History Manga / TheRoseOfVersailles

* {{Bifauxnen}}: Oscar, of course, though she stays slightly more on the female side thanks to the shape of her face and eyes. She provides the page picture for the trope, and she's also very likely the TropeCodifier.
* BigEater: Oscar says André is one of these.

* KillEmAll: It's an anime based on the French Revolution that largely used real people. It's no surprise the majority of he main cast ends up dead.

* SpoiledBrat: Little Charlotte, [[spoiler: until she goes mad]]

* TrueBlueFemininity: In the anime, Oscar's dress color was changed from pink to blue. See also PinkMeansFeminine.
* {{Tsundere}}: Version of the Type A Tsundere. Oscar is known for her stoicism and fierce LadyOfWar attributes, but she also has a severe crush on Fersen and later falls deeply in love with her childhood friend André.

* ArrangedMarriage: Madame de Polignac tries to engage her kids ''twice'' to rich noble people, failing spectacularly and dramatically both times. At some point, Oscar's father attempts to engage her to Count Girodelle, but it also fails. Also, the main reason why Antoinette is the Queen of France is because of her arranged marriage to King Louis, staged by her mother.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Oscar and André.

* {{Crossdresser}}: Oscar.

* EightiesHair: For a manga made in the 1970s and set in the late 18th century, Oscar sports a surprisingly permy hairstyle.

* KingIncognito: Marie meets Fersen when she's disguised at a masquerade ball. He falls in LoveAtFirstSight when he takes off her mask, but doesn't find out she's the Dauphine until a bit later.

* AMatchMadeInStockholm: Rosalie gets kidnapped by the Black Knight and she shoots him to protect Oscar from him. While treating the wound that she gave him, Rosalie and [[spoiler:Bernard]] discover they have similar backstories [[spoiler:and they get married soon afterwards]].

* TheMistress: [=DuBarry=].

* OjouRinglets: Marie.
* OnlySixFaces: There's not that much variety in terms of facial features.
** This is the real reason Orleans' henchman was able to impersonate Antoinette.
** Jeanne and [=DuBarry=] have ''exactly'' the same face, only Jeanne is a brunette and Du-Barry is blonde.
* TheOphelia: [[spoiler: Charlotte]], after being broken. ''Maybe'', [[spoiler: Dianne before her suicide.]]

%%* ShadowArchetype

** Oscar and André. [[spoiler:They do get together, but André dies the day after he and Oscar consummate their relationship.]]

%%* SugarAndIcePersonality: Oscar starts out as being seen as this.
%%* SweetPollyOliver: Oscar, yet again.

%%* TheTragicRose: It's even in the name.

* ActionGirl: Oscar is as capable as any man in royal service, skilled in fencing, riding, and leading troops in combat.

* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Male version
** Beauty: Hans Axel Von Fersen
** Brains: Bernard Chatelet
** Brawn: Alain de Soissons
** ... And André Grandier has all three!

* {{Bishonen}}: Even UsefulNotes/MaximilienRobespierre is drawn as a ''very'' handsome guy in his first apparitions.
** Which is TruthInTelevision, oddly. Robespierre was noted by contemporaries to be well-kept in RealLife.

* BuryYourGays: Averted! [[spoiler:Maybe even inverted, as the at-least-bisexual Rosalie is the only member of the main cast to survive the last few episodes. She's in a relationship with IntrepidReporter Bernard, but there's still some feeling for Oscar.]]

* ColonelBadass: Oscar, as a captain in the Military Household, is rank equivalent to a Colonel's: while she commanded a company, Household regiments were effectively oversized brigades, with companies actually being regiment-sized and captains being the equivalent of regular army colonels.
** TheBrigadier: At one point, Oscar is promoted to colonel of the Gards du Corps regiment, that, in regular army ranks, translates to brigadier general. She keeps the rank even she moves to the French Guards and commands a company (again, regiment-sized).

