Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, began her reign as an extravagant princess who matured into a family-oriented, devoted wife and mother who sympathized with a desperate public. Nevertheless, she became a convenient scapegoat of the French Revolution.
Born November 2, 1755 in Vienna, Austria, Maria Antonia was the youngest and fairest of Emperor Francis Stephen I and Empress Maria Theresa’s sixteen children. Archduchess Maria Antonia traveled to France in 1770, where she married the dauphin Louis at Versailles and acquired the name Marie Antoinette. She was fourteen years old; he was fifteen. Marie Antoinette led a frivolous, expensive lifestyle as dauphine and the French public unfortunately never forgot that.
The Crowning of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France
The year 1774 brought the coronation of King Louis XVI, but still had not brought the birth of a child. Because an heir was not produced within the first fourteen years of their marriage, the fault was Marie Antoinette’s.
Their first child, a princess, was thankfully born in 1778. At Marie Therese Charlotte’s birth, her mother began to dress more conservatively, put aside frivolous courtiers who attended her simply because of their birth, and became family-oriented. A son, Louis Charles soon followed.
Marie Antoinette Blamed for France’s Financial Problems and Much More
Regardless of these changes, the public continued to blame her for her previous spendthrift lifestyle and accused her of causing the current financial crisis in France. She was called “Madame Deficit,” and became the subject of pornographic, pro-revolutionary propaganda.
While the phrase, “Let them eat cake” was never spoken by Marie Antoinette, the rumor illustrates the public sentiment for the queen on whom they blamed every unfortunate circumstance.
Likewise, the Diamond Necklace Affair contributed further to the queen’s demise although she had no involvement in the situation whatsoever. In an effort to increase his status within the French court, Cardinal de Rohan fell victim to “Comtesse” de La Motte who hired a prostitute to pose as the queen and meet the cardinal in the Versailles garden at night and then told the cardinal that the queen wished for him to purchase an extravagant diamond necklace in her behalf.
The necklace was purchased in the queen’s name, given to La Motte by the cardinal, who in turn gave it to her husband who sold it in London. The scandal became public when the jeweler demanded payment for the necklace from the queen. Though both the cardinal and La Motte were tried for their crimes, the situation spurred on more rumors.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette Became Victims of the French Revolution
When a mob descended on Versailles in 1789, demanding blood, Marie Antoinette faced the crowd alone, going out on a balcony with a bow and curtsey. The family was then moved to the Tuilere Palace in Paris where they were kept on house arrest.
The family’s attempt to flee in 1791 was thwarted by the means of transportation chosen by the queen herself. Refusing to leave her children behind to follow her and the king, Marie Antoinette insisted that the family flee together in a larger, slower coach than originally proposed, which enabled their capture.
On August 10, 1792, the royal family was arrested on suspicion of treason and on January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI was executed.
Queen Marie Antoinette followed her husband to the guillotine on October 16, 1793. Her son, proclaimed King Louis XVII, died in his dark prison cell in 1795, supposedly from Tuberculosis. Her daughter Marie Therese survived the Revolution and later became duchesse d’Angouleme, though she had no children herself.
Marie Antoinette lived most of her thirty-seven years of life among a hostile public who was all too willing to use her as a scapegoat for anything they wished. Her name was tarnished during her time and only years later were truths revealed regarding the real Marie Antoinette.
 |
 |
 |
