[Music] the woman known to history as Marie Antoinette was born on the 2nd of November 1755 at the hoffberg palace in Vienna her parents Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Teresa of Austria gave her the name of Maria Antonia yepa Johanna her birth was welcomed but not particularly celebrated as she was the second to last of 16 children 10 of whom would survive to adulthood since each of her sisters as well as her mother were also named Maria the 15th child of the emperor and Empress of Austria was called Madame antoan and sometimes antoanet within the family despite her illustrious hapsburg lineage few including her own parents imagined that her life or experiences would be especially consequential certainly not more than her own mother whose strength intelligence and skill at statecraft and diplomacy had made her one of the most celebrated Queens ever to rule in Europe it is unlikely that anyone could have predicted that Madame antoan the youngest Arch Duchess of Austria would ever attain greater notoriety or that she would in fact become one of the most famous and Infamous women in history antoan was born during a period of notable diplomatic and geopolitical tension in Europe Austria had recovered control of most of the territories lost or challenged during the war of Austrian succession a decade before save for Silesia which was still held by Maria Teresa's inveterate enemy Frederick the great of Prussia when Prussia signed a treaty with England France's greatest rival in both Europe and the overseas Colonial World Austria immediately turned to France as a potential ally despite the long history of wary hostility between the two countries when Antoine was just 6 months old her parents cemented their new alliance with King Lou the 15th of France by proposing her betrothal to the king's grandson Lou AUST Duke Deber who was just one year older than antoan the marriage which was not officially approved until the two children were 12 and 13 respectively would figure prominently in a series of crises which would spark Revolution and War and not just in France but throughout Europe antoan was born on what is known as All Souls day or the Day of the Dead in various Catholic traditions because it is a day of mourning associated with death the Austrian royal family always observed Antoine's birthday the day before on All Saints Day Not only was the day of her birth inauspicious but that very same day a massive earthquake red Untold destruction and caused 30,000 deaths in Lisbon Portugal the king and queen of Portugal who had been asked to serve as anan's godparents were forced to flee their ruined Capital naturally these coincidences were not really observed or remarked upon for years the communication barriers of the time period meant that weeks elapsed before word of the disaster reached Vienna and neither were the Portuguese king and queen actually expected to arrive for Antoine's christening since baptisms were invariably performed within 3 days of birth and proxies almost always stood in for Royal god parents but upon reflection during the decades and centuries following Marie Antoinette's death one could be forgiven for remarking on the implied for boings surrounding her birth especially given the ultimately tragic course of her life and manner of her death from the beginning an ill fate seemed to follow the little princess despite her obscure place in her family Onan seems to have had a fairly happy childhood although her early life is not particularly well documented her eldest siblings were nearly two decades older than she but five of them were close enough to her in age to be both Playmates and schoolroom companions while Antoine loved all of her brothers and sisters she was especially close to her sister Charlotte who was 3 years older she also enjoyed a strong relationship with her eldest brother ysf the future Holy Roman Emperor despite the vast difference in their ages Maria Teresa's children seemed to view her with a mixture of love and fear she was committed to her family loved her children and took her responsibilities as a mother very seriously but as empress of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia in her own right she also had the stewardship of an Empire Maria Teresa's father the Holy Roman Emperor Charles I 6 had enacted a special International treaty in 1713 known as the pragmatic sanction which recognized his eldest daughter as his Heir in the absence of a son he then arranged Maria Teresa's marriage to the former Duke of luren Francis Steven after the death of Charles I 6 Maria Teresa exceeded to the hereditary rule of Austria Bohemia and Hungary while securing her new husband's election to the position of Holy Roman Emperor since the title could not be held by a woman it was the empress herself however who wielded the real power and shouldered most responsibilities Maria Teresa's Devotion to duty was such that she reportedly continued to read and sign important state papers while in her child birthing bed so loathed was she to waste time historians have observed that the empress's vast responsibilities gave her a brusk and hard quality even with those closest to her despite her noted encouragement of a close family life she was also constantly critical of of her children and especially insistent upon arranging their marriages with the greatest possible benefit for the Austrian Empire in mind the Latin motto of the Austrian habsburgs Bella guant Ali to Felix Austria nube translates to let others wage war the happy Austria marry virtually none of Maria Teresa's children were permitted to choose their own spouses and all were expected to do their Duty and marry to strengthen the dynasty Maria Amalia and Maria kolina known within the family as Charlotte had both been required to marry Royal suitors of dubious character or capacity for the benefit of Austria on the eve of Charlotte's wedding to the mentally unstable king of Naples the Empress Maria Teresa wrote so long as she fulfills her Duty towards God and her husband and earns her salvation even if she is unhappy I will be satisfied even Maria Christina her mother's favorite had to con seed Maria Teresa's harder qualities you know the manner in which she loved her children she wrote a few years after her mother's death mixed in with her love there was always a dose of mistrust and a coldness palpable as for the young Antoine like most of her siblings her own love for her mother was always Complicated by the empress's criticism and by her generally low opinion of anan's attitude intelligence and capabilities the little Arch Duchess had a a much closer and warmer relationship with her father Francis I did not have much in common with his wife his noted pursuit of pleasure contrasted sharply with her firm work ethic and he seemed more interested in amusements like hunting gambling and Mistresses than in ruling Francis seemed content to