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Her formal education was limited, instead, she was taught the essentials of courtly life, such as dress, appearance and the correct behaviour of a lady. Many remarked the young Marie had exquisite poise and a graceful deportment. Marie was married aged just 15, having never met her future husband. The lavish marriage ceremony took place in Versailles with over 5, guests.

But, it was a difficult transition for Marie. Aged just 15, she was thrust into the French court with few friends and little knowledge of French life. She had a difficult relationship with Louis XVI; the two spent much time apart. Louis appeared to have little interest in sleeping with his wife; he was more interested in outdoor pursuits, metalwork and was considered to have a streak of immaturity.

Marie Antoinette had the added difficulty of being Austrian; many in the French court were suspicious because of her foreign roots. Queen Marie Antoinette of France and two of her Children. Adolf U. With few official duties, Marie Antoinette spent her days socialising in the palatial surroundings of Versailles. She came to develop extravagant and indulgent tastes.

It was expected that as French Queen she would lead fashion and spend the most on clothes. But, in addition to her dress, she also spent increasing amounts of money on gambling. On one occasion, she spent three solid days gambling with friends up to her 21st birthday. Her behaviour was reported to her mother, Maria Theresa — who sent a strong letter of admonishment to her daughter, telling her to mend her ways.

Whilst Marie enjoyed a life of pleasure and indulgence at court, French society was beginning to strain under the pressure of debt and economic stagnation. French society was deeply unequal with many people struggling to afford enough food. As queen, Marie Antoinette became increasingly a target of criticism by opponents of the domestic and foreign policies of Louis XVI, and those opposed to the monarchy in general.

The French libelles accused her of being profligate, [ 2 ] promiscuous, having illegitimate children, and harboring sympathies for France's perceived enemies, including her native Austria. She was falsely accused of defrauding the Crown's jewelers in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace , but the accusations damaged her reputation further. Several events were linked to Marie Antoinette during the Revolution after the government placed the royal family under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace in October The June attempted flight to Varennes and her role in the War of the First Coalition were immensely damaging to her image among French citizens.

On 10 August , the attack on the Tuileries forced the royal family to take refuge at the Assembly , and they were imprisoned in the Temple Prison on 13 August On 21 September , France was declared a republic and the monarchy was abolished. Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January During the birth of her last daughter, serious complications arose, and doctors even feared for the life of the mother.

Maria Antonia was born on All Souls' Day , a Catholic day of mourning, and during her childhood her birthday was instead celebrated the day before, on All Saints' Day , due to the connotations of the date. Shortly after her birth she was placed under the care of the governess of the imperial children, Countess von Brandeis. She learned to play the harp , [ 12 ] the harpsichord and the flute.

She sang during the family's evening gatherings, as she was known to have had a beautiful voice. The death of her older sister Maria Josepha from smallpox during the epidemic in Vienna in October made an everlasting impression on the young Maria Antonia. She told her that she would not be traveling to Naples to marry King Ferdinand IV of Naples , to whom she was betrothed, but for the family vault.

Nonetheless, he also complimented her, stating "her character, her heart, are excellent". He found her "more intelligent than has been generally supposed," but since "she is rather lazy and extremely frivolous, she is hard to teach". This included the straightening of her teeth by a French dentist, the diversification of her wardrobe, and hairstyles reminiscent of Madame de Pompadour.

Their common desire to destroy the ambitions of Prussia and Great Britain , and to secure a definitive peace between their respective countries led them to seal their alliance with a marriage: on 7 February , Louis XV formally requested the hand of Maria Antonia for his eldest surviving grandson and heir, Louis Auguste , Duke of Berry and Dauphin of France.

Maria Antonia formally renounced her rights to Habsburg domains, and on 19 April she was married by proxy with Louis Auguste at the Augustinian Church, Vienna , with her brother Archduke Ferdinand standing in for the Dauphin. Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name: Marie Antoinette. A further ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding.

On the one hand, the Dauphine was beautiful, personable and well-liked by the common people. Her first official appearance in Paris on 8 June was a resounding success. On the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette, as did others who disliked her for more personal or petty reasons.

Madame du Barry proved a troublesome foe to the new dauphine. She was Louis XV's mistress and had considerable political influence over him. Marie Antoinette was persuaded by her husband's aunts to refuse to acknowledge du Barry, which some saw as a political blunder that jeopardized Austria's interests at the French court. At the outset, the new queen had limited political influence with her husband, who, with the support of his two most important ministers, Chief Minister Maurepas and Foreign Minister Vergennes , blocked several of her candidates from assuming important positions, including Choiseul.

