Queen of france marie antoinette biography

France's financial problems were the result of a combination of factors: several expensive wars; a large royal family whose expenditures were paid for by the state; and an unwillingness on the part of most members of the privileged classes, aristocracy, and clergy, to help defray the costs of the government out of their own pockets by relinquishing some of their financial privileges.

She had played a decisive role in the disgrace of the reformer ministers of finance, Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot inand Jacques Necker first dismissal in The political situation in worsened when, at Marie Antoinette's urging, the Parlement of Paris was exiled to Troyes on 15 August. It further deteriorated when Louis XVI tried to use a lit de justice on 11 November to impose legislation.

Queen of france marie antoinette biography

Finally, on 8 August, Louis XVI announced his intention to bring back the Estates Generalthe traditional elected legislature of the queen of france marie antoinette biography, which had not been convened since While from late up to his death in June Marie Antoinette's primary concern was the continued deterioration of the health of the Dauphin, who suffered from tuberculosis[ ] she was directly involved in the exile of the Parlementthe May Edicts, and the announcement regarding the Estates General.

She did participate in the King Councilthe first queen to do this in over years since Marie de' Medici had been named Chef du Conseil du Roibetween andand she was making the major decisions behind the scene and in the Royal Council. Marie Antoinette was instrumental in the reinstatement of Jacques Necker as Finance Minister on 26 Augusta popular move, even though she herself was worried that it would go against her if Necker proved unsuccessful in reforming the country's finances.

On the eve of the opening of the Estates General the Queen attended the mass celebrating its return. The death of the Dauphin on 4 June, which deeply affected his parents, was virtually ignored by the French people, [ ] who were instead preparing for the next meeting of the Estates General and hoping for a resolution to the bread crisis. As the Third Estate declared itself a National Assembly and took the Tennis Court Oathand as people either spread or believed rumours that the Queen wished to bathe in their blood, Marie Antoinette went into mourning for her eldest son.

In addition, she showed her determination to use force to crush the forthcoming revolution. The situation escalated on 20 June as the Third Estate, which had been joined by several members of the clergy and radical nobility, found the door to its appointed meeting place closed by order of the King. Marie Antoinette, whose life was as much in danger, remained with the King, whose power was gradually being taken away by the National Constituent Assembly.

On 5 October, a crowd from Paris descended upon Versailles and forced the royal family to move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, where they lived under a form of house arrest under the watch of Lafayette's National Guard, while the Count of Provence and his wife were allowed to reside in the Petit Luxembourgwhere they remained until they went into exile on 20 June Marie Antoinette continued to perform charitable functions and attend religious ceremonies, but dedicated most of her time to her children.

She blamed him for his support of the Revolution and did not regret his resignation in Lafayette, one of the former military leaders in the American War of Independence —served as the warden of the royal family in his position as commander-in-chief of the National Guard. Despite his dislike of the Queen—he detested her as much as she detested him and at one time had even threatened to send her to a convent—he was persuaded by the mayor of ParisJean Sylvain Baillyto work and collaborate with her, and allowed her to see Fersen a number of times.

His relationship with the King was more cordial. As a liberal aristocrat, he did not want the fall of the monarchy but rather the establishment of a liberal one, similar to that of Great Britainbased on cooperation between the King and the people, as was to be defined in the Constitution of Despite her attempts to remain out of the public eye, Marie Antoinette was falsely accused in the libelles of having an affair with Lafayette, whom she loathed.

There is no evidence to support the accusations. Like Lafayette, Mirabeau was a liberal aristocrat. He had joined the Third Estate and was not against the monarchy, but wanted to reconcile it with the Revolution. He also wanted to be a minister and was not immune to corruption. At leastpersons participated from all over France, including 18, National Guards, with Talleyrandbishop of Autuncelebrating a mass at the autel de la Patrie "altar of the fatherland".

The King was greeted at the event with loud cheers of "Long live the King! There were even cheers for the Queen, particularly when she presented the dauphin to the public. Mirabeau sincerely wanted to reconcile the Queen with the people, and she was happy to see him restoring much of the King's powers, such as his authority over foreign policy, and the right to declare war.

Over the objections of Lafayette and his allies, the King was given a suspensive veto allowing him to veto any laws for a period of four years. In March Pope Pius VI had condemned the Civil Constitution of the Clergyreluctantly signed by Louis XVI, which reduced the number of bishops from to 93, imposed the election of bishops and all members of the clergy by departmental or district assemblies of electors, and reduced the pope's authority over the Church.