hold his largely ceremonial position however and while it is true that Maria Teresa held the real state power she relied heavily on Francis to manage Austria's financial affairs considering the financial precariousness of many of Europe's Royal treasuries during the mid to late 18th century Francis actually acquitted himself quite well in these duties the most unfortunate aspect of francis's and Maria tera's marriage was that she almost certainly loved him more than he loved her Francis the young Duke of Lauren had been quote adopted into the Austrian Court at the age of 14 as Emperor Charles 6 intended him to marry his eldest daughter and Heir Maria Teresa was said to have loved Francis from the very beginning feelings he did not return although he did seem to hold a genuine affection respect and liking for her he unfortunately proved to be compulsively Unfaithful during his marriage and his incurable and often indiscret philandering saddened his wife nevertheless as a group his family seemed to adore him he was described as cheerful Lively teasing and playful when relaxed in the company of his children and he showed them all including his youngest daughter antoan the sort of affection and warmth which their own mother often did not the Austrian royal family had several residences and pleasure palaces but lived primarily at the hoffberg palace during the colder months and at the shern Brun Palace during the warmer months both of these palaces were formal Royal residences where politics and diplomacy were regularly formulated and power duly exercised courtiers ambassadors bureaucrats and other dignitaries visited these palaces daily and interacted formly with the royal family however both palaces had been constructed and improved over time with a view to preserving a sphere of privacy for the family unlike other mid 18th century European Royals the Austrian hapsburgs maintained a noted distinction between the public and the private in contrast the French royal family was on display every hour of the day even their bathing and dressing routines might be attended by government ministers and France's greatest Nobles each of whom was fully convinced of their right to have such access to the royal family in contrast Austrian Royal palaces were built with much sharper distinctions between public Chambers for official receptions and audiences and private Chambers with which were accessible only at the express invitation of the royal family as a result antoan and her siblings grew up enjoying a relaxed informal Family Life which was quite different to their European Royal contemporaries naturally the children of Maria Teresa and Francis I were expected to be present and play their Royal roles in public functions but they also regularly had opportunities for family Recreation out of the public eye the Austrian habsburgs in enjoyed outdoor activities together such as sledding in the winter months and riding and hunting in the warmer months Vienna was one of the richest cultural centers in Europe and so naturally the whole family were lovers and patrons of the Arts whether it was in public for the entertainment of the court or in private for their own Amusement the royal family particularly enjoyed music dancing and staging amateur theatricals together from an early age antoan had been exposed to the performance and tutelage of some of the greatest musicians composers and dancers in Europe she had the privilege of meeting the six-year-old Prodigy Wulf gang Mozart who was just 2 months younger than herself when he visited shern Brun Palace to play for the royal family in October 1762 her dancing instructor was one of the greatest ballet masters of the day Jean George no and her music teacher was the famed composer Kristoff vbal Glo who secured the official patronage of Maria Teresa the same year antoan was born naturally the Arts formed a major part of anan's education and she proved to be quite talented in multiple artistic Pursuits she was a particularly fine dancer and was described by contemporary observers as exceptionally graceful and poised even as a small child Anan also proved to be a fine musician she was Adept at the harp and the harps Accord she could sightread music at a professional level by the time she reached adolescence and she was said to have had a lovely singing voice but beyond her noted artistic accomplishments she was not a particularly good student she eventually came to enjoy her history lessons but remained uninterested in any other academic subjects when her new tutor MAA jaac Abid ofal arrived from France in 1768 to assess her previous education and begin to prepare her for her role as the wife of the Doan he was shocked and horrified to discover that the 12-year-old princess could scarcely write in her own native language this is rather surprising considering that the Austrian hapsburgs had access to the very best educational resources to be had in Europe and several members of onan's immediate family were quite well read and scholarly additionally Vienna was one of the foremost cities in Europe for intellectualism sophistication and a Cosmopolitan approach to learning a sizable proportion of the vienes and several of the hapsburgs themselves were trilingual regularly speaking German which their local subjects spoke Italian because they ruled several regions in Italy as well and French because it was the lingua franka of 18th century Europe at barely 13 years of age antoan only spoke her first language French with any fluency though her speech was overlaid by a great many German linguistic elements and she spoke with a strong German accent a number of potential factors may have contributed to her generally unimpressive academic performance Antoine's father the emperor was the former Duke of luren whose first language was also French although he became emperor of Austria albeit in a largely ceremonial position he steadfastly refused to speak or even to learn German Behavior which might well have influenced his daughter additionally Antoine's principal Gess was described by some sources as having been rather neglectful of her young pupil Onan always disliked reading and it is possible that she was permitted to neglect those lessons she did not enjoy further onan's parents might not have considered her poor education important enough to rectify until it became virtually certain that she would wed the DOA of France no one at the Austrian Court seemed to care much about onan's education or training perhaps because until her marriage to the Future King of France became assured no one thought her particularly worth teaching for any purpose other than being a pretty ornament to a Royal Court her tutor AB de vermond wrote that his pupil had a tendency towards laziness and frivolousness which is unsurprising in a child with so little structure or consistency in her Early Education he expressed confidence however in what he