** While the anime added some extra violent content, the manga actually manages to be [[BloodierAndGorier gorier]], and the anime even removes some open blood splatter in the final days of the Revolution. Even the ending is more of a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet one]], [[spoiler: with Alain narrating the end of the tale]].
* DeathByDespair: [[spoiler: In the manga, the painter of Oscar's portrait find Oscar's Nanny dead in her bed, a few days after André and Oscar passed away. It has been stated often, earlier in the story, that she could not bear the death of her grandson and would die too]].

%%* DistantFinale

* DoggedNiceGuy: Louis XVI is presented this way, although in RealLife is feelings towards Marie were more ambiguous. The NiceGuy part also denotes his indecisiveness as a ruler.

* DownerEnding: This isn't a surprise to anyone familiar with the [[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution the real French Revolution.]]

%%* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Oh, Oscar...

%%* EvilMatriarch: Madame de Polignac.

%%* EyepatchOfPower: [[spoiler: André]].

* HistoricalFiction

* KillEmAll: It's an anime based on the French Revolution that largely used real people. Marie Antoinette and her husband are given by that alone, as is Von Fersen. [[spoiler: Nonetheless, only Alain, Rosalie, and Bernard are left in the epilogue.]]
** Fersen's death is particularly egregious: he ''did'' survive the Revolution, meaning he could have been spared, but the manga took the time to detail his lynching in 1810 and has his mangled body on the very last page.
* KingIncognito: How Marie met Fersen.
* KnightTemplar: Robespierre, in the end. Then again, he's almost always portrayed like this in the media, so...
* KnightTemplarParent: Empress UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa

* LadyOfWar: Oscar, overlapping with ActionGirl.
* [[LetThemDieHappy Let Them Pretend Happy]]: [[spoiler: André starts losing eyesight on his ''remaining'' eye, and at some point he stands next to Oscar's new portrait and starts giving a flowery false description of it to not let Oscar know his eyesight problems. Oscar then tearfully says the picture is as gorgeous as he says it is, not having the heart to tell André that she knows he's almost blind.]]

* ManipulativeBitch: Jeanne de la Motte.
* UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa: As the Empress of Austria and the mother of...
* UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette: And how.

* MirrorUniverse[=/=]MagicMirror: Episode 7 from Volume 12 involves this.

* ParentsAsPeople: Oscar's father, and how.

* PrincessClassic: ''Deconstructed'' through Marie.

* TheXOfY

* SequelHook: UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte shows up to provide one for ''Eikou no Napoleo-Eroica''.

[[quoteright:306:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rose_of_versailles_cover_art_01.jpg]]

** The story doesn't gloss over the elitism and class prejudices that plagued pre-revolutionary France. For example, while there are plenty of legitimate reasons to dislike Madame Du Barry, many people at court disdain her at least partly because she's a jumped-up commoner whose relationship with Louis XV gives her a ''de facto'' higher standing than many among the "legitimate" French nobility. The instant assumption that a prostitute must be a terrible person raises a few eyebrows these days.

* EveryoneHasStandards: In terms of wastefulness, Marie Antoinette compared to the Du Barry: where the Du Barry cared only of showing off her power with loads and loads of jewels and expensive clothes without a care for the expense (doing a lot more than Marie Antoinette to bankrupt France in the process), Marie, even before realizing how much she was wasting, would ''always'' ask the price, and refused to buy the infamous diamond necklace (originally created specifically for Du Barry) because for its price you could build and equip a ''warship''.

* OnlySixFaces: The real reason Orlean's henchman was able to impersonate Antoinette. Also, Jeanne and [=DuBarry=] have ''exactly'' the same face, only Jeanne is a brunette and Du-Barry is blonde.