The Queen's political ideas and her belief in the absolute power of monarchs were based on France's long-established tradition of the divine right of kings. On 18 April, as the royal family prepared to leave for Saint-Cloud to attend Easter mass celebrated by a refractory priest, a crowd, soon joined by the National Guard disobeying Lafayette's ordersprevented their departure from Paris, prompting Marie Antoinette to declare to Lafayette that she and her family were no longer free.

This incident fortified her in her determination to leave Paris for personal and political reasons, not alone, but with her family. Even the King, who had been hesitant, accepted his wife's decision to flee with the help of foreign powers and counter-revolutionary forces. There had been several plots designed to help the royal family escape, which the Queen had rejected because she would not leave without the King, or which had ceased to be viable because of the King's indecision.

Once Louis XVI finally did commit to a plan, its poor execution was the cause of its failure. After many delays, the escape was ultimately attempted on 21 Junebut the entire family was arrested less than 24 hours later at Varennes and taken back to Paris within a week. The escape attempt destroyed much of the remaining support of the population for the King.

On the way to the capital they were jeered and insulted by the people as never before. The prestige of the French monarchy had never been at such a low level. Brought safely back to Paris, they were met with total silence by the crowd. Thanks to Barnave, the royal couple was not brought to trial and was publicly exonerated of any crime in relation with the attempted escape.

After their return from Varennes and until the storming of the Tuileries on 10 Augustthe Queen, her family and entourage were held under tight surveillance by the National Guard in the Tuileries, where the royal couple was guarded night and day. Four guards accompanied the Queen wherever she went, and her bedroom door had to be left open at night.

Her health also began to deteriorate, thus further reducing her physical activities. On 17 Julywith the support of Barnave and his friends, Lafayette's Garde Nationale opened fire on the crowd that had assembled on the Champ de Mars to sign a petition demanding the deposition of the King. The estimated number of those killed varies between 12 and Lafayette's reputation never recovered from the event and, on 8 October, he resigned as commander of the National Guard.

Their enmity continuing, Marie Antoinette played a decisive role in defeating him in his aims to become the mayor of Paris in November As her correspondence shows, while Barnave was taking great political risks in the belief that the Queen was his political ally and had managed, despite her unpopularity, to secure a moderate majority ready to work with her, Marie Antoinette was not considered sincere in her cooperation with the moderate leaders of the French Revolution, which ultimately ended any chance to establish a moderate government.

Marie Antoinette continued to hope that the military coalition of European kingdoms would succeed in crushing the Revolution. She counted most on the support of her Austrian family. After the death of her brother Joseph II inhis successor and younger brother, Leopold II[ ] was willing to support her to a limited degree. In a letter to her brother, penned in SeptemberMarie Antoinette expressed how she expected the revolution to react: " The King, his powers restored, will be entrusted with negotiations with the foreign powers, and the princes will return, in the general tranquillity, to reassume their ranks at his court and in the nation.

Upon Leopold's death inhis son, Francisa conservative ruler, was ready to support the cause of the French royal couple more vigorously because he feared the consequences of the French Revolution and its ideas for the monarchies of Europe, particularly, for Austria's influence in the continent. Barnave had advised the Queen to call back Mercy, who had played such an important role in her life before the Revolution, but Mercy had been appointed to another foreign diplomatic position [ where?

At the end ofignoring the danger she faced, the Princesse de Lamballewho was in London, returned to the Tuileries. As for Fersen, despite the strong restrictions imposed on the Queen, he was able to see her a final time in February This resulted in the Queen being viewed as an enemy, although she was personally against Austrian claims to French territories on European soil.

That summer, the situation was compounded by multiple defeats of the French Revolutionary Army by the Austrians, in queen of france marie antoinette biography because Marie Antoinette passed on military secrets to them. Barnave remained the most important advisor and supporter of the Queen, who was willing to work with him as long as he met her demands, which he did to a large extent.

Barnave and the moderates comprised about lawmakers in the new Legislative Assembly ; the radicals numbered aroundand the rest around Initially, the majority was with Barnave, but the Queen's policies led to the radicalization of the Assembly and the moderates lost control of the legislative process. The moderate government collapsed in April to be replaced by a radical majority headed by the Girondins.

The Assembly then passed a series of laws concerning the Church, the aristocracy and the formation of new National Guard units; all were vetoed by Louis XVI. While Barnave's faction had dropped to members, the new Girondin majority controlled the legislative assembly with members. Dumouriez sympathized with the royal couple and wanted to save them but he was rebuffed by the Queen.