Louis XVI allowed Marie Antoinette to renovate it to suit her own tastes; soon rumours circulated that she had plastered the walls with gold and diamonds. The Queen spent heavily on fashion, luxuries, and gambling, though the country was facing a grave financial crisis and the population was suffering. Rose Bertin created dresses for her, and hairstyles such as poufs , up to three feet 90 cm high, and the panache — a spray of feather plumes.

She and her court also adopted the English fashion of dresses made of indienne , a material banned in France from until to protect local French woolen and silk industries, percale and muslin. By the time of the Flour War of , a series of riots, due to the high price of flour and bread, had damaged her reputation among the general public. Eventually, Marie Antoinette's reputation was no better than that of the favourites of previous kings.

Many French people were beginning to blame her for the degrading economic situation, suggesting the country's inability to pay off its debt was the result of her wasting the crown's money. On 19 September , she appointed her superintendent of her household, [ 45 ] [ 46 ] an appointment she soon transferred to her new favourite, the Duchess of Polignac.

In , she took under her patronage her former music teacher, the German opera composer Christoph Willibald Gluck , who remained in France until Amidst the atmosphere of a wave of libelles , the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II came to France incognito, using the name Comte de Falkenstein, for a six-week visit during which he toured Paris extensively and was a guest at Versailles.

Suggestions that Louis suffered from phimosis , which was relieved by circumcision , have been discredited. In the middle of the queen's pregnancy, two events occurred which had a profound effect on her later life: the return of her friend, the Swedish diplomat Count Axel von Fersen the Younger [ 59 ] to Versailles for two years, and her brother's claim to the throne of Bavaria , contested by Saxony and Prussia.

The Peace of Teschen , signed on 13 May , ended the brief conflict, with the Queen imposing French mediation at her mother's insistence and Austria's gaining the Innviertel territory of at least , inhabitants—a strong retreat from the early French position which was hostile towards Austria. This gave the impression, partially justified, that the Queen had sided with Austria against France.

Meanwhile, the Queen began to institute changes in court customs. Some of them met with the disapproval of the older generation, such as the abandonment of heavy make-up and the popular wide-hooped panniers. Marie Antoinette's second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage early in July , as confirmed by letters between the Queen and her mother, although some historians believed that she may have experienced bleeding related to an irregular menstrual cycle, which she mistook for a lost pregnancy.

Empress Maria Theresa died on 29 November in Vienna. Marie Antoinette feared that the death of her mother would jeopardise the Franco-Austrian alliance, as well as, ultimately, herself, but her brother, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, wrote to her that he had no intention of breaking the alliance. A second visit from Joseph II, which took place in July to reaffirm the Franco-Austrian alliance and also to see his sister, was tainted by false rumours [ 73 ] that Marie Antoinette was sending money to him from the French treasury.

Despite the general celebration over the birth of an heir, Marie Antoinette's political influence, such as it was, was perceived to greatly benefit Austria. Finally, the Queen was able to obtain her brother's support against Great Britain in the American Revolution and she neutralized French hostility to his alliance with Russia. In contrast, both the king and the queen trusted Madame de Polignac completely, gave her a thirteen-room apartment in Versailles and paid her well.

In June , Marie Antoinette's new pregnancy was announced, but on the night of 1—2 November, her 28th birthday, she suffered a miscarriage. In the Queen played a decisive role in the nomination of Charles Alexandre de Calonne , a close friend of the Polignacs , as Controller-General of Finances , and of the Baron de Breteuil as the Minister of the Royal Household, making him perhaps the strongest and most conservative minister of the reign.

The measure also blocked the access of 'commoners', mainly sons of members of the professional classes, and of more recently elevated nobility to important positions in the armed forces. As such, the decree became an important grievance for social classes that had been habitually supportive of the monarchy and established order, and which went on to supply the bulk of the early leadership of the French Revolution.

Count Axel von Fersen , after his return from America in June , was accepted into the Queen's private society. There were claims that the two were romantically involved, [ 87 ] but since most of their correspondence has been lost, destroyed, or redacted, for many years there was no conclusive evidence. Around this time, pamphlets describing farcical sexual deviance including the Queen and her friends in the court were growing in popularity around the country.

The Portefeuille d'un talon rouge was one of the earliest, including the queen and a variety of other nobles in a political statement decrying the immoral practices of the court. As time went on, these came to focus more on the queen. They described amorous encounters with a wide range of figures, from the Duchess of Polignac to Louis XV.

