By: Floro Mercene
Marie Antoinette was the wife of France’s King Louis XVI. While the people of Paris starved, she hosted lavish soirees at Versailles and outfitted herself in expensive gowns, diamonds, and slippers.
She had six white Turkish Angora cats. During court gatherings, she permitted her six cats to roam the tables.
During the time of the French Revolution, there was a shipping company in Wiscasset Maine, USA, that had contracts for trading in Paris, their ship, Sally, plied back and forth between Maine and France. The Sally was docked at the port of Le Havre in the summer of 1792 When King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and their children were arrested. The royalist sympathizers planned to rescue the queen, and put her on the Sally to sail for America. Marie Antoinette’s belongings, including her cats, were therefore loaded on the ship. However, she was beheaded before she could set sail.
The Queen’s long-haired cats left France without her and reached the coast of Wiscasset, Maine, USA. After mixing with the local cat population, they produced a breed of cats called the Maine Coon cat. According to legend, this is how the Maine Coon breed originated.
An unusual breed of large, long-haired cat hails from the state of Maine. Because of its ample size and long bushy tail, it resembles a raccoon and is called a Maine Coon. It is a natural breed and little is known of its origins.
The Maine Coon is the official state cat of Maine. A female Maine Coon named Pebbles was one of three kitties to play Argus Filch’s pet feline, Mrs. Norris, in the Harry Potter films. Remember those shots of Mrs. Norris pacing the halls of Hogwarts? That’s Pebbles.