** As pointed out by the Duchess of Polignac, in 18th century France it was perfectly normal for married people to have lovers, as long as it didn't get in the way of generating a legitimate heir. In fact Oscar's parents are considered ''weird'' for being completely loyal to each other, and when a character who seems to be the Count of Jarjayes' illegitimate son shows up in a side story other nobles simply wonder why he was hiding it.
*** There's actually a double dose of this, as Marie Antoinette, being born and raised in the more sexually upright Austria, has trouble accepting the very idea of sex outside wedlock. Early on this actually played a part in her hostility to Madame Du Barry, as she was openly the lover of Louis XV (a widower) and a former prostitute to boot, and while she became more tolerant of extramarital affairs she still refused to take Fersen as a lover.
** Soldiers of a Household Regiment at one point quip how weird it is that [[ModestRoyalty king Louis XVI would often wear modest and practical clothes]] and would try and help the poorer people (the occasion being his order to hire Paris' poorest citizens to clean Versailles' gardens from snow, and make sure to pay them well).
*** There's again a double dose, as [[TheHighQueen Maria Theresa]], Archdukess of Austria and Holy Roman Empress, is of the opinion a ruler ''should'' dress modestly, with only the barest needs in addition to their own dignity to indicate their position, and she's appalled at finding out that [[PimpedOutDress Marie Antoinette went native on this]].
** The story doesn't gloss over the elitism and class prejudices that plagued pre-revolutionary France. For example, while there are plenty of legitimate reasons to dislike Madame Du Barry, many people at court disdain her at least partly because she's a jumped-up commoner whose relationship with Louis XV gives her a ''de facto'' higher standing than many among the "legtimate" French nobility.
** The instant assumption that a prostitute must be a terrible person raises a few eyebrows these days.

** As pointed out by the Duchess of Polignac, in 18th century France it was perfectly normal for married people to have lovers, as long as it didn't get in the way of generating a legitimate heir. In fact Oscar's parents are considered ''weird'' for being completely loyal to each other, and when a character that seems to be the Count of Jarjayes' illegitimate son shows up in a side story other nobles simply wonder why he was hiding it.
*** There's actually a double dose of this, as Marie Antoinette, being born and raised in Austria, has trouble accepting the very idea of sex outside wedlock. Early on this actually played a part in her hostility to Madame Du Barry, as she was openly the lover of Louis XV (a widower) and a former prostitute to boot, and while she became more tolerant she still refused to take Fersen as a lover.

* DidntSeeThatComing: A lot. For example, Marie Antoinette didn't see Jeanne Valois [[spoiler:successfully convincing the people that Marie was the culprit behind the Affair of the Diamond Necklace]], and was rather shocked by it. She ''could'' have seen it coming, had she not been sheltered by most of the court and madame Polignac had not convinced her to isolate herself from pretty much everyone who wasn't in her inner circle...

* DoggedNiceGuy: Louis XVI is presented this way, although in RealLife is feelings towards Marie are more ambiguous. The NiceGuy part also denotes his indecisiveness as a ruler.

* DrowningMySorrows: Jeanne takes to drinking vodka by the bottle after the Affair of the Necklace plays out. Oscar is also seen surrounded by empty wine bottles now and then.

* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Considering Robespierre and Saint Just as villains, happens in the manga at Marie's trial: when Hebért accuses her of incest, Robespierre berates him for sullying the Revolution with the charge and Saint Just entertains with the image of executing him (historically, Hebért would give them an excuse, getting executed as a thief).
** In terms of wastefulness, Marie Antoinette compared to the Du Barry: where the Du Barry cared only of showing off her power with loads and loads of jewels and expensive clothes without a care for the expense (doing a lot more than Marie Antoinette to bankrupt France in the process), Marie, even before realizing how much she was wasting, would ''always'' ask the price, and refused to buy the infamous diamond necklace (originally created specifically for Du Barry) because for its price you could build and equip a ''warship''.

* EyeScream: [[spoiler: André loses vision in his left eye in very messy circumstances. When he died, he had also lost half the sight of his remaining one.]]

