Although few people still use these words, there are many who can claim to "have a Jules".

Stéphane Bern traces Thursday the origins of this expression, which means having a lover, in the program "Historically yours" on Europe 1. And its history goes back to gossip held at the court of Versailles. 

If you had a husband, a lover, or even a pimp in the 20th century, you had "a Jules".

This masculine given name is still used in an outdated way to describe having someone in your life.

And yet, as Stéphane Bern explains, Thursday, in the program

Historically yours

on Europe 1, the expression does indeed come from a history of women.

More precisely that of a queen of France and her confidante.

Rumors about Marie-Antoinette

The expression was in vogue at the end of the 19th century, when the Jules run the streets.

In the first twenty years of the 20th century, there are still many.

The first name fell into disuse in the 1980s and we have seen a comeback in recent years.

However, the expression "to have a Jules" does not come from there.

It is much older and originates from a queen of France. 

>> Find all the shows of Matthieu Noël and Stéphane Bern in replay and podcast here

Marie-Antoinette of Austria, the wife of Louis XVI, is, even today, one of the most famous crowned heads in the history of the country.

This emblematic figure of Versailles crystallized a hatred as excessive as it was unjust.

She was nicknamed "Madame Deficit" or "the Austrian".

Above all, the craziest rumors are made against him and it is from one of them that the expression comes.

Jules de Polignac, husband of the royal confidante

Some at court claimed that she was having a homosexual affair with her confidante, Madame de Polignac.

The latter had a husband, Jules de Polignac.

When, at court, we evoked this sulphurous gossip, for more discretion we therefore spoke of "Jules de la Reine".

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Historians have since recognized the improbable veracity of this connection.

Far from a love story, it would be above all a beautiful romance of friendship.

Evidenced by the message inscribed on the tomb of Madame de Polignac.

She died of illness 50 days after the tragic end of Marie-Antoinette and we can read on her stele: "died of pain".