Marie Antoinette, «AN twuh NEHT» (1755-1793), was the beautiful queen of France who died on the guillotine during the French Revolution. Her frivolity and plotting helped undermine the monarchy.
The young queen was lively and extravagant. The stiff formalities of court life bored her, so she amused herself with such pleasures as fancy balls, theatricals, and gambling. Marie lacked a good education and cared very little for serious affairs. She did not hesitate to urge the dismissal of the able ministers of France whose efforts to reduce royal spending threatened her pleasures. Louis XVI gave her the chateau called the Petit Trianon, where the queen and her friends amused themselves (see Versailles, Palace of).
Marie became very unpopular and was blamed for the corruption of the French court. She lavished money on court favorites and paid no attention to France's financial crisis. Vicious stories were told about her. One of these stories illustrates the haughty attitude people associated with her name. According to the story, Marie once asked an official why the Parisians were angry. "Because they have no bread," was the reply. "Then let them eat cake," said the queen. The suffering people of Paris readily believed this false story.
Her early life. Marie was born on Nov. 2, 1755, in Vienna, Austria. She was the youngest and favorite daughter of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa, rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. Marie was brought up in the hope that she might one day be queen of France. She married the French dauphin (crown prince) in 1770. Four years later, he became King Louis XVI, and Marie became queen.
The revolution. Tragedy struck Marie twice in 1789. Her eldest son died, and the French Revolution started. Her weak-willed husband lost control of the nation. She tried to stiffen his will, but her stubborn opposition to the revolutionary changes only made people angrier.
The king, partly on Marie's advice, assembled troops around Versailles twice in 1789. Both times violence followed, and royal authority became weaker. The second time, early in October 1789, a hungry and desperate Parisian crowd marched to Versailles and forced the royal family to move to the Tuileries palace in Paris. From then on, Louis and Marie were virtual prisoners.
The rulers might have been able to rally the nation in support of a constitutional monarchy like that of England, had they followed the advice of moderate statesmen, such as the Comte de Mirabeau (see Mirabeau, Comte de). Instead, Marie Antoinette plotted for military aid from the rulers of Europe—especially from her brother, Leopold II of Austria. She refused to make any concessions at all to the revolutionists.
Downfall of the monarchy. Finally, Marie influenced Louis to flee from Paris on the night of June 20, 1791. The royal family set out in disguise by carriage for the eastern frontier of France. But an alert patriot recognized the king from his picture on French paper money. The king and queen were halted at Varennes and returned under guard to Paris. Their flight made the people distrust their rulers even more. But Louis promised to accept a new constitution that limited his powers.
Marie now worked to get aid from abroad, and, when war with Austria and Prussia came in 1792, she passed military secrets on to the enemy. The people suspected such treason. On Aug. 10, 1792, they threw the royal family into prison, ending the monarchy. Louis XVI died on the guillotine on Jan. 21, 1793. After bravely enduring imprisonment, Marie Antoinette, called Widow Capet by the revolutionists, was tried for treason. She died on the guillotine on Oct. 16, 1793.