The bond between Marie Antoinette and Princesse de Lamballe was one of the rarest things found at Versailles — genuine loyalty in a court built on ambition, spying, and betrayal. They met in the early 1770s, when Lamballe was in her early twenties and Marie Antoinette was still a teenager newly arrived from Austria. From the very beginning, Lamballe became not just a companion, but a constant in a world that demanded masks and performance. While courtiers flattered, gossiped, and watched for missteps, Lamballe stayed close. She was gentle, soft-spoken, deeply devoted, and famously loyal — a woman whose sincerity stood out in the palace’s glittering halls. For nearly twenty…