Marie Antoinette’s tragic life is not what many people imagine it to have been. Her legacy, personality, and history have been warped, diluted, and changed over time. The hatred of those who opposed her has stuck with us for centuries, leaving us with the caricature of a selfish, unrestrained queen who contributed to the downfall of a kingdom. Marie Antoinette never said “let them eat cake.” In truth, she was a complicated person, with both flaws and strengths of her own, much like the rest of us.
Early Life
Marie Antoinette grew up in a palace. Born as Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna on November 2, 1755, her parents were Empress Maria Teresa of Austria and Emperor Francis I of the Holy Roman Empire. She was the fifteenth of sixteen children.
Her early childhood was spent in the bustling city of Vienna, surrounded by extravagant finery. For a girl who would someday become a queen, she enjoyed a somewhat relaxed and happy childhood, learning how to dance, sing, and play music with her many siblings. According to Barbara Maranzani, “Marie Antoinette’s education was typical of an 18th century aristocratic girl and focused primarily on religious and moral principles, while her brothers studied more academic subject matter.” Her life changed drastically when she was eleven years old, and she was betrothed to the dauphin, or prince, of France.
The marriage between Marie and the 12-year-old dauphin was intended to secure the new alliance between France and Austria–a tense relation at best. As one of the youngest children in her family, she had never been expected to make such an important or advantageous match, and she was suddenly the center of everyone’s attention. She rigorously studied French language and history. Special tutors from France were hired just to teach her the rules and manners of the court at the palace of Versailles. When she turned 14, the marriage was finalized, and Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna left Austria; gone was her home, her friends, and the life she knew as she became the Dauphine Marie Antoinette of France.
Life in Versailles
At court, Marie was young and alone. Her husband, Louis XVI, was by all accounts an honest and well-meaning person, but he was also shy and unsure of himself, and not exactly fit to be a king. According to historians studying Versailles, Marie was unaccustomed to the ritualistic nature of the court: “[Marie] was bound by the official rituals of her royal position: the waking-up ceremony, the elaborate preparations, royal audiences, public meals, etc. Having grown up with the less elaborate ceremonial routine of Austria’s royal palaces, she had a hard time adapting to Versailles’ complex etiquette and tried to seek out a more private life.”
To combat her isolation and loneliness, she formed a tight-knit group of friends and favorites, and enjoyed herself by living extravagantly. She loved partying and gambling, and was a huge patron of the arts. She adored dancing, singing, and entertainment, and often chose the shows to be put on at the palace. She herself played both the harp and the harpsichord, and regularly commissioned paintings from artists she supported. Marie also loved fashion, which has stuck with her legacy as an unnecessary indulgence.
When she was only 18, the sudden passing of Louis XV throttled her to become the queen of France. She still had not given birth to an heir to the throne, and now that she was queen, it escalated into a matter of public concern. Her image, in the eyes of France, began its downward spiral.
When she was 23, she finally gave birth to her first daughter, Marie Teresa. According to Maranzani, Marie was a kind and loving mother, devoting time and energy into raising her children, “though royal protocol prevented her from handling their day-to-day care.”
She would give birth to three more children after this; Louis Joseph Xavier François in 1781, Louis XVII in 1785, and Sophie Hélène Béatrix in 1786. Unfortunately, Sophie died shortly after birth, and her oldest son would pass away in 1789. Their deaths hit both the king and the queen very intensely.
As a mother, Marie paid less attention to the many rules and subtleties of court and instead became a trendsetter in Versailles. Her disruptive fashion sense and actions spawned much gossip and attention. She partied and lived an extravagant life, building herself castles and even a small village meant to mimic the quaint peasant cottages in the countryside, called le hameau de la reine. Historians studying the Habsburg Dynasty call it a “bucolic fantasy world in which an artificial village idyll was to provide relief from the stiff formality of court life.” Unsurprisingly, this did not go over well with the common people who were offended at the notion that she was romanticizing their lives in poverty, regardless of whether that was her intention.
The Downfall of a Regime
At this point, Marie had made enemies. Her extravagant and alternative lifestyle made her an easy target for the court and for the people of France. Around this time, they were becoming more and more frustrated with the monarchy, and someone who was so public with her spending and lavish tastes was nearly the physical embodiment of all that was wrong with those in power.
Marie was demonized and projected as the conniving, selfish queen who manipulated her husband and kept money out of the hands of the people. In reality, she was cut off and sheltered from the real problems that her country was facing. Maranzani writes, “despite her lavish lifestyle, Marie Antoinette gave to charity and had compassion for her country’s common class.” She likely knew very little about the situation until her reputation was so tarnished that there was no hope of saving it.
The French Revolution, a ten year period of instability, revolt, and death in which the peasants rose up against the monarchy, was on the horizon. Marie made some cursory attempts to influence policy changes and reforms, all of which failed to make a difference. Historians say that even after the royal family was put on house arrest in Paris, “the always indecisive Louis XVI acted almost paralyzed, and Marie Anotinette immediately stepped into his place, meeting with advisers and ambassadors and dispatching urgent letters to other european rulers, begging them to help save france’s monarchy.” She came close to succeeding several times- once the family attempted to escape to Austria and were caught mere miles from the border- but it was eventually for nought.
On October 16, 1793, Marie was executed by guillotine. She was paraded through the streets in front of jeering crowds, but she kept her composure and her grace until the final moment. Her last words came after she accidentally stepped on her executioner’s foot: “Pardon, monsieur. I did not do it on purpose.”
What her life and her legacy teaches us is that we need to be mindful of history, of the layers and layers of time and hatred and nuance that shapes our perception of it. Humans are more than just symbols, more than just the largest events in our lives. We are combinations of the good and the bad and even the mediocre, and that is what makes us capable of change, and interesting, and most importantly, who we really are.