The Misunderstood Last Queen of France

The Misunderstood Young Queen

“I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long.”- Marie Antoinette. Marie was truly a victim of unfortunate circumstance and corrupt politics; that would throw a young girl into a new country to be wed to a man she had never before met and expect her to easily fulfill all her duties as a wife and ruler. Despite the negative stigma that has surrounded her she is truly a role model for women.”

In 1770, at the tender age of 15, Antoinette travelled from Austria to France to marry the dauphin of France. Their marriage was planned by their parents to unite the countries of Austria and France. A few years after their marriage in 1774, the king died, and Louis became King Louis XVI. Once Louis became king, being in her teens and twenties it wasn't until after seven years of marriage and their first child that she began to settle down. Her behaviour could be considered perfectly common to any other person of her age, but she was a queen and her reputation was ruined by the Diamond Necklace Affair. It took time for her relax into her duties and raise her and raise her children.

Although Marie Antoinette initially was awkward with her husband, she eventually developed a genuine fondness for him. For his part, Louis was completely devoted to her and never took a mistress, showing restraint which was almost unheard of in an 18th century French king. Despite a number of innocent flirtations, she deeply loved, likely with Louis' unsaid approval, only one man, Swedish military attaché Count Axel Fersen. Louis XVI was the first French king in two hundred years not to have a royal mistress; Marie Antoinette was the first queen to believe that she could be both his wife and his mistress for her husband. While failing to produce a legitimate heir, Marie Antoinette looked to the whole world like a mistress, not a wife, and one whose sexuality was directed away from the King. All the disgust that had been directed at Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry, Louis XV's most famous mistresses, was now redirected at the only target available: the Queen who acted like a mistress, but seemed like she was not satisfied with the King.

People may have come to that conclusion because, after Louis’ coronation, Marie became rebellious and began to pick her own friends and clothing to wear. As result of these rebellious choices she made in her life, many of her people weren’t pleased with her. She was a foreigner, well known for hosting costly parties and using absurd amounts of money on intricate garments and her hair. she only did what many young women would love to do given the opportunity. These traits formed the common opinion of Marie Antoinette. These lavish parties took place at Versailles, and Fontainebleau; the queen’s second palace, to adorn with pieces of her tastes in décor and furniture.

Knowing of this, Louis XVI allowed her the responsibility of regaling the court. Gifted with a talent for entertaining, two or three times a week the queen arranged for theatrical performances and restored new life to the traditional grand balls. She also had the court perform the play the Salon de la Paix and would play cards and billiards enthusiastically. Marie Antoinette also played the harp, as she was an avid music lover. She was passionate about art, and protected the cabinet maker Riesener, a supplier of furniture, and Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun, the painter whose career was majorly owed to Marie, as the queen's portrait painter. She created thirty portraits of her. The queen was also devoted to fashion and would receive daily advisements on the decisions of her gowns from her personal designer and dressmaker Rose Bertin. Leonard, her hairdresser sculpted her hair into unique styles adorned with feathers which she adored. Once she became more social she often attended the Opera and dances. Publically as well as at court she would only be seen in the trendiest and most expensive fashions. During her “useless spending” on the arts she employed bohemians and artisans and helped cultivate the diverse art scene and appreciation found in France still today.

However, what about the less personal things; like the political affairs she was involved in? Queen of France, Marie Antoinette was granted no official role or any political power. Her main job was to produce a male heir to continue her husband's royal line. Like the marriage, the coronation of Louis XVI was greeted warmly by the French people, who had great hopes that after the fifty-year reign of Louis XV, the young King would bring new ideas, much needed reforms, and a fresh approach to governing France in a rapidly changing world. This goodwill quickly left as the King's economic policies failed, while his Queen didn’t produce an heir. He seemed to lose interest in government, as she became aggressively social.

Then under the influence of her mother, she pursued a political role but few people in the court appreciated her. It was during this same time period that the Louis's financial advisors used some creative financing in an attempt to secure ongoing investments for the crown. The ineffectiveness of this attempt led the monarch to sidestep Estates-General and create a hand picked assembly. Marie Antoinette did end up exerting an undeniable influence on Revolutionary politics. Still it was apparent the country would not feel safe or confident with the monarch while the "Austrian" was queen. On April 20, 1792, France declared war on Austria. When Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette became king and queen, the people had been hopeful and ready for a change in the government. However, with the fast decline of the financial situation in France, that optimistic opinion was gone. Much of the blame for the financial hardships the monarchy encountered was wrongly placed on the queen. The concern of women influencing power and politics was nothing new, and remained a major theme during Marie Antoinette’s fall.

Due to many happenings like these; the public developed a corrupt image of the queen and did some awful things to her family.The queen's low popularity was obvious from the beginning, and continued to decrease as her image was almost constantly smeared by scandal. The Diamond Necklace Affair would be one example of how the Marie’s infidelities belittled the monarch’s authority. The Cardinal de Rohan purchased a large diamond necklace for the queen, rumoured to be payment for sexual favors. Even though the true events linked the diamond necklace are not completely understood, the affair led to the majority of the public to public to name her an"Austrian Whore."