tire-women, a position that grants her intimate access to the queen's private chambers and personal effects. She is described as being "devoted to" Cardinal Richelieu, a fact that the cardinal himself acknowledges when he receives her intelligence. Her loyalty to the cardinal places her among the network of spies that Richelieu maintains within the queen's household, making her a dangerous figure concealed within the queen's most trusted circle.

Key Intelligence and Reports to the Cardinal

Madame de Lannoy provides the cardinal with crucial information about the queen's activities on the night of the secret meeting with Buckingham. She reports that at half past twelve, the queen was in her bedchamber with her women when someone brought her a handkerchief from her laundress. The queen immediately showed strong emotion and, despite the rouge on her face, evidently turned pale. She then arose and told her ladies, "wait for me ten minutes, I shall soon return," before opening the door of her alcove and going out. The queen remained out of the chamber for three-quarters of an hour, accompanied only by Donna Estafania. When she returned, she took a little rosewood casket with her cipher upon it and went out again immediately. Madame de Lannoy knows that this casket contained the diamond studs that the king had given the queen, and she is sure that the queen gave them to Buckingham. When she later looked for the casket and asked the queen about it, the queen became exceedingly red and replied that she had broken one of the studs and sent it to her goldsmith to be repaired. The goldsmith, however, has heard nothing of it, confirming Madame de Lannoy's suspicions.

Consequences of Her Reports

The cardinal, armed with Madame de Lannoy's intelligence, uses it to manipulate King Louis XIII. He tells the king that Madame de Lannoy, whom he has frequently interrogated according to the king's command, told him that the night before last the queen sat up very late, wept much, and was writing all day. This report fuels the king's jealousy and leads him to demand the queen's papers, setting the stage for the confrontation over the diamond studs at the ball. Madame de Lannoy's information thus becomes the catalyst for the cardinal's plot to expose the queen's supposed infidelity and to force her into a position where she must either confess or produce the studs, a dilemma that only d'Artagnan's successful journey to England can resolve.