As these attacks increased, they were connected with the public's dislike of her association with the rival nation of Austria. It was publicly suggested that her supposed behaviour was learned at the Austrian court, particularly lesbianism, which was known as the "German vice". In , the Queen was busy with the creation of her " hamlet ", a rustic retreat built by her favoured architect, Richard Mique , according to the designs of the painter Hubert Robert.

It was en vogue at the time for nobles to have recreations of small villages on their properties. It was also significantly smaller and less intricate than many other nobles'. Those on music, often dedicated to her, were the most read, though she also liked to read history. She sponsored the arts, in particular music. She limited the audience to her intimate circle and a few musicians, among them the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

Initially banned by the king due to its negative portrayal of the nobility, the play was finally allowed to be publicly performed because of the Queen's support and its overwhelming popularity at court, where secret readings of it had been given by Marie Antoinette. The play was a disaster for the image of the monarchy and aristocracy.

She wanted to be able to own her own property, one that was actually hers, to then have the authority to bequeath it to "whichever of my children I wish," [ ] choosing the child she thought could use it rather than it going through patriarchal inheritance laws or whims. The purchase of Saint-Cloud thus damaged the public's image of the Queen even further.

Courtiers at Versailles noted in their diaries that the date of the child's conception corresponded perfectly with a period when the King and the Queen had spent much time together, but these details were ignored amid attacks on the Queen's character.

Marie antoinette biography courtesy

She was named after the King's aunt, Princess Sophie of France. Marie Antoinette began to abandon her more carefree activities to become increasingly involved in politics in her role as queen of France. Marie Antoinette had profoundly disliked Rohan since the time he had been the French ambassador to Vienna when she was a child. Despite his high clerical position at the Court, she never addressed a word to him.

Madame de La Motte tricked Rohan into buying the necklace as a gift to Marie Antoinette, for him to gain the queen's favour. Judged by the Parlement of Paris , Rohan was found innocent of any wrongdoing and allowed to leave the Bastille. Marie Antoinette, who had insisted on the arrest of the Cardinal, was dealt a heavy personal blow, as was the monarchy, and despite the fact that the guilty parties were tried and convicted, the affair proved to be extremely damaging to her reputation, which never recovered from it.

Suffering from an acute case of depression, the King began to seek the advice of his wife. In her new role and with increasing political power, the Queen tried to improve the awkward situation brewing between the Parlement and the King. Continuing deterioration of the financial situation despite cutbacks to the royal retinue and court expenses ultimately forced the King, the Queen and the Controller-General of Finances, Charles Alexandre de Calonne , at the urging of Vergennes, to call a session of the Assembly of Notables , after a hiatus of years.

The assembly was held for the purpose of initiating necessary financial reforms, but the Assembly refused to cooperate. The first meeting took place on 22 February , nine days after the death of Vergennes on 13 February. Marie Antoinette did not attend the meeting and her absence resulted in accusations that the Queen was trying to undermine its purpose.

It did not pass any reforms and, instead, fell into a pattern of defying the King. He began to institute more cutbacks at court while trying to restore the royal absolute power weakened by the Parlement. The continued poor financial climate of the country resulted in the 25 May dissolution of the Assembly of Notables because of its inability to function, and the lack of solutions was blamed on the Queen.

France's financial problems were the result of a combination of factors: several expensive wars; a large royal family whose expenditures were paid for by the state; and an unwillingness on the part of most members of the privileged classes, aristocracy, and clergy, to help defray the costs of the government out of their own pockets by relinquishing some of their financial privileges.

She had played a decisive role in the disgrace of the reformer ministers of finance, Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot in , and Jacques Necker first dismissal in The political situation in worsened when, at Marie Antoinette's urging, the Parlement of Paris was exiled to Troyes on 15 August. It further deteriorated when Louis XVI tried to use a lit de justice on 11 November to impose legislation.

Finally, on 8 August, Louis XVI announced his intention to bring back the Estates General , the traditional elected legislature of the country, which had not been convened since While from late up to his death in June Marie Antoinette's primary concern was the continued deterioration of the health of the Dauphin, who suffered from tuberculosis , [ ] she was directly involved in the exile of the Parlement , the May Edicts, and the announcement regarding the Estates General.

She did participate in the King Council , the first queen to do this in over years since Marie de' Medici had been named Chef du Conseil du Roi , between and , and she was making the major decisions behind the scene and in the Royal Council. Marie Antoinette was instrumental in the reinstatement of Jacques Necker as Finance Minister on 26 August , a popular move, even though she herself was worried that it would go against her if Necker proved unsuccessful in reforming the country's finances.

