The true story of Marie Antionette begins on Nov. 2, 1755 with her birth in Vienna. The eleventh child of the Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg Empire, and the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, Maria Antonia (her Austrian name) is destined to live a life dictated by others.
Consider her marriage. On Feb. 7, 1770 King Louis XV of France requests Maria Antonia’s hand on behalf of his heir and grandson, Louis-Auguste. Royal marriages like this one aren’t about love; rather, this is a strategic decision between two world super powers, Austria and France, designed to strengthen their alliance against Great Britain and Prussia.
The young (so young) couple is married by proxy in Vienna on April 19; a month later, Maria meets her new husband for the first time in a forest outside of Paris, where she renounces her rights to Habsburg titles and holdings, and changes her name to the French, Marie Antionette.
She is 14.
At first, the Dauphine seems fairly popular in her new country. She’s young, beautiful and charming, though some in Versailles suspect she might still be loyal to Austria.
Whispers that the couple have yet to consummate their marriage are proven true, and concern grows about whether the couple will produce an heir. This is of particular concern to Empress Maria Therese, who is counting on her daughter to bear a French son and protect the alliance with France. She is so concerned, in fact, that she enlists the Austrian ambassador to France as a spy to report her daughter’s every move — and the court gossip.
Four years after their marriage, King Louis XV dies and Louis-Auguste and Marie Antionette ascend the throne as the king and queen of France.
They are 18.
The reign of Louis XVI is doomed from the start. France’s national debt explodes; in response, finance ministers raise taxes, especially on the poor. Very few people can find work, and several years of poor crops lead to food shortages and widespread poverty.
The country turns on its queen. Marie Antionette presides over a royal court of 500 people, with all the trappings that accompany royal life. She cultivates a circle of favorites to keep her company, and she treats them well, with parties, shopping, fashion and more parties. And as royal expenditures mount, the country finds its scapegoat.
Rumors fly that she is having affairs, is a lesbian, is spying for Austria. One scandal has her plotting to steal the most expensive diamond necklace ever commissioned from the royal jewelers. Later, she’s accused of resisting financial reforms that would help people suffering in the streets.
Newspapers print pamphlets detailing her crimes against France, and editorial cartoonists have a field day.
Unfortunately, none of this is true (other than the affairs, but it is France after all). Marie Antionette never says, “Let them eat cake!” about people starving in Paris — a journalist makes it up. But the damage to her reputation is done, as is the French monarchy.
Four years after ascending the throne, Marie finally gives birth in 1778 to her first child, a girl she names Marie Therese, after her mother. Louis Joseph is born three years later, becoming his father’s heir. A third child, Louis Charles, is born in 1785, followed by Sophie in July of 1786. She will live less than a year; her brother, Louis Joseph will die of tuberculosis on June 4, 1789, at the age of seven.
French revolutionaries storm the Bastille just weeks after Louis dies. Marie is 34.
On October 5, 1789, crowds force the royal family to move from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris to live under house arrest. Louis and Marie lay low, working behind the scenes to salvage the monarchy and ultimately stop the revolution. After several escape attempts, in 1792 the Revolutionary government abolishes the monarchy; Louis XVI is executed for treason in January of 1793.
Marie is sent to solitary confinement in August, then brought before a military tribunal on Oct. 14. Two days later she is found guilty of depleting the national treasury, conspiracy against the State, and high treason for spying against France, and sentenced to die.
Preparing for her execution, Maire chooses a plain white dress, honoring the widowed queens of France.
She was 38.