Secrets of Marie Antoinette by Olivier Bernier
The Queen's Letters
Marie Antoinette, the daughter of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, traveled to France when she was only 15 to marry the Dauphin, Louis. Maria Theresa arranged this marriage to further an alliance between Austria and France. This was a purely political marriage. Marie had never met Louis.
The young princess found herself faced with many problems when she attempted to become a valued member of the French court. Called 'the Austrian' by the French people, Marie was disliked from the start because France and Austria had been enemies for many years. Used to the informality of the Austrian court where she enjoyed playing with her many brothers and sisters, Marie disliked the strict ritual and etiquette of Versailles. She also had to cope with the impotence of her husband, the nagging of her dominating mother who wrote to her often, and the intrigues of the court.
The Collection of Marie Antoinette's Letters
These letters detail Marie's intimate thoughts about many of the people at the court, such as Madame du Barry and the decadent Duke d'Orleans.. Marie refused to talk to Madame du Barry, the King's mistress, at first because she disapproved of her relationship with the King. Louis's aunts wrongly influenced her to ignore du Barry. Maria Theresa, who also disapproved, showed her hypocracy by telling Marie to try to please du Barry to win favour with the French King.
Marie also writes about her husband, whose impotence and obsession with hunting annoyed her greatly. Maria Theresa tends to blame her for these problems and gives her advice about pleasing him.
The young Marie turned to designing the grounds and interior of the Petit Trianon, shopping, gambling and generally enjoying herself with her friends as a means of escape from her problems. This famously annoyed the French people. Her mother, of course, disapproved of all this and nagged at her to change her ways.
Unfortunately, much of what the French people knew about Marie was propaganda from those with grudges against her, such as the Duke d'Orleans of whom Marie disapproved. The people blamed her for the deficit, for example, but most of this was due to France helping the Americans fight the British in the American Revolution.
Mercy's letters to Maria Theresa tell her what he thinks about Marie's activities and describes his advice to her. The empress secretly got Mercy to spy on Marie and watch her every movement.
Bernier's Commentary on Marie Antoinette
Many historians are sympathetic with the doomed Queen now. Bernier isn't one of them. Bernier's commentary repeats the many cliches often used against the doomed French Queen. He accuses her of being unintelligent, for example, although she read heavy books like the History of England by Hume, helped her rather sullen husband to become more diplomatic, and she was a talented musician. Like her mother, he disapproves of her being too influenced by her friends, staying up late, and spending too much money. He doesn't make the point that the deficit was mostly caused by the American Revolution. He also doesn't describe Marie's charitable activities. The King and Queen were patrons of the Maison Philanthropique, for example, according to Elena M. Vidal, who studies the Queen and blogs about her at Tea at Trianon. This organization did much for the aged, blind and widows and was founded by Louis XVI, Marie's husband. She also adopted poor children and food was distributed to the poor every day at Versailles.
This is well-worth reading if you are interested in Marie-Antoinette and the French Revolution. However, it is a good idea to read more sympathetic texts about the Queen, such as Antonia Fraser's The Journey, to see different points of view.
Secrets of Marie Antoinette: A Collection of Letters, edited by Olivier Bernier
ISBN 0-88064-004-002, Fromm, 1985, pp.326
Marie Antoinette
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