On the eve of the opening of the Estates General the Queen attended the mass celebrating its return. The death of the Dauphin on 4 June, which deeply affected his parents, was virtually ignored by the French people, [ ] who were instead preparing for the next meeting of the Estates General and hoping for a resolution to the bread crisis. As the Third Estate declared itself a National Assembly and took the Tennis Court Oath , and as people either spread or believed rumours that the Queen wished to bathe in their blood, Marie Antoinette went into mourning for her eldest son.

In addition, she showed her determination to use force to crush the forthcoming revolution. The situation escalated on 20 June as the Third Estate, which had been joined by several members of the clergy and radical nobility, found the door to its appointed meeting place closed by order of the King. Marie Antoinette, whose life was as much in danger, remained with the King, whose power was gradually being taken away by the National Constituent Assembly.

On 5 October, a crowd from Paris descended upon Versailles and forced the royal family to move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, where they lived under a form of house arrest under the watch of Lafayette's National Guard, while the Count of Provence and his wife were allowed to reside in the Petit Luxembourg , where they remained until they went into exile on 20 June Marie Antoinette continued to perform charitable functions and attend religious ceremonies, but dedicated most of her time to her children.

She blamed him for his support of the Revolution and did not regret his resignation in Lafayette, one of the former military leaders in the American War of Independence — , served as the warden of the royal family in his position as commander-in-chief of the National Guard. Despite his dislike of the Queen—he detested her as much as she detested him and at one time had even threatened to send her to a convent—he was persuaded by the mayor of Paris , Jean Sylvain Bailly , to work and collaborate with her, and allowed her to see Fersen a number of times.

His relationship with the King was more cordial. As a liberal aristocrat, he did not want the fall of the monarchy but rather the establishment of a liberal one, similar to that of Great Britain , based on cooperation between the King and the people, as was to be defined in the Constitution of Despite her attempts to remain out of the public eye, Marie Antoinette was falsely accused in the libelles of having an affair with Lafayette, whom she loathed.

There is no evidence to support the accusations. Like Lafayette, Mirabeau was a liberal aristocrat. He had joined the Third Estate and was not against the monarchy, but wanted to reconcile it with the Revolution. He also wanted to be a minister and was not immune to corruption. At least , persons participated from all over France, including 18, National Guards, with Talleyrand , bishop of Autun , celebrating a mass at the autel de la Patrie "altar of the fatherland".

The King was greeted at the event with loud cheers of "Long live the King! There were even cheers for the Queen, particularly when she presented the dauphin to the public. Mirabeau sincerely wanted to reconcile the Queen with the people, and she was happy to see him restoring much of the King's powers, such as his authority over foreign policy, and the right to declare war.

Over the objections of Lafayette and his allies, the King was given a suspensive veto allowing him to veto any laws for a period of four years. In March Pope Pius VI had condemned the Civil Constitution of the Clergy , reluctantly signed by Louis XVI, which reduced the number of bishops from to 93, imposed the election of bishops and all members of the clergy by departmental or district assemblies of electors, and reduced the pope's authority over the Church.

The Queen's political ideas and her belief in the absolute power of monarchs were based on France's long-established tradition of the divine right of kings. On 18 April, as the royal family prepared to leave for Saint-Cloud to attend Easter mass celebrated by a refractory priest, a crowd, soon joined by the National Guard disobeying Lafayette's orders , prevented their departure from Paris, prompting Marie Antoinette to declare to Lafayette that she and her family were no longer free.

He convinced the king to sign the Constitution of , with the promise to persuade Emperor Leopold II of the Holy Roman Empire, Marie Antoinette's brother, to start a "counter-revolutionary crusade" against France. However, Leopold refused. In April , France declared war on Austria. The French people's hatred for the monarchy continued to grow and culminated in the overthrow of the monarchy on August 10, Marie Antoinette spent the rest of her time together with her children in various prisons in Paris.

On October 14, the queen herself appeared before the tribunal, and just two days later, the harsh sentence was carried out. However, many revolutionaries began to argue that the most insidious enemies of the state were not the nobles but the monarchs themselves. In April , partly as a way to test the loyalties of the king and queen, the Jacobin radical revolutionary government declared war on Austria.

The French army was in a shambles and the war did not go well—a turn of events that many blamed on the foreign-born queen. In August, another mob stormed the Tuileries, overthrew the monarchy and locked the family in a tower. In September, revolutionaries began to massacre royalist prisoners by the thousands. The campaign against Marie Antoinette likewise grew stronger.

In July , she lost custody of her young son, who was forced to accuse her of sexual abuse and incest before a Revolutionary tribunal. In October, she was convicted of treason and sent to the guillotine. She was 37 years old.