perceived to be her natural intelligence despite the gaps in her education antoan proved to be a quick learner vermond noted that when sufficiently motivated to learn she grasped new lessons quickly and used reason admirably to suggest solutions to problems under his tutelage onan's literacy and learning capacity improved quickly and dramatically though the Austrian hapsburgs appeared to lead the most Charmed of lives even for ayal family they would have their share of tragedy it is quite remarkable for 18th century Europe that in a family of 16 children only three did not survive infancy another Scourge was to visit the Austrian royal family repeatedly that of smallpox six members of anan's immediate family contracted the disease at one time or another during the late 1750s and 1760s including the empress herself this spurred Maria Teresa to mount an inoculation campaign in Vienna and both antoan and her younger brother Maximillian received the new procedure which involved introducing biological material from people infected with the virus this early vaccine method was exponentially more dangerous than modern methods but luckily both children survived and without scarring three of onan's older siblings Charles Maria Johanna and Maria yepa died of the small po virus during the 1760s the family suffered another cruel blow with the sudden death of Emperor Francis the first in August of 1765 from either a stroke or a heart attack Empress Maria Teresa was devastated going at once into deepest mourning she wore only widows black for the rest of her life 9-year-old antoan was as shattered as the rest of the family Legend has it that prior to his final departure for inbrook he bid his family farewell but turned back on impulse to embrace his youngest daughter once more Francis I died just days later in his Carriage while returning from the Opera in a memorandum to his will he admonished his children to be careful on whom they bestowed their friendship and not to be too hasty to place their trust in others he further enjoined them to avoid gambling and other dissolute behaviors those with the benefit of hindsight might claim that all of this this was good advice for young antoan and many historical commentators have condemned her for seeming to have ignored it in the ensuing years in April of 1770 an anxious 14-year-old Antoine said farewell to her family her friends and her country her mother urged her to conform herself to her new husband and his family and to use all of her charm and amiability to win the favor of the French Court do so much good to to the French people she wrote that they can say that I have sent them an angel King Louie V 15th and her fiance the Doan Louie met Antoine's Carriage at compen near the Austrian border with France before being presented to her new family antoan first went through a ritualistic change of attire which was entirely symbolic on an island in the Rin River the traditional border between Austria and France onan's attendance helped her remove all of her clothing and jewelry brought from Austria and dressed her in French garments and jewels despite the fact that the grand Court costume she had been wearing previously was also designed in the French style the most popular fashion in Europe Maria Antonia Madame Antoine the hapsburg princess of Austria was no more she was now to be known as Marie antoanet Madame L Doan a French princess apprehensive and immediately homesick she wept as her Austrian attendant bid her farewell but tried to collect herself sufficiently to be presented to King Louie and her fiance the Doan Maria Tera and Antoine's eldest brother ysf the new Holy Roman Emperor had impressed upon her the great importance of Austria's alliance with France the knowledge that responsibility for nurturing the tenuous New Alliance rested with her must have been daunting indeed on the 18th of May 1770 Marie antoanet and Lou Augusta borbon were married in the Royal Chapel at versailes if his bride was nervous Louie who was just a year older at 15 was equally so observers noted that his posture remained stiff throughout the service and that his hands shook as he placed the ring on his bride's finger sadly their apprehension was warranted their first several years of marriage would be strained and difficult and would have a lasting impact on their public reputations at first Antoinette was dazzled by the Grandeur and magnificence of the French Court Vera had become the gold standard for palaces in Europe and was endlessly copied by other European Royals in fact Shen Brun Palace in Antoine's native Vienna was constructed very much like a miniature Versa but the princess was impressed by the scale and exquisite detail of the original she quickly learned that fashion aesthetic appeal refinement wit and charm were key to earning the admiration of the French aristocracy and Royal Court and accordingly set out to please determined to be the most fashionable charming and sought after woman in France Marie antoanet was initially quite a success at Versailles King Louis V 15th took an instant liking to her for her warmth vivaciousness and impressive musicianship because the king liked her the Doan's early experiences at the French Court were promising and it may have being King Lou's favor which kept certain criticism of the young princess in check for a Time despite the admiration which her beauty and Youthful energy inspired she was still just a young teenager and Ill trained for the role at which she was immediately expected to excel like many 14-year-olds might have done she mishandled relationships with several important political figures at court including Leon the king's elderly sisters who considered themselves the Arbiters of conduct at the French Court Marie Antoinette was taken aback by the utter lack of privacy involved in being a member of the French royal family having grown up accustomed to a clear distinction between public political spaces and private spaces enjoyed only by family members she was horrified to find that she was virtually never permitted to be alone or to carry out the minutest personal tasks for herself her resistance to Royal protocol and her sometimes open mockery of it made her husband's elderly great aunts dislike her additionally she managed to alienate courtiers from powerful aristocratic families when she removed them from her household service in favor of younger livelier others whom she liked better Marie Antoinette also made an enemy of Madame duari the king's official mistress whom she refused even to politely acknowledge during her first months at versailes moreover most of King Lou's advisers had opposed an Austrian match for the Doan and distrusted the princess on General principle those at verai who feared the potential influence she might exert over the DOA on Austria's behalf scathingly nicknamed her the Austrian sadly Marie anet's new husband had been firmly indoctrinated