* ForegoneConclusion: The entire series is based on the life of Marie Antoinette...and takes pains to remind the viewer from time to time about the tragic course of her life.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Some later events gets warnings. The most important foreshadowings are Marie Antoinette accidentally staining her marriage contract (something that was considered ill omen), foreshadowing the ForegoneConclusion, and Marie Antoinette naming the Salis-Samade and Royal Allemands regiments last when listing the regiments converging on Paris, foreshadowing the status as {{Hero Killer}}s they would acquire by killing [[spoiler: André]] (Royal Allemands) and [[spoiler: Oscar]] (Salis-Samade).

* GenreShift: Subtly done, and since the anime had two directors (Tadao Nagahama directed the first eighteen episodes, while Creator/OsamuDezaki directed all the episodes after that), the change was when it started; it was a historical type of account about Oscar enduring the endeavors of the court of Versailles and about Marie Antoinette's marriage and trials. Starting around the twentieth episode, the story became more politically charged and introspective and the focus shifted from Versailles to the people of Paris, the French military and, eventually, Oscar and André themselves.

** TruthInTelevision: Not only Versailles' guards were ''that'' lazy in RealLife, ''but the historical Jeanne Valois actually did it'' to try and become a friend of Marie Antoinette, who not only had more motivated guards following her but ''knew perfectly who Jeanne was'' and ignored her.

** Prostitute Nicole d'Oliva resembles Marie Antoinette so closely that the Lamottes are able to use her to impersonate her. This one is supposedly TruthInTelevision, too.
** In an [[{{Filler}} anime-only episode]], Duke Orléans also has a boy named Jean impersonate the Queen in a WigDressAccent disguise, and do it well enough to fool her maids and ladies-in-waiting.

** Mozart as a child even shows up in the first chapter of the manga.

** Fersen's death is particularly egregious: he ''did'' survive the Revolution, meaning he could have been spared, but the manga took care of detailing his lynching in 1810 and has his mangled body as the very last page.

%%* SchoolgirlLesbians: Rosalie, possibly Charlotte.

** Among them the Royal Suedois and Gardes Suisses are the most important, due Fersen being the commander of Royal Suedois and the Gardes Suisses being an Household regiment.

* ReallyDeadMontage

* StandardFemaleGrabArea: [[spoiler:During Oscar and André's arguement, when André becomes very upset at her decision to live her entire life as a man he grabs her there, forcing her down. Justified, as this is less about Oscar going fail-tastic at fighting without reason, and more about André almost crossing the DespairEventHorizon when he comes to think she's throwing her life away, and Oscar being throughly shocked when unable to face a truth she has been avoiding for so long.]]

* DancesAndBalls

** The Gards du Corps are considered the elite cavalry regiment of the entire French Army, not just the Royal Household, and are universally beautiful. This even gets [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by many characters whose reaction to find out Oscar is in that regiment is to admit they should have guessed it from her looks (this number includes ''Fersen''), Bernard (who compares them to good-looking dolls), and Girodelle (who flat-out admits that, having been accepted in the regiment, he ''has'' to be beautiful).

