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Marie Antoinette

In Brief:

Marie Antoinette – (born in Vienna 2 November 1755 – died in Paris, 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and Navarre. She was the fifteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I.

At the age of fourteen, on the day of her marriage to Louis-Auguste (Louis XVI), Dauphin of France, she became Dauphine de France. At the death of King Louis XV, in May 1774, her husband ascended the French throne as Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette assumed the title of Queen of France and Navarre. After seven years of marriage she gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, the first of their four children.

Her background as a the sister of the Austrian (France’s enemy) king made her immediately disliked in France; and when the hardship and poverty of the poor people of France grew, her extravagant lifestyle at Versailles increased the level of bitterness towards her across the country. After the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789. the royal family remained trapped in Paris. After trying with her husband to escape to Holland, they were captured at Varennes, returned to Paris and imprisoned.

During the Reign of Terror, at the height of the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette’s husband was deposed (lost his position) as king.. Marie Antoinette was tried, convicted of treason and executed by guillotine on 16 October 1793, nine months after her husband.

In 1789 a mob descended on the palace at Versailles and demanded the royal family move to the Tuilerie palace inside Paris. From that point on the King and Queen were virtual prisoners. Antoinette sought aid from other European rulers including her brother, the Austrian Emperor, and her sister, Queen of Naples. After a failed attempt to flee Paris in 1791 Antoinette continued to seek aid from abroad. When Austria and Prussia declared war on France, she was accused of passing military secrets to the enemy. On August 10, 1792 the royal family was arrested on suspicion of treason and imprisoned. On January 21, 1793 King Louis XVI was convicted and executed on the guillotine.

Her children (Marie Therese and Louis XVII) were taken from her. Louis XVII was subjected to abuse by the family’s jailers and later died, supposedly of Tuberculosis and malnutrition. Marie Therese, her firstborn daughter was the only family member to survive.

The stories of Antoinette’s excesses are vastly overstated. In fact, rather than ignoring France’s growing financial crisis, she reduced the royal household staff, eliminating many unnecessary positions that were based solely on privilege. In the process she offended the nobles, adding their condemnation to the scandalous stories spread by royal hopefuls. It was the nobility that balked at the financial reforms the government ministers tried to make, not the King and Queen, who were in favor of change. In truth, Antoinette and Louis were placed in harms’ way not only by elements of their personalities, but by the changing face of political and social ideology in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Her children (Marie Therese and Louis XVII) were taken from her. Louis XVII was subjected to abuse by the family’s jailers and later died, supposedly of Tuberculosis and malnutrition. Marie Therese, her firstborn daughter was the only family member to survive. For additional information about Marie Antoinette and Louis’s children

Antoinette followed her husband to the guillotine on October 16, 1793. She was executed without proof of the crimes for which she was accused. She was only 37 years old.

Marie Antionette before her execution

The Bourbon monarchy was restored in 1814 after the fall of Napoleon I. The succession went to the closest living relative of Louis XVI who became Louis XVIII. He had escaped to Britain where he sat out the Revolution and the Napoleonic wars

After the family had been placed under arrest on August 10, 1792, Marie Therese remained with her mother and her paternal aunt, Madame Elizabeth until nearly a year later. On August 2, 1793, the queen was taken from her daughter and sister in law and was removed to another prison.

Unlike her mother and aunt, Marie Therese survived her time in prison from 1792 to 1795. Following this, she joined her uncle, the next King of France, Louis XVIII (Tsar Paul I of Russia) in exile and married her cousin, Louis Antoine duc d’Angouleme in 1799. She lived in various locations across Europe: Vienna, Russia and England, before returning to France in 1814 after the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Marie Therese did not remain in France long, however. She and her husband fled to England in 1830 after the betrayal of their Bourbon cousin, Louis-Philippe duc d’Orleans in which he spread the rumor that Charles X, the next Bourbon in line for the throne, had abdicated the throne of France. A few short minutes later, Marie Therese’s husband, Louis Antoine, the next in line abdicated, leaving Louis-Philippe to step into his place.

Unlike her mother and aunt, Marie Therese survived her time in prison from 1792 to 1795. Following this, she joined her uncle, the next King of France, Louis XVIII (Tsar Paul I of Russia) in exile and married her cousin, Louis Antoine duc d’Angouleme in 1799. She lived in various locations across Europe: Vienna, Russia and England, before returning to France in 1814 after the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte.

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History@Banagher College, Coláiste na Sionna.