Biography of Marie Antoinette

The last queen of France, Marie Antoinette a.k.a. Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna, was
born on November 2, 1755 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. She was the daughter of the famous
Austrian Empress, Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. Marie had a simple,
carefree childhood. She was never alone since she had a lot of siblings. Her education was a little
poor on calligraphy, since she concentrated on manners, dance, music and appearance. She was
poor in languages as well, by the time she was 10 years old she still had trouble reading. Her
brothers on the other hand, studied well on the academic subject matter.

The events leading to her engagement to Louis XVI started when her father died of stroke
in 1765. Maria Theresa took the throne and started making alliances. Alliances by marriage were
popular at that time and with the ending of the Seven Years War, Maria Theresa wanted to make
peace with France. And to do that, in the year 1766, Maria Theresa promised that her young
daughter will be married to Louis XVI. On May 16, 1770, a luxurious wedding ceremony took
place at the palace of Versailles. This was the beginning of Marie Antoinettes life in the public
eyes. The young girl did not adapt to the living though, and showed a lot of homesickness. In
1774, Louis XV died and Louis XVI succeeded him, making the 19 years old Marie Antoinette
the Queen of France.

The personalities of Louis and Marie were really different. Louis was shy and indecisive,
while Marie was bold, loved gambling and partying. After three years, Marie Antoinette didnt
give birth to a child yet. When her mother heard news of this she immediately sent Maries
brother, Joseph II, to give marriage advices. It sure worked when Marie gave birth to a daughter,
Marie Therese Charlotte a year later. Beginning in 1780, Marie spent most of her time at her
private castle usually without the presence of the king. There were rumors about her relationship
with the Swedish diplomat Count Axel von Fersen and her popularity is starting to fall. Not only
that, but during the 1780s there was an economic and agricultural turmoil. Marie Antoinettes
extravagant usage of money spoiled her reputation among the citizens. She had been given
various nicknames including the famous Madame Deficit. She was given this name because in
1785, she was a victim of a scam. Jeanne De La Motte Valois pretended to be the Queen and
stole her identity. She stole a huge amount of money, although Marie wasnt involved but her
reputation was badly affected.

On July 14, 1789, the Bastille was stormed; this was the beginning of the French
revolution. The indecisive Louis XVI didnt make an act. Marie Antoinette was the one who sent
letters to the other European leaders to ask for help. They planned to escape France in June 1791,
but they were captured and taken back to Paris. The royal family was returned to Paris and Louis
XVI was restored to the throne. But after a while, the people started to think that their enemies
were the monarch himself. In the month of August of the same year, a mob stormed the
Tuileries, killing a thousand guards and nobles, then they locked the royal family in a medieval
temple tower in the middle of Paris. Louis XVI was condemned and executed in the January of


1793 on the guillotine. Marie Antoinette was executed 9 months after her husbands death. Marie
Antoinette would likely have been perfectly happy to have played only a ceremonial part as
queen. But Louis' weakness forced her to take a more dominant role, for which the French
people could not forgive her.


Biography of Louis XVI
Louis XVI, the last king of France was born as Louis-August on 23 August 1754 at the
Palace of Versailles. He reigned from 10 May, 1774 to 21 September, 1792. His father, Louis,
Dauphin of France and heir of Louis XV, died at the age of 36 from tuberculosis before he got
the chance to be the king of France. Louis was 13 years old when his father died and he was the
oldest of his 7 siblings. Therefore, Louis became the heir to the Bourbon throne. Louis XV didnt
paid much attention to Louis XVI much, instead focusing on his older brother who died at the
age of nine.

Although Louis grew up strong and healthy, he was really shy and indecisive. Unlike his
wife Marie Antoinette, Louis was excellent in his sciences and literatures. He also enjoyed
physical activities such as hunting and making locks. His tutor didnt prepare him well for the
throne he was soon to inherit. He didnt have much interpersonal skills. On 16 May 1770, at the
age of fifteen, Louis-August married the fourteen-year-old Habsburg Archduchess Marie
Antoinette. This marriage wasnt liked by many French people since the Habsburg alliance once
dragged France into the Seven-Years War. The French people generally treated Marie as an
unwelcomed foreigner.

The royal couple failed to produce any children for several years after their wedding,
placing a strain upon their marriage. Many reasons behind this failure were debated at that time.
One suggested that Louis had phimosis, and he had to undergo surgery. Even though with all
these difficulties, they eventually had 4 children. Louis was 19 years old when he succeeded the
throne in 1774. His grandfather had left him with a huge amount of responsibility. The
government was deeply in debt and the hatred from the people is rising. Although Louis lacked
firmness and decisiveness, he wanted to be loved by the people unlike his predecessor who
doesnt care. He did that by reinstating the parlements and forming many edicts that would often
explain the nature and good intention of his actions as benefiting the people. He granted any non-
Catholics civil and legal status in France, they also have the right to freely practice their faiths.

Louis had his successes as well, one was from the American Revolution when he sent
troops to aid the Americans to fight for freedom from Great Britain. This though, increased the
debts of the royal family. As pressure increased, Louis became uncommunicative and make no
decisions of what to do about the problem. Instead, he went back to doing his hobbies where


were hunting and lock making. In May 1789 he had no other choice but to call for the meeting of
the estates general. This meeting havent been called for over a century. The meeting didnt went
well as Louis had planned. The third estate knew that their votes would be overwhelmed by the
first and the second estates. Then, the third estate left and gather in another place of the palace,
they decided to form a new National Constituent Assembly on 9 July.

The power of Louis quickly diminishes because the national assembly forced him to sign
many reforms documents. As the French revolution went on, the mobs forced the royal family to
go back to Paris and stay under their watch in the Tuileries. Louis wasnt happy about being held
prisoner, so he planned to escape to his wifes relatives in Austria. On June 21
st
, 1791 they
disguised themselves as commoners and tried to escape France. Unfortunately, they were
captured few miles from the German border, in Varennes. On August 10, 1791 they were
returned to Paris and imprisoned. He had a trial in front of the Convention and was condemned
of serious crimes and treason. On January 21
st
, 1793 he was sent to the guillotine and executed in
front of his own people.








Works Cited
Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 04:48,
Oct 15, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/marie-antoinette-9398996.
Marie Antoinette. (2014). Wikipedia.org website. Retrieved 04:50, Oct 15,2014 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette.
MARIE-ANTOINETTE. (2014). History.com website. Retrieved 5:12, Oct 15, 2014,
from http://www.history.com/topics/marie-antoinette.
Louis-Auguste de France. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 10:17, Oct 16,
2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/louis-xvi-9386943.
Louis XVI. (2012). Infoplease.com website. Retrieved 10:36. Oct 16, 2014, from
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/louis-xvi-king-france.html
Louis XVI biography. (2012). Bastille-day.com website. Retrieved 10:38. Oct 16, 2014,
from http://bastille-day.com/biography/louisxvi-biography