Marie Antoinette Article

Marie Antoinette Archduchess of Austria and Queen of France by K.R.J.Tattersall The future Queen of France was born on All Souls' Day, 2nd November, 1755, in Vienna as the youngest daughter of Maria Theresa and the Emperor Franz Stephan. She was baptised under the names Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna. A glorious future seemed to await the little Archduchess. Not only would she grow up in the bosom of a large and affectionate family, but from the very beginning her mother intended to marry her youngest daughter to the glittering Crown of France. The traditional marriage politics of the Habsburgs would secure her beloved daughter a brilliant position and help guarantee the peace and stability of Europe at the same time. In view of these intentions, it is surprising that not greater attention was paid to the young Archduchess's education, especially since Maria Antonia exhibited little ability or inclination to concentrate, nor any great desire to apply herself to her studies. Music alone was capable of arousing moderate interest in the young princess. She showed some talent here and even played duets with the young Mozart in the Palace of Schönbrunn. In 1769 the much longed for news arrived from Versailles. After tedious and lengthy negotiations, King Louis XV had requested the hand of the Archduchess Maria Antonia for his grandson and heir, the Dauphin Louis-Auguste. The 14 year old girl, who had hardly been prepared for her new exalted rank, bade farewell to her mother and family in Vienna on 21st April, 1770, and with an impressive bridal train began her fateful journey to the Kingdom of France. She travelled up the River Danube and via Munich and Augsburg, stopping at Günzburg, Ulm and Freiburg in what was then still Austrian territory. On 7th May, near Strassburg, she was delivered into the hands of her new French homeland. Both at Strassburg itself and at Saverne outside Strassburg she was the guest of Cardinal Louis de Rohan, who would later so damage her reputation in the so-called "Diamond Necklace Affair". Having once arrived in Versailles, the young and inexperienced Marie Antoinette (as she would be called from now on) easily got into difficulties in a Court full of gossip and intrigue. She was not given by nature to diplomacy and reflection, and in the artificial and pleasure-loving atmosphere of Versailles her personality found hardly any chance for development. Her choice of amusements and occupations remained superficial and frivolous. Her husband, the Dauphin Louis-Auguste, was a shy and rather awkward young man, who remained unable to consummate the marriage for seven years. This fact alone brought a lot of criticism and mockery down on the head of the childless "Austrian woman". Marie Antoinette escaped into a world of amusement. She feared nothing so much as boredom. With her two brothers-in-law as companions, she dedicated herself to the theatre, to balls and to card games.

In 1774 the old King died, and the Dauphin acceded to the throne of France as Louis XVI. The young princess was now Queen of France. The Empress Maria Theresa back in Vienna knew her daughter well, and she was apprehensive that Marie Antoinette should have to bear the burden of a crown so early in life. In a series of letters full of advice and admonitions, the mother tried to guide her daughter along the right paths, but Marie Antoinette was interested only in fashion, with its currently elaborate and absurd hair-styles. Her extravagant life style and the enormous sums spent on her pleasure palace of "Le Petit Trianon" in the park of Versailles brought her increasing criticism. The notorious "Diamond Necklace Affair" is indicative of the loss of respect and popularity that Marie Antoinette was to undergo. In 1785 the ambitious Cardinal de Rohan fell into the clutches of a confidence trickster called Jeanne de la Motte. Having lost favour years before, the worldly prelate was desperately seeking a means of regaining the good graces of the Queen. Jeanne convinced him that Marie Antoinette wanted him to purchase for her a fabulous necklace made of 647 diamonds. The gullible cardinal proceeded to acquire the necklace, believing he was acting on behalf of his Queen. Jeanne took charge of the diamonds as the Queen's "go-between", and her husband smuggled them off to England to be sold. When the expected payment for the necklace failed to materialise, the jeweller took his claim directly to the Queen in Versailles. Marie Antoinette was horrified. She saw in it a plot to bring further discredit upon her and she demanded that the Cardinal de Rohan be made to stand trial. Although Jeanne de la Motte was convicted, the cardinal was acquitted by the Parlement of Paris. This was openly celebrated as a victory over the "Austrian woman", because most people believed that the extravagant and unpopular Queen simply must be behind the matter somehow or other. Meanwhile conditions in France had been deteriorating badly. Discontent stalked the land. The government was weak. The royal treasury was empty. By 1789 the state was bankrupt and Louis XVI had no choice but to summon a meeting of the Estates-General. The members of the Estates-General, however, refused simply to vote taxes as requied. They swore an oath not to dissolve before they had given France a constitution. The French Revolution had begun. On 14th July, 1789, the Paris mob stormed the hated symbol of the Old Regime, the castle-prison of the Bastille. In October the Revolution forced the royal family to move from the relative safety of Versailles to Paris. At first Louis tried conscientiously to perform his duties as a constitutional monarch, but when the Revolution turned against the Catholic Church in France, the deeply religious King knew that he and the Revolution must part company. On 20th June, 1791, the royal family fled Paris by night and tried to escape abroad. It was an escape attempt plagued by mischance. In Varennes the King was recognised from his portrait on the coinage! The royal family were arrested and brought back in humiliation to Paris. The flight to Varennes sealed the fate of the French

monarchy. In August of 1792 the mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. The royal family were now incarcerated in the Temple prison (originally a castle belonging to the knights of the Templar Order). A month later France was declared a republic. King Louis XVI of the House of Bourbon was now called simply "citizen Capet". (The Capets had been an earlier French royal house.) In December he was put on trial for treason against the French people. His conviction was a foregone conclusion, and on 21st January, 1793, King Louis XVI was publicly beheaded under the guillotine. Her own unpopularity combined with the growing threats from abroad (especially from her own nephew, the Emperor, in Vienna) sealed Marie Antoinette's fate, too. On 14th October the "widow Capet" stood before the revolutionary tribunal. The charges were high treason and illicit sexual practices (an attempt to further blacken her character, which then had to be abandoned in the face of a storm of protest from the women present). In her desperate situation Marie Antoinette found her true depth of character. It was as a genuine daughter of the formidable Maria Theresa that she stood her ground before her enemies in the tribunal. Now in her peril she developed that strength and seriousness of character which Schönbrunn and Versailles had conspired to prevent. Despite this heroism, however, her conviction was as assured as that of her husband. At 4.30 a.m. on 16th October, 1793, (the day of her execution) Marie Antoinette wrote a letter of farewell to her sister-in-law, Madame Elisabeth, who was still in the Temple prison. "I have just been condemned, not to a shameful death, which can only apply to felons, but rather to finding your brother (Louis XVI) again............I seek forgiveness from all whom I know for every harm I may have unwittingly caused them.............Adieu, good, gentle sister......I embrace you with all my heart as well as the poor, dear children...." Madame Elisabeth never received the letter. In 1794 she would follow Louis and Marie Antoinette to the guillotine. At 10 a.m. on 16th October, 1793, the "widow Capet" was taken from the Conciergerie prison where she had been held during her trial, and with hands bound behind her, was placed in the tumbrel for her last journey in this world. Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of France, went quietly and bravely to her death. A tragic end to a fateful journey begun so promisingly almost a quarter of a century before -- with her bridal train from Vienna to Versailles in 1770. Marie Antoinette was not yet 38 years old.