by his tutors with this same suspicious distrust of both the Austrian Alliance and his new bride making an already difficult marriage between two young and inexperienced teenagers more complicated still Louie austa Boron and Mari and twanette were as different from one another as two people could possibly be they were both blue-eyed and her ash blonde hair was just a few Shades Darker than his but that was where their similarities ended where she was Lively and extroverted he was shy and awkward he struggled with indecision while she was Resolute and quick to act he loved to read a Pastime she had never enjoyed even his great height contrasted sharply with her slight stature for Louie stood 6' 4 in tall which was quite impressive for 18th century France although he admitted privately that he eventually came to love his wife after a fashion and did indeed find her beautiful he continually refused to consumate the marriage a state of affairs which remained unchanged for the first first seven years of their Union the initial lack of consummation is hardly surprising considering the extreme Youth of the bride and groom who were only 14 and 15 years old respectively since sexual matters were rarely discussed even amongst family members when the young couple were left alone on their wedding night they likely did not know what to do they were almost certainly terribly nervous and had only just met one another a few days before Louie wrote in his diary that he simply went to sleep on his wedding night as well as the following two nights with Versa being the least private place in all France especially for the royal family the lack of consumation between the Doan and the Doan was immediately public knowledge an unconsummated marriage meant that there was not yet any possibility of Royal children and heirs to safeguard the French throne since this was an important matter of state courtiers were quick to bring the news to King Louis the 15th the Old King was fond of both his grandson and his granddaughter-in-law and seemed to show some understanding he insisted that no one should try to press the issue with the doin and express confidence that the young couple would settle into their marriage in time Empress Maria Teresa was not nearly as patient with what she viewed as her daughter's mistakes and shortcomings the correspondence between Maria Teresa and Marie Antoinette during her first several years at versailes strongly highlights the difficult relationship between mother and daughter kept well informed by her spies at versailes the empress constantly criticized Onan for alienating members of the French court for her excessively luxurious and extravagant lifestyle and most of all for failing to kol or entice her husband into finally consummating the marriage Maria Teresa scolded her daughter for allowing herself to become the focus of French tabloid gossip for her frivolity and flightiness she castigated Onan for failing to pursue self-improvement encouraged her to read more and warned her that she did not have the intelligence the talent the culture or the character to withstand the much worse criticism the empress believed would certainly follow Marie Antoinette often responded defensively to these letters expressed sorrow and hurt that her mother should believe the worst about her and assured Maria Teresa that she did indeed have the best interests of France and the Austrian Alliance at heart as her mother predicted it did not take very long for Marie Anette to develop a reputation for frivolous extravagance historians and biographers have speculated that her ostentatious and decadent tastes which she had developed in the early years of her marriage especially after she became Queen were partly an attempt to compensate for her unhappiness not only did she remain physically unfulfilled but also emotionally distanced from her husband who persisted for several years in weariness of his wife and suspicion for her Austrian loyalties on the 10th of May 1774 King Louis the 15th succumbed to small box dying in his bed at Vera at the age of 64 he was highly populate was the end of his Reign and few besides his grandson seemed to mourn him in any genuine fashion the French people now looked to Louis the 16th with both hope and optimism the new King was young just 19 and while he did not have the panach or the commanding presence of his grandfather Louis the 15th or his third great-grandfather Louis the 14th he was perceived to be a kind genuine bright and conscientious young man all promis in qualities for a potentially great and fair ruler Queen Marie Antoinette was initially quite popular with the French people as well renowned for her beauty style and charm but four more years passed without a consummation of the royal marriage and the longer the situation remained unchanged the more the public image of the king and queen began to suffer Louis the 16th and Marie Antoinette grew even further apart as husband and wife after they ascended the French throne Louie Rose early attended to the business of the day and went to bed early onine on the other hand loved to stay up late and rarely Rose earlier than 10 or 11: in the morning he enjoyed reading riding and hunting and tended to be shy and softspoken in company she loved the gayy and distraction of evenings in Paris attending the theater the Opera or masked balls she spent lavishly on fabulous clothes and jewelry wearing wigs as high as 3 ft tall often dressed with towering puffs of netting and plumes of feathers she adored gambling and frequently lost exorbitant sums at paris's gaming tables this Behavior earned her the very uncomplimentary nickname of Madame deficit among the French public who were becoming increasingly convinced that her spending was contributing as much as anything to France's economic problems if Mar Mar Antoinette was compensating for loneliness and unfulfillment in her marriage then perhaps Louie was doing the same after he became King Louie gifted his wife with the estate known as Le Triano in the grounds of Versailles which had once belonged to Louis the 15's official mistress Madame de pomad knowing that Marie Antoinette found the total lack of privacy at Versa tiresome and confining Louie gave her the estate as her private Haven she could receive only Those whom she wished to invite and she could renovate and improve the house and grounds at her pleasure the king also regularly settled all of his wife's considerable debts quietly and without censuring her it is possible that a sense of guilt may have played a role in Lou's remarkable Indulgence of his Queen's every whim in the summer of 1777 onan's elder brother Holy Roman Emperor ysf II visited France quietly and unofficially on his mother's behalf to ascertain the health of the French Austrian Alliance and in particular his sister's troubling marriage he and Louie apparently got on well so much so that Louie took