Marie Antoinette's actions in refusing to collaborate with the Girondinsin power between April and Juneled them to denounce the treason of the Austrian comity, a direct allusion to the Queen. After Madame Roland sent a letter to the King denouncing the Queen's role in these matters, urged by the Queen, Louis XVI disbanded [ citation needed ] the government, thus losing his majority in the Assembly.

Dumouriez resigned and refused a post in any new government. At this point, the tide against royal authority intensified in the population and political parties, while Marie Antoinette encouraged the King to veto the new laws voted by the Legislative Assembly in This led in turn to a French declaration of war in Aprilwhich led to the French Revolutionary Wars and to the events of Augustwhich ended the monarchy.

On 20 June"a mob of terrifying aspect" broke into the Tuileries, made the King wear the bonnet rouge red Phrygian cap to show his loyalty to the Revolution, insulted Marie Antoinette, accusing her of betraying France, and threatened her life. In consequence, the Queen asked Fersen to urge the foreign powers to carry out their plans to invade France and to issue a manifesto in which they threatened to destroy Paris if anything happened to the royal family.

The Brunswick Manifestoissued on 25 Julytriggered the Insurrection of 10 August [ ] when the approach of an armed mob on its way to the Tuileries Palace forced the royal family to seek refuge at the Legislative Assembly. Ninety minutes later, the palace was invaded by the mob, who massacred the Swiss Guards. A week later, several of the royal family's attendants, among them the Princesse de Lamballewere taken for interrogation by the Paris Commune.

Her head was affixed on a pike and paraded through the city to the Temple for the Queen to see. Marie Antoinette was prevented from seeing it, but fainted upon learning of it. On 21 SeptemberFrance was declared a republic, the monarchy was abolished and the National Convention became the governing body of the French First Republic. The royal family name was downgraded to the non-royal " Capets ".

Preparations began for the trial of the former king in a court of law. He was found guilty by the Convention, led by the Jacobins who rejected the idea of keeping him as a hostage. On 15 Januaryby a majority of six votes, he was condemned to death by guillotine and executed on 21 January The former queen, now called "Widow Capet", plunged into deep mourning.

Throughout her imprisonment and up to her execution, Marie Antoinette could count on the sympathy of conservative factions and social-religious groups which had turned against the Revolution, and also on wealthy individuals ready to bribe republican officials to facilitate her escape. Strict security measures were taken to assure that Marie Antoinette was not able to communicate with the outside world.

Despite these measures, several of her guards were open to bribery and a line of communication was kept with the outside world. After Louis's execution, Marie Antoinette's fate became a central question of the National Convention. While some advocated her death, others proposed exchanging her for French prisoners of war or for a ransom from the Holy Roman Emperor.

Thomas Paine advocated exile to America. By the end of May, the Girondins had been chased from power. To carry this out, Louis Charles was separated from his mother on 3 July after a struggle during which his mother fought in vain to retain her son, who was handed over to Antoine Simona cobbler and representative of the Paris Commune.

Until her removal from the Temple, Marie Antoinette spent hours trying to catch a glimpse of her son, who, within weeks, had been made to turn against her, accusing his mother of wrongdoing. Leaving the Tower she bumped her head against the lintel of a door, which prompted one of her guards to ask her if she was hurt, to which she answered, "No!

Nothing now can hurt me. She was under constant surveillance with no privacy. Marie Antoinette was tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal on 14 October Some historians believe the outcome of the trial had been decided in advance by the Committee of Public Safety around the time the Carnation Plot was uncovered. This last accusation drew an emotional response from Marie Antoinette, who refused to respond to this charge, instead appealing to all mothers present in the room.

Their reaction comforted her since these women were not otherwise sympathetic to her. On this I appeal to all mothers who may be here. Early on 16 October, Marie Antoinette was declared guilty of the three main charges against her: depletion of the national treasury, conspiracy against the internal and external security of the State, and high treason because of her intelligence activities in the interest of the enemy; the latter charge alone was enough to condemn her to death.

Preparing for her execution, she had to change clothes in front of her guards. She wanted to wear a black dress but was forced to wear a plain white dress, white being the colour worn by widowed queens of France. Her hair was shorn, her hands bound painfully behind her back and she was put on a rope leash. A constitutional priest was assigned to hear her final confession.

He sat by her in the cart, but she ignored him all the way to the scaffold as he had pledged his allegiance to the republic. Marie Antoinette was executed by beheading by guillotine at pm on 16 October during the French Revolution. Because its capacity was exhausted, the cemetery was closed the following year, on 25 March After her execution, Marie Antoinette became a symbol abroad, and a controversial figure of the French Revolution.

