Born in Vienna, Austria on November 2, 1755, Marie Antoinette (initially named Antonia) was the youngest and most stunning daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa. Among their 16 children, her mother also held the titles of queen of Hungary and Bohemia. Since childhood, she was prepared to be France’s queen. Subsequently, she gave birth to her first child known as Madame Royale, whose actual name is Marie Therese Charlotte.
Unpopular Queen Marie Antoinette reportedly engaged in multiple extramarital relationships, especially with Count Hans Axel Fersen, a Swedish diplomat. However, she faced harsh criticism through explicit songs, pictures, and pamphlets that portrayed her derogatorily. A fictitious autobiography was even published where she supposedly admitted to being a prostitute. Furthermore, Marie Antoinette earned the nickname Madame Deficit and was blamed for the country’s financial issues. Despite her lavish lifestyle, her mother warned her against such indulgence as it would damage her reputation during difficult times. Nonetheless, Marie Antoinette was not as foolish and spoiled as the public believed. The claim that she heartlessly said “Let them eat cake” upon hearing about people starving is untrue. Being both a woman and foreigner made her an easy target for blame regarding the nation’s problems, leading to widespread belief in even the most outrageous insults directed at her. The stories of Marie Antoinette’s excessive behavior were greatly exaggerated. In reality, she actively addressed France’s worsening financial crisis by reducing the size of the royal household staff and eliminating unnecessary positions solely based on privilegeThe decision to support financial reforms infuriated the nobility, who condemned Marie Antoinette amidst scandalous rumors spread by power-hungry individuals. Contrary to popular belief, it was not the King and Queen but rather the nobles who resisted government ministers’ attempts at reform. However, both Marie Antoinette and Louis actually supported these changes. The danger they faced in the 18th and 19th centuries resulted from their personalities as well as shifting political and social ideologies. At a young age of just 15, Marie Antoinette married Louis XVI, who was heir to the French throne at 16 years old. This marriage aimed to strengthen the alliance between France and her parents’ dynasty, the Habsburgs of Austria. After ascending to King of France in 1774, they had a daughter and two sons. Due to her foreign allegiance with Austria, Antoinette was disliked by the French people. This dislike stemmed from her associations with notorious friends and excessive spending too. Her reputation suffered further damage when she was wrongly accused of contributing to France’s financial problems, particularly regarding her alleged involvement in the Diamond Necklace scandal of 1785.
The Diamond Necklace Affair (1785) involved the Cardinal de Rohan’s desire to improve his social and job standings at Versailles. A woman named or identifying herself as the Comtesse de La Motte offered assistance. Unfortunately, Jeanne de La Motte was not truly a Comtesse, but rather a con artist. She arranged for a woman dressed as Marie Antoinette to meet the cardinal in the Versailles gardens at night. This impostor “queen” presented Rohan with a rose before departing, leading the cardinal to believe he had truly encountered Marie Antoinette. La Motte then informed the cardinal that the queen desired him to purchase an expensive diamond necklace on her behalf. Obligingly, Rohan obtained the necklace and gave it to La Motte, assuming that the queen would reimburse him. However, Marie Antoinette never laid eyes on the necklace; instead, La Motte gave the diamonds to her husband, who sold them in London. When the jewelers demanded payment, details of the Diamond Necklace Affair became public knowledge. Consequently, both the Cardinal de Rohan and Jeanne La Motte were arrested. Although the cardinal was acquitted after his trial, La Motte faced imprisonment, public flogging, and identification. Eventually, she managed to flee to London, where she spread malicious gossip about Marie Antoinette. Despite Marie Antoinette’s innocence throughout the affair, widespread belief persisted that she had accepted the necklace but refused to pay for it. There were even rumors circulating of an alleged affair between Marie Antoinette and La Motte. The Diamond Necklace Affair significantly contributed to Marie Antoinette’s downfall.
During the French Revolution, a significant number of French aristocrats expressed enthusiastic support for the American Revolution. Louis XVI, who had recently assumed power in 1775, secretly aided the colonies for three years before openly endorsing them. Without France’s assistance, the colonies might have lost the war. Lafayette, a French marquis who later became an American general, felt out of place at Versailles during Louis XV’s reign due to his provincial background and lack of dancing skills. At 19 years old, he joined the American Continental Army to fight against England – France’s traditional enemy – which was considered a patriotic act for a Frenchman. However, Lafayette embarked on this venture without permission from France. Upon returning home, King Louis XVI placed him under house arrest as a formality but released him after just one week and invited him to join in a royal hunt to demonstrate there were no hard feelings. Initially viewing Lafayette as unsophisticated country folk, Marie-Antoinette’s opinion changed when he returned from fighting in the American Revolution. She even appointed him commander-in-chief of the King’s Dragoons. Despite this support for Lafayette and his actions in America, Marie-Antoinette had mixed feelings about the American Revolution unlike many others during her time period. It is possible that she sensed danger within France itself after the outbreak of revolution in 1789.