Yosef into his confidence about his sexual problems historians long supposed that Louis the 16th might have had some sort of physical condition which made sexual activity unpleasant or painful such as fimosis the theory that the king underwent circumcision decision to address such a condition has been mostly rejected by more recent historians rather they point to the letters that yoseph II wrote to his mother and brother Leopold which indicate that Lou sexual impediments were psychological and probably arose from embarrassment at his lack of knowledge and experience and from an intense anxiety or fear of sex itself it did not help the situation that her husband's reluctance in the marriage bed made Antoine frustrated resentful and far less willing to attempt any supportive persuasion yosef's visit and interventions between the king and queen of France did after all bear fruit so to speak a few weeks after his departure for Vienna Marie Antoinette happily informed her mother in a letter that after 7 years her marriage had been quote finally and perfectly consumated I do not think I am pregnant yet she wrote but at least have the hope of being so very soon the queen was right the following year on the 19th of December 1778 Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child a girl whom she named Marie terz Charlotte after her mother and her favorite sister the birth of a child and the progress they had made in their marriage helped the king and queen build a closer more trusting relationship and although their first child was not a son the royal family enjoyed a ride R in popularity for a Time the birth of a daughter meant that there might soon be a Doan for France as well 100 or more years earlier these developments might have been enough to improve political stability and reduce criticism of the monarchy but France in the mid to late 18th century was undergoing dramatic social political and ideological changes teetering on the cusp of a new world whose values were utterly incompatible with the traditional images and prerogatives of royalty Louis V 16th and Marie Antoinette had both been raised in the rarified atmosphere of the European royalty neither one of them knew anything about how the people of their countries lived and remained almost completely insulated from the deep cracks forming in the Bedrock of French society but France's strictly hierarchical and deeply unequal social system was subjected to intense economic pressure during the mid to late 18 century largely thanks to the costs of War France's conflicts with her European neighbors during the previous few decades and Louis V 16th generous support of the American Revolution with the aim of weakening Britain had pushed the French treasury to the very brink of financial ruin at the same time the French people were suffering through periodic waves of hunger due to multiple consecutive poor harvests High food prices and persistently high taxes caused alarm ing bouts of civil unrest as enraged and desperate people struggled simply to house and feed their families in addition to these serious structural problems the ideas of the Enlightenment had begun to thoroughly permeate French society making Republican sympathizers out of some Aristocrats many members of the Bourgeois and of workingclass people alike inspired by the American Revolution and by the increasingly valued Notions of government accountability the abolition of noble privilege and the intrinsic rights held by each individual person the ideas of philosof and revolutionaries threatened the power and legitimacy of the French monarchy at the moment of its greatest weakness Marie Antoinette gave birth to three more children during the 1780s a do far for France in December 1781 Christen Lis Joseph zavier franois and two more children l Char in March 1785 and Marie Sophie elen Beatrix in July of 1786 despite the appearance of Greater stability and Domesticity within the royal family the public reputations of Louis V 16th and Mar Antoinette continued to decline the years during which their marriage had remained unconsummated had taken their toll on the public perceptions of both the king and the queen Louie was perceived as weak ineffective and his sex sexual shortcomings were equated with an inability to govern competently the queen was viewed as domineering greedy and exploitative of her husband's weakness in the scarless liel OR Scandal sheets circulating through France Louis the 16th was sometimes depicted as a castrated Pig smiling dumbly and lazily Marie antoinet was often lampooned in the tabloids for her luxurious extravagance and suspected political domination of her husband on Austria's behalf but more than this the public attacks launched against the queen in the liebel tended to be sexual in nature and they became increasingly darker more obscene and more threatening the closer France came to the 1789 revolutionary Watershed during the years in which her marriage had remained unconsummated rumus had begun to circulate that she must have enjoyed many even countless lovers this is highly unlikely but some historians now believe there is sufficient proof to confirm that Marie Antoinette had at least one intimate love affair during her marriage with the Swedish count Axel Fon ferson the count was handsome dashing an adventurer who upon his return from fighting the British in the American Revolution devoted himself to Marie antoinet remaining her closest advisor and friend Fon was a frequent guest at Leo nor during the 1780s and the queen gave him the bed chamber just above hers it is perhaps worth noting that her husband Louis the 16th is believed to have never spent even one night at Leo although he occasionally spent the day there with his family at his wife's invitation traditionally historians have reserved judgment about the nature of the relationship between count Fon and Marie Antoinette due to the fact that the majority of their correspondents has either been lost purposely destroyed or heavily redacted later on however in 2016 historians working in French and Swedish archives claimed to have found and finally decoded multiple letters which verify that Fon and the queen were indeed intimately involved and deeply in love for many years because of the existing public stain on her moral virtue becoming a mother did nothing to repair the Queen's reputation her detractors were quick to suggest that none of her children not even the DOA were fathered by the king although was meant to be a Haven of freedom from the court for Marie antoinet she probably did not realize that her activities there did much to undermine her reputation Queens of France did not traditionally enjoy privacy the pursuit of which only gave the public reason to believe that the queen might have something to hide sexual immorality was the vice most often imagined however the way that the queen renovated the property was also controversial