Marie Antoinette's Early Life

Marie Antoinette was born in 1755. She was one of the 16 children of Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and Holy Roman emperor Francis I. Her original name was Maria Antonia; Marie Antoinette was the name she took when she married.

Archduchess Antonia grew up in the highly moral environment of her mother's court. Maria Theresa was a strong leader, beloved by her people. The busy empress supervised her children's upbringing as closely as she could, but Antonia's education was left largely in the hands of a governess who was happy to spoil the pretty, high-spirited little girl. Antonia spent more time playing than studying, although she enjoyed her music lessons and became an excellent harpist and dancer.

Unlike so many royal couples, her parents had married for love and truly enjoyed family life. Although the court was a place of great formality on important occasions, in private the royal family was rather casual. Antonia regarded her mother with awe but was close to her good-natured father. A shadow fell over Antonia's sunny life in 1765, when her father died of a stroke at the age of 56.

A few years later, Antonia's childhood came to an end. Her mother had arranged Antonia's marriage to the dauphin (crown prince) of France to cement an alliance between Austria and France. In 1770, at age 14, Marie Antoinette left her homeland and travelled to the French palace of Versailles to be married.

Her 15-year-old groom, Louis, was fat, awkward, and shy. He neglected his royal duties in favor of hunting and working in his locksmith shop. He also suffered from a medical condition known as phimosis which prevented him from fathering children for the first seven years of his marriage. The public, knowing nothing of this, blamed Marie Antoinette for her failure to bear heirs to the throne -- as she would so often be blamed for things beyond her control.

The court of Versailles was more rigid than Maria Theresa's court, and Marie Antoinette yawned and giggled openly during royal ceremonies. As time went on she became increasingly rebellious. She insisted on going out alone or with a few companions, instead of surrounded by attendants. She picked her own friends and even her own clothes, refusing to wear corsets and stays. When her brother visited the court he commented disapprovingly that she had bad manners and was not doing her job.

In 1774 the old king died and Marie Antoinette's husband became King Louis XVI. Three years later he had minor surgery that enabled him to father children. Marie Antoinette's first child, Marie Therese Charlotte (called Madame Royale) was born the following year. By most accounts, Marie Antoinette then settled down to married life and became a devoted wife and mother.




An Unpopular Queen

Many French people hated the queen for her Austrian blood and her formerly frivolous ways. She was rumored to have had numerous affairs. The most persistent rumor centered on Count Hans Axel Fersen, a Swedish diplomat. He was definitely one of the queen's favorites, but it is doubtful that they were lovers. Yet Marie Antoinette was reviled in pornographic songs, pictures and pamphlets. Someone even published a fake autobiography in which the queen supposedly confessed her sins, calling herself a prostitute.

Marie Antoinette was also called Madame Deficit and blamed for the country's financial problems. It is true that she enjoyed a lavish lifestyle; her mother wrote to warn her that "a queen can only degrade herself by this sort of heedless extravagance in difficult times." But Marie Antoinette was not quite as foolish and spoiled as the public believed. It certainly is not true that she said "Let them eat cake" when told that people were starving. As a woman and a foreigner she made a convenient scapegoat for the nation's problems, and it seemed that no slander against her was too wild to be widely believed.

As she matured Marie Antoinette became less extravagant. She tried to change her image by wearing simple gowns and posing for portraits with her children, but her efforts had little effect on the unforgiving public. The greatest damage to her reputation was created by a scandal in which she played no part at all: the Diamond Necklace Affair.

The Cardinal de Rohan wished to improve his social status at Versailles, and a woman calling herself the Comtesse de La Motte offered to help him. Unfortunately for the cardinal, Jeanne de La Motte was not really a comtesse. She was a con artist. She hired a woman to dress like Marie Antoinette and meet the cardinal in the gardens of Versailles at night. The false queen gave the cardinal a rose and hurried away, leaving the cardinal under the illusion that he had met Marie Antoinette.

Next Mme La Motte told the cardinal that the queen wanted him to purchase a very expensive diamond necklace on her behalf. Obediently the cardinal obtained the necklace and gave it to Mme La Motte, expecting the queen to pay for it. Of course, Marie Antoinette never saw the necklace; Mme La Motte gave the diamonds to her husband, who took them to London and sold them. When the jewelers demanded payment, the Diamond Necklace Affair became public. The cardinal and Mme La Motte were arrested. The cardinal was tried and acquitted. Mme La Motte was imprisoned, publicly flogged, and branded. Eventually she escaped to London, where she spread malicious rumors about Marie Antoinette.

Although Marie Antoinette was innocent in the whole affair, it was widely believed that she had accepted the necklace and refused to pay for it. There were even rumors that she had had an affair with Mme La Motte! The Diamond Necklace Affair contributed greatly to Marie Antoinette's downfall.