* DarkerAndEdgier: The manga had many moments of slapstick humor, often with traditional manga comedy expressions and symbols, and tended to use chibi drawings and starry eyes in some dramatic moments for added effect. Even late in the story, as the Revolution was brewing into more and more violence, these comedic expressions were still apparent. The anime removes much of the manga's SugarWiki/FunnyMoments for a more bleak, yet consistent tone, which is reflected with the anime's more realistic art direction.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: A lot of characters end victim of this due to arrogance, but the Countess Du Barry takes the cake. Namely, engaging Marie Antoinette in a pissing match without realizing that, once the already 62-years old Louis XV would die, Marie Antoinette would be the queen and capable of dishing whatever revenge she wished. Ironically, her undoing is at the hands of the king's confessor, who convinces the ailing king to throw her out. She lampshades this later to Oscar.
** Cardinal Rohan did it ''big time'' due his attempts at getting in Marie Antoinette's good graces. Between Marie Antoinette being the daughter of Maria Theresa (who had very little tolerance for him and his womanizing ways), Antoinette having a personal grudge against him for both spreading rumours about her and talking bad of her mother, and her answers at his initial attempts he should have realized earlier that the letters given to him by Jeanne were fakes, especially given that they were signed "Marie Antoinette de France" (by convention, royalty only uses their given names when signing, and with the House of Rohan having ''prince étranger'' status he should have known). And yet he not only failed so, but got duped in the infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affair_of_the_diamond_necklace Affair of the Diamond Necklace]]. To be fair he ''did'' find strange the difference between the queen's actions and the tone of the letters, but Jeanne had him meet [[IdenticalStranger a perfect lookalike of the queen]] to confirm her story...
** Averted by Oscar: she does make a point of thinking ''everything'' through, and was able to pull a lot of crap (including ''holding the lover of king Louis XV at swordpoint'') and live to tell (not that she was stupid enough to do it) specifically ''because'' she quickly thought it through before pulling it. Best showed by the pissing match between the countess Du Barry and Marie Antoinette (also the only time Oscar has to think it long enough that we immediately see what made her decide that way): at the start Oscar [[PassThePopcorn just wanted to enjoy the show]], and upon being forced to take sides she thought about the Du Barry being more powerful due being the king's lover, Marie Antoinette being the wife of the Dauphin (and thus both the future queen and, with the king's wife being long dead, the highest-ranking woman in the whole France), and the king already being rather old (he would live only two more years) before taking Marie Antoinette's side. After Marie Antoinette was forced to surrender and Du Barry [[RevengeByProxy tried to take revenge on Oscar by framing her mother for murder]], Oscar spelled it out loud to the countess, [[OhCrap causing her to realize she didn't think it though before engaging in a pissing match with the future queen]] and ''getting away with holding her at swordpoint in her own apartments''.

* IdenticalStranger: Prostitute Nicole d'Oliva resembles Marie Antoinette so closely that the Lamottes are able to use her to impersonate her. This one is supposedly TruthInTelevision, too.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: [[spoiler: Oscar refuses to kill Bernard "Black Knight" Chatêlet, the one to blame for André's EyeScream situation, because of this.]]

* QuiveringEyes: Antoinette.

* SayMyName: '''"OSCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"'''

* TheQueensLatin: The live-action film has the characters speaking this, mostly down to the cast being majority British.

* WheelOFeet: In the manga.
* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Oscar is very loosely based on D'Eon de Beaumont, a crossdressing late-18th Century French spy, the main difference being that D'Eon was a (rather androgynous) man posing as a woman, though he often claimed to be the opposite (either as a deliberate disinformation tactic, being an early example of an MTF TransSexual or simply suffering from an extreme case of BecomingTheMask). Fittingly, a later manga, ''Anime/LeChevalierDEon'', fictionalizing the actual D'Eon (more or less), takes a large number of cues from ''The Rose of Versailles''.

If you were wondering about the scope of anime, this series places the bar well above your initial guess. Incorporating many French historical figures and the very real political nuances of the period, this series can be read either as a political (leftist ''and/or'' rightist) screed or as a heart-rending love story.

A Creator/TakarazukaRevue adaptation of this work is one of the most popular. There's also ''Lady Oscar'', an obscure LiveActionAdaptation by French director Creator/JacquesDemy generally considered to be SoOkayItsAverage. It is notable, however, in that it came out before the manga had ever been officially translated, resulting in famed translator Frederik Schodt having to scramble to make one for the production company. He did this by blazing through the manga and writing his translations right on the pages in pencil. In spite of the director's name, the film was never released in France.[[note]]Though the French website Nanarland, which chronicles SoBadItsGood movies, has an article on it, concluding: "It's as if producer Luc Besson forced a well-known Japanese director like Takeshi Kitano to make a film about the Meiji era that ridicules both its director and Japanese history."[[/note]] The French dub of the anime kept that title.