she spent extravagantly to create a rustic Farm Retreat on the estate even hiring a peasant family to attend livestock and produce food meanwhile she her friends and her children dressed in simple white muslin lounged over picnics and acted in amateur theatricals together in which they played peasant roles such as milkmaids and shead desis the idea of the queen spending huge amounts of money playacting at being a peasant while the real people at the bottom of France's social ladder was starving seemed an example of cruel ignorance and disregard for all but Royal wom in consequence Marie antoanet likely never thought about how her actions appeared to others until it was too late following the birth of her children Marie antanette began to withdraw from the social World which had characterized her first years as Doan and queen of France but it did little to repair her extremely negative Public Image she began to take a more active interest and role in politics and Louie seemed increasingly open to her advice particularly surrounding bureaucratic and Military appointments her tendency to intercede for Austria however did nothing to endear her to those at court who had always distrusted the Austrian Alliance additionally she was seen far less often in Parisian ballrooms or at gaming tables and had begun to show much more restraint in her fashion choices and a more economical approach to her demands on the treasury but many of these efforts were too little too late the period between 1787 and 1789 featured a Confluence of Economic and public relations disasters which led Fran's monarchy the oldest in Europe to the very edge of collapse 1787 was a difficult year for Marie antoanet and Louis V 16th Madame sopi the infant daughter succumbed to tuberculosis at just 11 months old a few months later the queen still mourning her daughter was approached by the Parisian Jewelers Burma and bange and offered the chance to purchase a fabulous diamond necklace originally made for Louis the 15's mistress Madame de Bar it featured a stag ing 647 diamonds of incredible Clarity and cut and would be worth approximately 7 million e or 8 million us today the queen admired the necklace but promptly declined to buy it when a group of Thieves hatched a conspiracy to steal the necklace they duped a gullible aristocratic Cardinal into believing that Marie antoanet wished him to quietly buy the necklace for her and that she would reimburse him later desperate to rise in the Queen's favor the Cardinal eagerly consented when the money became due the king and queen were outraged two of the thieves had fled with the necklace which of course they never delivered to Marie Antoinette and Louis the 16th ordered the Cardinal's arrest as a co-conspirator since the Cardinal came from one of France's most powerful noble families it is hardly surprising that the par of Judges who were also overwhelmingly aristocratic found him not guilty on all counts Marie Antoinette was devastated the proclamation of the Cardinal's innocence implied that the theft must have been the Queen's fault for coveting the necklace and indeed the affair de Kier Deen or the affair of the Queen's necklace as the debacle became known did more than anything else to destroy her reputation During the period between 1787 and 1789 the mental and physical health of Louis the6 began to deteriorate he confronted stress by drinking heavily and overeating he lapsed more and more frequently into bouts of crippling depression out of necessity Marie Antoinette now became more directly involved in French politics and exercised more power than she ever had before with her husband on the verge of a nervous breakdown she began to attend King's Council meetings where Lou Chief ministers struggled to address the economic crisis threatening to bankrupt France she was unfortunately ill-prepared to step into such a role and knew little about politics or economics still her actions demonstrate a determination to hold her family and the French monarchy together having had Role Models like her mother Marie antoanet perhaps could not help but believe it her duty to rise to the occasion she was instrumental in the appointment and dismissal of several Finance ministers each for various reasons unable to find a way out of the debt crisis which was slowly crushing the country efforts were made to enlist the help of France's Nobles but not enough of them were willing to give up their trade monopolies or tax exemptions to help rescue the economy finally in desperation the king called a meeting of the Estates General the closest thing to a parliament or national legislature that France had ever had Lou summoning of the Estates General was quite unprecedented representatives of the three Estates of French society the clergy the nobility and the common people had not met since 1614 because the participants were pursuing such different goals during the proceedings of the Estates General nothing was accomplished the Third Estate representing the overwhelming majority of the French people advocated for the creation of a constitutional French Republic while neither Louis V 16th nor Marie Antoinette could ever imagine sharing power with elected politicians the conservative nobility defended their traditional privileges while numerous others demanded solutions to France's bread crisis which was starving the urban and rural poor alike the talks went nowhere a month after the opening of the Estates General on the 4th of June 1789 the 7-year-old Doan died of tuberculosis because all France was preoccupied with the next meeting of the Estates General there was little public discussion or acknowledgement of the Royal Family's loss Louis V 16th and Marie Antoinette were devastated my poor little boy is dead the queen wrote just days later and the nation hardly seemed to notice on the 20th of June when the king and queen were still in morning for their son representatives of the Third Estate arrived at versil to find the door to their meeting room locked believing that the king had ordered them locked out they moved instead to a nearby tennis court where they collectively de declared themselves France's national assembly and vowed not to disband until they had formulated a constitution the newly formed National Assembly began at once to propose debate and Institute reforms alarmed about the way these developments continued to proceed without the sanction of the monarchy Marie antoinet convinced the king to move a contingent of Swiss troops closer to Paris this led to riots in the city as the fearful populace wondered if their own government would launch an attack against them and against the changes preceding in the National Assembly on the 14th of July the rage boiled over resulting in the storming of the ancient Fortress known as the bastile the release of its Prisoners the raid of its Armory and the murder of the prison's Governor Paris had exploded