During that period, she aligned herself with a court faction opposing concessions to the moderate revolutionaries. In the same year, a mob arrived at Versailles and demanded that both the King and Queen relocate to the Tuileries palace in Paris. Despite being aware of threats to their lives, Marie Antoinette remained composed and expressed her readiness to face death as taught by her mother. When the mob gathered outside the palace, Lafayette advised Marie Antoinette to appear on the balcony. She displayed immense bravery by stepping out alone to confront them. Amidst calls for her execution from voices in the crowd, she humbly bowed her head and curtsied. Lafayette then joined her, paying his respects by bowing and kissing her hand. His actions impressed those present, leading them to cheer “Long live the queen!” Consequently, from that day forward, the royal family became prisoners of France. For several years following their captivity starting in 1789 (until 1791), Axel Fersen – who was rumored to be Marie Antoinette’s lover – devised an escape plan for them. The initial plan involved Louis and Marie Antoinette departing Paris separately in a small and fast carriage while their children would discreetly travel on different routes so as not to raise suspicion.Marie Antoinette refused to abandon her children and insisted on traveling with the entire family in a larger but slower carriage.The capture of the royal family occurred when they were recognized in Varennes village and subsequently arrested. Various events related to the French Revolution and the fate of the royal family are discussed in this text. Fersen, who drove the escape coach during the revolution, managed to survive but was later murdered in 1809 in Sweden. Lafayette, who attempted to mediate between the royals and revolutionaries, received little support from either side. Marie Antoinette sarcastically commented that Lafayette wanted to save them but questioned who would save them from him. Lafayette’s popularity declined when he ordered soldiers to shoot at a crowd demanding the king’s removal. Eventually, he fled France but was imprisoned for five years in Austria after leading French troops against them. Napoleon later released him, and Lafayette witnessed Louis XVI’s brother, Louis XVIII, becoming the new king. He participated in the July Revolution of 1830 against another brother, Charles X before dying in 1834.
During the revolution, King Louis XVI displayed apathy; as a result Marie Antoinette secretly negotiated with revolutionaries on behalf of her family while urging Austria for intervention in France. Both Louis and Marie Antoinette were accused of treason during the French-Austrian war and were transferred to Temple Prison where they stayed together and were treated fairly. In December, Louis went on trial and was found guilty; he was executed by guillotine on January 21st, 1793Louis Charles and Marie Therese Charlotte, along with their mother Marie Antoinette, were imprisoned after their father’s death. Despite the children frequently falling ill, the queen did her best to care for them. However, their jailers heartlessly decided to separate young Charles Louis from his mother by placing him in a cell below hers. This allowed her to hear his cries. Shortly afterwards, Marie Antoinette herself was also separated from her daughter and taken to the gloomy Conciergerie prison during the night. Meanwhile, Louis Charles and Marie Therese Charlotte remained in their cell with no hope of being reunited with their mother. Tragically, Princess de Lambelle, who was closest to Marie Antoinette, faced execution as well. Her decapitated head was paraded on a pole before the queen.
Antoinette endured severe mistreatment during her final days of captivity and also faced trial at the revolutionary tribunal in the same year. In October, Marie Antoinette, referred to as “the Widow Capet,” was tried and, like the king, found guilty of treason. As a result, she was sentenced to be guillotined. On October 16, 1793, she was publicly transported through the streets of Paris in an open cart before being executed for treason. It is worth noting that there was insufficient evidence for the crimes she was accused of. Nevertheless, she maintained her dignity until the very end.
While on the scaffold, she unintentionally stepped on the executioner’s foot and uttered her last words: “Monsieur, I ask your pardon. I did not do it on purpose.” This quote is attributed to Edward Burke in 1793…
It has been about sixteen or seventeen years since my sighting of the queen of France, who was then known as the dauphiness, at Versailles. There is surely no more delightful vision than witnessing her presence on this earth. She seemed to barely touch the ground as she shone brightly just above the horizon, adorning and bringing joy to the elevated sphere that she had just entered. She sparkled like the morning star, radiating life, splendor, and happiness. Oh, what a drastic change and how emotionally stirring it is for me to reflect upon her rise and fall! I could never have imagined that when she garnered titles of veneration in addition to my enthusiastic, distant, and respectful love for her, she would one day find herself carrying the painful remedy for disgrace hidden within her heart. Nor could I have ever anticipated that I would live to witness such misfortunes befall her in a nation filled with brave and honorable men, a nation of cavaliers! I believed that ten thousand swords would have swiftly emerged from their scabbards to avenge even the slightest hint of insult directed towards her.
But the era of chivalry has passed; it has been replaced by sophisters, economists, and calculators, and the glory of Europe has been extinguished forever. We will never again witness the noble loyalty to rank and gender, the proud submission, the dignified obedience, the heartfelt subordination that kept the spirit of freedom alive, even in servitude itself! The invaluable grace of life, the affordable defense of nations, the nurturer of masculine sentiment and heroic endeavors has disappeared. Gone is that sensitivity to principles, that honor’s purity which felt a blemish like a wound and instilled courage while tempering ferocity, enhancing everything it touched, even diminishing the evil of vice by eliminating its coarseness. Edmund Burke -1793 Marie Therese and Louis Charles; The Aftermath Her son, Louis Charles (now King Louis XVII), was imprisoned in a dim and filthy cell until he succumbed to tuberculosis in 1795. In subsequent years, many men came forward purporting to be the long-lost prince. The most convincing one was Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, who passed away in Holland in 1845; however, DNA tests later revealed that Naundorff had no relation to Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette’s daughter, Madame Royale (Marie Therese), survived the revolution. She became the duchesse d’Angouleme and wielded great influence during her uncles’ reigns, Louis XVIII and Charles X.
