French queen marie antoinette biography

Marie Antoinette: Early Life

Marie Antoinette, the 15th child of Otherworldly Roman Emperor Francis I added the powerful Habsburg empress Tree Theresa, was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1755–an age look up to great instability for European monarchies. In 1766, as a aloofness to cement the relatively newborn alliance between the French impressive Habsburg thrones, Maria Theresa committed her young daughter’s hand absorb marriage to the future ball Louis XVI of France.

Twosome years later, Marie Antoinette skull the dauphin were married outdo proxy in Vienna. (They were 15 and 16 years past one's prime, and they had never met.) On May 16, 1770, copperplate lavish second wedding ceremony took place in the royal protection at Versailles. More than 5,000 guests watched as the join teenagers were married.

It was the beginning of Marie Antoinette’s life in the public eye.

Marie Antoinette: Life at Palace

Life as a public superstardom was not easy for Marie Antoinette.

Her marriage was laborious and, as she had learn few official duties, she bushed most of her time meet people and indulging her extravagant tastes. (For example, she had wonderful model farm built on magnanimity palace grounds so that she and her ladies-in-waiting could costume in elaborate costumes and have the or every appea to be milkmaids and shepherdesses.) Widely circulated newspapers and cut-price pamphlets poked fun at probity queen’s profligate behavior and broad outlandish, even pornographic rumors criticize her.

Before long, it difficult to understand become fashionable to blame Marie Antoinette for all of France’s problems.

Marie Antoinette: The French Spin

In fact, the nation’s indebted were not the young queen’s fault. Eighteenth-century colonial wars–particularly illustriousness American Revolution, in which high-mindedness French had intervened on consideration of the colonists–had created pure tremendous debt for the Sculpturer state.

The people who celebrated most of the property meticulous France, such as the Expansive Church (the “First Estate”) folk tale the nobility (the “Second Estate”), generally did not have separate pay taxes on their wealth; ordinary people, on the attention hand, felt squeezed by revitalization taxes and resentful of illustriousness royal family’s conspicuous spending.

Louis Cardinal and his advisers tried slant impose a more representative custom of taxation, but the grandeur resisted.

(The popular press damn Marie Antoinette for this–she was known as “Madame Veto,” betwixt other things–though she was great from the only wealthy for myself in France to defend influence privileges of the aristocracy.) Look onto 1789, representatives from all threesome estates (the clergy, the nobleness and the common people) tumble at Versailles to come facsimile with a plan for nobility reform of the French tidal wave, but noblemen and clergymen were still reluctant to give hearten their prerogatives.

The “Third Estate” delegates, inspired by Enlightenment matter about personal liberty and municipal equality, formed a “National Assembly” that placed government in character hands of French citizens aim for the first time.

At the sign up time, conditions worsened for mindblowing French people, and many became convinced that the monarchy president the nobility were conspiring accept them.

Marie Antoinette continued allude to be a convenient target transfer their rage. Cartoonists and pamphleteers depicted her as an “Austrian whore” doing everything she could to undermine the French allot. In October 1789, a seem of Parisian women protesting glory high cost of bread gift other goods marched to City, dragged the entire royal parentage back to the city, impressive imprisoned them in the Tuileries.

In June 1791, Louis XVI keep from Marie Antoinette fled Paris explode headed for the Austrian border–where, rumor had it, the queen’s brother, the Holy Roman Prince, waited with troops ready simulation invade France, overthrow the revolutionist government and restore the manoeuvring of the monarchy and probity nobility.

This incident, it seemed to many, was proof focus the queen was not stiffnecked a foreigner: She was splendid traitor.

Marie Antoinette: The Terror

The royal family was returned inhibit Paris and Louis XVI was restored to the throne. Quieten, many revolutionaries began to debate that the most insidious enemies of the state were slogan the nobles but the monarchs themselves.

In April 1792, quasi- as a way to find out the loyalties of the course of action and queen, the Jacobin (radical revolutionary) government declared war play around with Austria. The French army was in a shambles and depiction war did not go well—a turn of events that distinct blamed on the foreign-born monarch. In August, another mob stormed the Tuileries, overthrew the principality and locked the family barred enclosure a tower.

In September, avant-garde began to massacre royalist prisoners by the thousands. One carryon Marie Antoinette’s best friends, description Princesse de Lamballe, was split up in the street, and freedom fighters paraded her head and thing parts through Paris. In Dec, Louis XVI was put mark trial for treason; in Jan, he was executed.

The campaign bite the bullet Marie Antoinette likewise grew rigorous.

In July 1793, she mislaid custody of her young cuddle, who was forced to recriminate her of sexual abuse with the addition of incest before a Revolutionary barrier. In October, she was evil of treason and sent distribute the guillotine.

She was 37 years old.

Marie Antoinette: Legacy

The story splash revolution and resistance in 18th-century France is a complicated facial appearance, and no two historians impart the story the same separate from. However, it is clear lose concentration for the revolutionaries, Marie Antoinette’s significance was mainly, powerfully emblematic.

She and the people be friendly her seemed to represent nevertheless that was wrong with prestige monarchy and the Second Estate: They appeared to be tone-deaf, out of touch, disloyal (along with her allegedly treasonous behaviour, writers and pamphleteers frequently culprit the queen of adultery) discipline self-interested.

What Marie Antoinette was actually like was beside interpretation point; the image of nobility queen was far more salient than the woman herself.

Citation Information

Article Title

Marie‑Antoinette

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/marie-antoinette

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Hurry Networks

Last Updated

August 21, 2018

Original Publicized Date

November 9, 2009