into chaos and violence at 2:00 in the morning the King was abruptly awakened in Versa and informed that the bastile had been taken is it a Revolt the king asked no sire came the reply it's a revolution after the fall of the bastile royal Authority quickly unraveled a great Fear Rose Among Aristocrats across the country that further uprisings of the people were imminent and many began to quietly leave France most of the extended royal family and many high ranking courtiers departed Versa in the following days Mar Anette was was also strongly in favor of flight but when Louis V 16th stated firmly that he would not consider leaving she resolutely decided to remain at the side of her husband and children events began to move more swiftly in the coming months the National Assembly worked tirelessly to enact their new Constitution and reforms but the far more urgent food crisis was causing unrest all over France on the 5th of October rumors were circulating in Paris about a Grand Banquet being given at Versailles for the high ranking members of the king's Swiss guard anger exploded among the women in the Street Markets of the city why should there be feasting and plenty at Versa while bread remained unaffordable for most parisians and their own children starved armed with knives pitchforks Cleavers clubs whatever they could lay their hands on several hundred women marched toward Vera to demand bread they were joined by a great many other men and women later in the day and in their numbers they overwhelmed the palace guards a mob rampaged through versailes directly toward Marie Antoinette's bed chamber killing two of her guards she heard them coming and escaped through a secret door just seconds before they burst in and fled to her husband's bed chamber howling with rage to find her gone the mob destroyed the Queen's bed the Marque de Lafayette arrived just in time at the head of the National Guard to restore order at versailes that night Louis the 16th maranet and their two children Departed the palace for the last time never to return they were escorted by the mob and members of the National Guard to the twillery Palace in the center of Paris where they could be more closely watched and guarded the enormous pressure under which the royal family now found themselves had opposite effects on Louis the 16th and Marie Antoinette Louie slipped deeper into his depression and indecision while his wife became more motivated to action than she had ever been before the next 2 years saw an extraordinary learning and maturation process for the queen who found that it had now fallen to her to hold the monarchy together if at all possible since the death of her son a few months before she seemed to have grown up overnight and in the coming months she would play the dangerous game of double agent on the one hand she worked closely with members of the National Assembly and later France's legislative and constituent assemblies to influence policy it was largely thanks to Marie Antoinette's intervention that Louis the 16th retained his power to declare war and veto legislation despite her perception of France's new political power Brokers as a pack of Madmen she tried to work with Republicans like the comp de mirabo the mayor of Paris Jean silvay and the Marquee de Lafayette whom she despised as much as he loed her but at the same time as she collaborated with the leaders of the Revolution earning their respect for her determination bravery intelligence and dignity she also stayed up late night after night secretly writing coded letters to monarchist allies throughout Europe particularly to her family in Austria she covertly kept these contacts informed of developments in France it is unclear now exactly what her ultimate intentions were but she appeared determined to keep channels of potential Escape open and also perhaps the possibility of one day retaking France from the revolutionaries it is possible that Marie antoanet and Louis V 16th might have been able to rise to the challenge of a constitutional monarchy but there was little they could do about the Deep divisions which were forming among revolutionary leaders and among the people of France in general no longer content with a constitutional monarchy and the end of noble and clerical privilege many were now in favor of dispensing with both the monarchy and the church all together after the death of mirabo her greatest Ally among the revolutionary leaders Marie an tanette began to contemplate escape from France more seriously the Revolution was radicalizing more every day the queen managed to convince her husband to flee before their freedom of movement was restricted any further and Escape became impossible late at night on the 14th of June 1791 the royal family slipped quietly into a carriage outside the twiy palace less than an hour later they had escaped Paris and were on their way to the Austrian border with count Axel feron who had helped Marie Antoinette orchestrate their escape driving the carriage once they were Far Enough From Paris Louie ordered the count to leave ostensibly because he did not want to seem to be accepting the assistance of a foreigner to flee France however it is just as likely that he was eager to send his wife's lover away for his own peace of mind the royal family made it as far as ven where Louie who had stepped out of the carriage only for a moment was recognized by the local postmaster incredibly the man had only ever seen the king's face on his coinage it is a testament to how poorly executed the Escape was that Louie was recognized their Carriage clothing and Luggage were too luxurious and expensive and worse when their belongings were searched the king's Royal regalia and Crown were found as well now truly prisoners reviled by their own people who believed that they would have brought Austrian armies to invade France the royal family were escorted by the National Guard back to Paris the crowds lining the root of their Carriage were eerily silent on pain of death from General Lafayette but watch the king and queen pass with hostile accusing eyes the following year saw the revolution become more radical still as the Jacobins Rose to power Marie antoinet made a final attempt to work for the promotion of the constitutional monarchy notably by establishing a correspondence and policy collaboration with antoan barav probably the most moderate and influential member of the constituent assembly at that time however by April France had declared war on Austria the mood in Paris grew more tense and competive throughout the summer fear of an Austrian Invasion to restore the monarchy spurred an attack on the twillery palace by September the assembly had abolished the monarchy only weeks later there was a city-wide Massacre of all royalists suspected sympathized and counterrevolutionaries then being held in paris's jails the royal family was moved to much more secure and heavily