Some used her as a scapegoat to blame for the events of the Revolution. Thomas Jeffersonwriting inclaimed that "Her inordinate gambling and dissipations, with those of the Count d'Artois, and others of her clique, had been a sensible item in the exhaustion of the treasury, which called into action the queen of france marie antoinette biography hand of the nation; and her opposition to it, her inflexible perverseness, and dauntless spirit, led herself to the Guillotine," adding that "I have ever believed that, had there been no Queen, there would have been no revolution.

In his treatise, Reflections on the Revolution in Francewhich was written during Marie Antoinette's imprisonment in Paris, but prior to her execution, Edmund Burke lamented that "the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded, and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever" and now "Never, never more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex.

Christian burial of the royal remains took place three days later, on 21 January, in the necropolis of French kings at the Basilica of Saint-Denis. For many revolutionary figures, Marie Antoinette was the symbol of what was wrong with the old regime in France. The onus of having caused the financial difficulties of the nation was placed on her shoulders by the revolutionary tribunal, [ ] and under the new republican ideas of what it meant to be a member of a nation, her Austrian descent and continued correspondence with the competing nation made her a traitor.

Furthermore, her execution was seen as a sign that the revolution had done its work. Marie Antoinette is also known for her taste for fine things, and her commissions from famous craftsmen, such as Jean Henri Riesenersuggest more about her enduring legacy as a woman of taste and patronage. For instance, a writing table attributed to Riesener, now located at Waddesdon Manorbears witness to Marie Antoinette's desire to escape the oppressive formality of court life, when she decided to move the table from the queen's boudoir, de la Meridienne, at Versailles to her humble interior, the Petit Trianon.

A catalog of Marie Antoinette's personal library of volumes was published by Paul Lacroix inusing his pseudonym P. She was 37 years old when she died. Earlier that month, just as the infamous and bloody Reign of Terror that claimed tens of thousands of French lives was getting underway, Marie Antoinette was put on trial for treason and theft, as well as a false and disturbing charge of sexual abuse against her own son.

After the two-day trial, an all-male jury found Marie Antoinette guilty on all charges. On the night before her execution, she had written her last letter to her sister-in-law, Elisabeth. The moment when my ills are going to end is not the moment when courage is going to fail me. I did not do it on purpose. The last queen of France has been vilified as the personification of the evils of monarchy.

At the same time, Marie Antoinette has also been exalted as a pinnacle of fashion and beauty, with obsessive scholarship on her choices in wardrobe and jewelry and endless speculation about her extramarital love life. Marie Antoinette syndrome is a purported condition where some or all or some of the hair on the scalp suddenly turns white.

Scientists are still working to discover the exact cause of the condition, which might be brought on by severe stress leading to a rare form of alopecia. Marie Antoinette has been the subject of numerous plays, books both fiction and nonfictionmusic, and movies. The Biography. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications.

Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. She demonstrated great courage during her trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal and at her execution on 16 October on what is now the Place de la Concorde. In her remains, along with those of Louis XVI, were transferred with due ceremony to the Abbey of Saint-Denis and placed in the crypt.

Language fr en. Queen of France Reopening of the Queen's Apartment Discover. Louis XVI Her husband, the king. Madame Royale Her eldest daughter. Madame de Polignac Her confidante. Life as a public figure was not easy for Marie Antoinette. Her marriage was difficult and, as she had very few official duties, she spent most of her time socializing and indulging her extravagant tastes.

For example, she had a model farm built on the palace grounds so that she and her ladies-in-waiting could dress in elaborate costumes and pretend to be milkmaids and shepherdesses. Eighteenth-century colonial wars—particularly the American Revolutionin which the French had intervened on behalf of the colonists—had created a tremendous debt for the French state.

Louis XVI and his advisers tried to impose a more representative system of taxation, but the nobility resisted. Inrepresentatives from all three estates the clergy, the nobility and the common people met at Versailles to come up with a plan for the reform of the French state, but noblemen and clergymen were still reluctant to give up their prerogatives.

At the same time, conditions worsened for ordinary French people, and many became convinced that the monarchy and the nobility were conspiring against them. Marie Antoinette continued to be a convenient target for their rage. In Octobera mob of Parisian women protesting the high cost of bread and other goods marched to Versailles, dragged the entire royal family back to the city, and imprisoned them in the Tuileries.