* DistantFinale

* DramaticWind: For good measure.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Charlotte, Dianne (Alain's sister), Jeanne.]]

* ErmineCapeEffect: Marie Antoinette's dresses are rarely ever plain, even by royal standards. To be sure, [[JustifiedTrope the pageantry and ritual was half the ''point'' of Versailles and the clothes were a big piece of that]]. Blame Louis XIV.

* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Oh, Oscar...

* EvilMatriarch: Madame de Polignac.

* EyepatchOfPower: [[spoiler: André]].

* RuleOfDrama
* RuleOfGlamorous

* SchoolgirlLesbians: Rosalie, possibly Charlotte.

* ShadowArchetype
* ShoujoDemographic

* StarCrossedLovers: Oscar and André. [[spoiler:They do get together, but André dies the day after he and Oscar consummate their relationship.]]

* StaringThroughTheSword: Done at least three times by Oscar.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Oscar starts out as being seen as this.
* SweetPollyOliver: Oscar, yet again.

* TheTragicRose: It's even in the name.

* DeathByDespair: [[spoiler: In the manga, the painter of Oscar's portrait find Oscar's Nanny dead in her bed, a few days after André and Oscar passed away. It has been stated often, earlier in the story, that she could not bear the death of her grandson and would die too.]]

* DidntSeeThatComing: A lot. For example, Marie Antoinette didn't see Jeanne Valois [[spoiler: successfully convincing the people that Marie was the culprit behind the Affair of the Diamond Necklace]], and was rather shocked by it. She ''could'' have seen it coming, had she not been sheltered by most of the court and madame Polignac had not convinced her to isolate herself from pretty much everyone who wasn't in her inner circle...

''The Rose of Versailles'' (''Berusaiyu no Bara'') is a historical drama manga by Creator/RiyokoIkeda, depicting the French royal court at the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles palace of Versailles]] from the last years of the Ancien Régime to the dawn of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. Its central character is Oscar François de Jarjayes, a Parisian noblewoman who has been [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as a boy]] to provide her father with a "son" and heir. Oscar is made head of the Royal Guards of Versailles, and her first assignment is to protect and chaperon the new Crown Princess UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette.

A Creator/TakarazukaRevue adaptation of this work is one of the most popular. There's also "''Lady Oscar''", an obscure LiveActionAdaptation by French director Creator/JacquesDemy generally considered to be SoOkayItsAverage. It is notable, however, in that it came out before the manga had ever been officially translated, resulting in famed translator Frederik Schodt having to scramble to make one for the production company. He did this by blazing through the manga and writing his translations right on the pages in pencil. In spite of the director's name, the film was never released in France.[[note]]Though the French website Nanarland, which chronicles SoBadItsGood movies, has an article on it, concluding: "It's as if producer Luc Besson forced a well-known Japanese director like Takeshi Kitano to make a film about the Meiji era that ridicules both its director and Japanese history."[[/note]]

* {{Crossdresser}}: Oscar

* DarkerAndEdgier: The manga had many moments of slapstick humor, often with traditional manga comedy expressions and symbols, and tended to use chibi drawings and starry eyes in some dramatic moments for added effect. Even late in the story as the Revolution was brewing into more and more violence there were still manga comedy art. The anime removes all this (and pretty much every joke) and what few humorous moments that remains is portrayed with realistic expressions. In addition the anime got a darker and gloomier (but gorgeous) art direction and some extra scenes of violence were thrown in. However averted in that the manga actually manages to be gorier and the anime even removes some open blood splatter in the final days of the Revolution and the ending is more in the lines of bittersweet with Alain being the ending narrator to the tale .