guarded quarters in the Fortress known as the temple the family had a few months of Peace together but in December the former Louis the 16th now known as citizen Lou Cape was put on trial for treason he was found guilty and sentenced to be executed by guillotine in January 1793 he was permitted to say a private it goodbye to his family before going to his execution the next day with dignity and quiet Courage the loss of her husband made Marie Antoinette cleave all the closer to her children but within a few months her son Lou sh and her eldest daughter Marie terz were taken away from her also the Doan was viewed as a serious threat a potential King in Waiting his jailers subjected the 7-year-old Prince to terrible emotional and physical abuse doing everything possible to indoctrinate him with the ideals of the Revolution Marie anet's daughter would eventually escaped to Austria but poor Lu shal would die in the temple of tubercular fever at the age of 10 Marie Antoinette was now entirely bereft and on the eve of the announcement that she would be put on trial for treason she was moved to a bare squalled dark cell in the dilapidated Fortress known as the Mar anet's trial was a f she was accused of conspiring with Austria against France of careless profligacy with the country's Treasury and of moral and sexual degeneration it is now known that the queen did indeed regularly provide intelligence to Austria and to other European allies but at the time of her trial there was absolutely no evidence that she had lacking any concrete evidence the proceedings turned into a rehashing of all the baseless rumors which had been published about her in the Scandal sheets over the years her judges even tried to add an accusation of incest to the list of charges Lou Charles's jailers had somehow coerced him to accuse his own mother of molesting him when asked why she did not respond to the charge Marie antoanet replied stonily nature refuses to answer such a charge brought against a mother I appeal in this matter to all mothers present in the court there there was an abashed and shameful silence and then several women called out to her in sympathy and support the judges pursued the incest charge no further but found Marie antanette guilty of treason nonetheless when asked if she had anything to say she replied I was a queen and you took away my crown a wife and you took away my husband a mother and you took away my children my blood alone remains take it if you wish but do not make me suffer long on the morning of the 16th of October 1793 Maran twanette changed from her one remaining black dress into one of shabby white brought to her by her jailers her hands were bound behind her and she was led from her cell in the conciergerie to the Courtyard where a small open cart waited as it wound slowly through the streets of Paris the crowds jeered and shouted obscenities at the still silent figure in white she looked decades older than her 38 years but kept her head up and her bearing at expression dignified journalists who turned out to watch Marie Antoinette's execution later wrote that she bore herself with all the Unapologetic haughtiness of the most unrepentant criminal yet if she had wept and wailed and begged for her life the same commentators likely would have denigrated her for being a coward the the queen went to her death with Incredible courage up on a platform in the middle of the pl rol the guillotine stood waiting surrounded by a crush of people noisily exhorting Marie Antoinette to her execution she climbed the few steps without faltering or hesitating and accidentally trod on The Executioner's foot the last words she spoke seemed to encapsulate everything she had experienced from the day she had arrived in France to this terrible f fin moment pardon me sir she said quietly I did not do it on purpose resolutely she knelt before the block the blade fell there was an eerie silence for an instant and then a Roar as the Executioner held up the Queen's head before the Bing crowd for more than a century following her death Mar anet's Legacy had been one of unapologetic and luxurious excess of completely toned deaf conduct and governance and disregard for the suffering of others these charges are merited to a certain extent especially if one considers what it cost France to support the royal family in the decadent style in which they had always lived it is true that as Queen she had made many mistakes but more and more historians in recent decades have begun to rehabilitate Her Image and to assert that she did not deserve what happened to her she had been ill-prepared and Ill trained to fill the role that had been thrust upon her when she was little more than a child nothing more than a porn on her mother's dynastic chessboard she had done what she believed was expected of her as Queen of France but being completely insulated from the changing World outside Versailles she had no idea that such a thing as public sentiment was now powerful enough to destroy her she had been a scapegoat and it was a testament to the deep and dark streak of misogyny running through French society that people could believe that her supposed greed sexual viciousness and domination of her husband had been solely responsible for the king's weakness his failure to embrace the Revolution and for France's collapse as tragic as it was the execution of Louis the 16th made a terrible kind of sense in the context of the Revolution as long as the king remained alive there would be plots to restore him to the throne and the new constitutional French Republic would never be safe yet it is difficult to view the execution of Marie antoanet as similarly necessary all authority had been vested in Louie not his Queen she had no power any longer to pose a threat to the revolutionaries who held her prisoner rather than an act of Justice Mar anet's sham trial and execution resembles an act of public rage far more than the king it was she who was the most hated person in France regardless of what could or could not be proven about her very few of the accusations leveled against her in the libel and the public Rumor Mill had any basis in fact not even the most famous misquote from the queen let them eat cake as she was believed to have replied when told that the French had no bread to eat Marie Antoinette's execution was a symbolic sacrifice to the revolution her blood would be an experation to show that for France there could be no going back what do you think of Marie Antoinette was she truly a doomed woman caught in historical circumstances which she could never have controlled did she waste opportunities to work with reformers and help keep the revolution moderate or was the fall of France's monarchy the radicalization of the Revolution and the coming of the terror or all inevitable please let us know what you think in the comments section and as always thank you very much for watching for