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Episode 7 from vol 12 of the manga revolves around Oscar, starting from age 11 until adulthood, constantly seeing a version of her if she lived a life of a "woman". While it may be just coincidence, it sounds a lot like Oscar is suffering from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndrome_of_subjective_doubles#Signs_and_symptoms the syndrome of subjective doubles]].
* DownerEnding: It's a historical drama set within the context of the UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. ''Of course'' it's got one of these! About half of it is a ForegoneConclusion.
* DramaticWind: So much

* DutchAngle: A highly distinctive element of the directorial style of Creator/OsamuDezaki, who directed from episode 20 onwards. Often used multiple times during a scene. Borders on overuse, depending on your taste.
* EightiesHair: For a manga made in the 1970's and set in the late 18th century, Oscar sports a surprisingly permy hairstyle.

* MirrorUniverse[=/=]MagicMirror: Episode 7 from Vol.12 involves this.

* ParentalAbandonment: André is an orphan raised by his grandmother, who works as the Jarjayes caretaker. UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette is distanced from her mother UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa, who marries her off to young Louis as a pawn in her European politics; Louis Auguste himself is being raised by his grandfather the King and his aunts. Rosalie was abandoned as a baby by her 14-year-old mother and raised by a peasant along with another girl, Jeanne; said peasant, Nicole, dies at the beginning of the story [[spoiler: when run over by the carriage of Madame de Polignac... Rosalie's true mother]]. Bernard's mother dies when he is 5. Robespierre's mother dies when he is young. Averted- and how- by Oscar being outlived by ''both'' her parents. Downplayed by Alain's mother being alive until he is in his mid 20s.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Oscar is very loosely based on D'Eon de Beaumont, a crossdressing late 18th Century French spy, the main difference being that D'Eon was a (rather androgynous) man posing as a woman, though he often claimed to be the opposite (either as a deliberate disinformation tactic, being an early example of an MTF TransSexual or simply suffering from an extreme case of BecomingTheMask). Fittingly, a later manga, ''Anime/LeChevalierDEon'', fictionalizing the actual D'Eon (more or less), takes a large number of cues from ''The Rose of Versailles''.

* YourCheatingHeart: According to the Duchesse de Polignac, this is actually the norm among French nobles, as they marry for convenience and not for love (Austrian nobles, however, are expected to stay loyal to each other). She in fact openly admits that both her and her husband have lovers, and Louis XVI and Oscar's parents are actually considered weird for ''not'' having lovers.

''The Rose of Versailles'' (''Berusaiyu no Bara'') is a historical drama manga by Creator/RiyokoIkeda, depicting the French royal court from the last years of the Ancien Régime to the dawn of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. Its central character is Oscar François de Jarjayes, a Parisian noblewoman who has been [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as a boy]] to provide her father with a "son" and heir. Oscar is made head of the Royal Guards of Versailles, and her first assignment is to protect and chaperon the new Crown Princess UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette.

''The Rose of Versailles'' (''Berusaiyu no Bara'') is a historical drama manga by Creator/RiyokoIkeda, depicting France from the last years of the Ancien Régime to the dawn of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. Its central character is Oscar François de Jarjayes, a Parisian noblewoman who has been [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as a boy]] to provide her father with a "son" and heir. Oscar is made head of the Royal Guards of Versailles, and her first assignment is to protect and chaperon the new Crown Princess UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette.

* BiTheWay: Maybe, Rosalie and Oscar, depending on your interpretation of the feelings going either way.

''Berusaiyu no Bara'' (''The Rose of Versailles'') is a historical drama manga by Creator/RiyokoIkeda, depicting France from the last years of the Ancien Régime to the dawn of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. Its central character is Oscar François de Jarjayes, a Parisian noblewoman who has been [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as a boy]] to provide her father with a "son" and heir. Oscar is made head of the Royal Guards of Versailles, and her first assignment is to protect and chaperon the new Crown Princess UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette.