Marie Antoinette Is One of The Main Protagonists of The Great French Revolution

The coined phrase “let them eat cake” is popular among the baking community and to those who like to eat sweets, but do people know where this phrase came about and who truly said it? The last queen of France lived a lavish, tumultuous, and unapologetic lifestyle, but how did she become the controversial queen? Her name is recognized among historians, Kristen Dunst fans, and cake fans, but what was her life truly like? Let’s dive into the life of the French queen Marie Antoinette and her downfall.

Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna was born on November 2, 1755, in Vienna, Austria. She was the fifteenth child to parents Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and empress Maria Theresa. Her birth took place at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. According to Nancy Barker, Professor of History at the University of Texas, “Marie Antoinette’s education was typical of an 18th century aristocratic girl and focused primarily on religious and moral principles, while her brothers studied more academic subject matter” (Barker). She was primarily cared for by a governess along with her other sisters and grew up during her countries involvement in war. Austria was involved in the Seven Years War. The Seven Years War was essentially a global war among all the Great Powers of the world, and it lasted for nine years. This war was about territory and trade. British colonists wanted to expand to land west of the thirteen colonies and that land was technically held by the French who had trading posts there. The British wanted to expand into the American interior to allow for more colonists because the British benefited both from the export of raw materials from the Americas and the import of British consumer goods to the Americas. In other words, more colonists meant more trade, which meant more wealth. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “the war arose out of the attempt of the Austrian Habsburgs to win back the rich province of Silesia, which had been wrested from them by Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48)” (Britannica). The war concluded when the Treaty of Paris was signed, on February 10, 1763, between Great Britain, France, Hanover, and Spain. In that treaty France abdicated to Great Britain all of mainland North America east of the Mississippi River (not including New Orleans and environs) as well as the West Indian Islands of Grenada, Saint Vincent, Dominica, and Tobago; and all French conquests made since 1749 in India or in the East Indies.

After the Seven Years War, Austria wanted to make an alliance with France to ease tensions between the two countries. Marie’s mother, Maria Theresa promised her daughters hand in marriage to the future king of France, Louis XVI. Marie was just fourteen years old when she went to France to strengthen the alliance of Austria and France, and to marry Louis XVI. She arrived in 1770 and was a beautiful young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. Upon her arrival which consisted of approximately fifty-seven carriages, 376 horses, and 117 footmen. She was royalty and soon to be queen of France. According to Nancy Barker, “arrayed in finery, surrounded by guards of honor, she was greeted by cheering crowds, artillery salvos, church bells, and fireworks” (Barker). She was the hope France believed with the new alliance formed. Her beauty and grace was shown all over the press, and some even regarded her as a goddess of beauty and virtue.

Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were married on May 16, 1770, in Vienna. They were both teenagers when they married and did not meet until the wedding day. They had a second ceremony at the royal chapel in Versailles. Some 5,000 people watched as they were married and then began her life in the public eye. Their marriage proved to be less than a fairy tale. On May 1774, her husband inherited the throne as Louis XVI after his grandfather died, and she assumed the title Queen of France. She was nineteen years old. She was an opinionated, bold, vivacious and a social person while he was shy, introverted and enjoyed time alone. This proved to be frustrating for her as they found it hard to find things in common and because they did not consummate their marriage for seven years it put a strain on their marriage. If it had been present day, she would be the beautiful cheerleader and he would be the shy nerd. She indulged in extravagant parties, clothes, and adding expensive decor to the palace of Versailles. Because they did not consummate their marriage right away, there was speculation of affairs and infertility.

Marie tried to consummate the marriage on the night of the wedding, but Louie the dauphin turned her away. She knew that she had to produce an heir to the throne and was under pressure of the press and public eye to do so. Her aunts tried to give her advice on how to seduce him, and she asked him to confide in her, but to no avail. The speculations for the initial failure to have children have been debated then and now. One theory is that Louis suffered from a physiological dysfunction, thought to be phimosis. Phimosis is a condition where the foreskin is too tight to be pulled back over the head of the penis (glans). Therefore, the child cannot be circumcised at birth because the skin is too delicate. Circumcision is an option once the child’s skin has loosened, usually after the age of six. Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin, the tissue covering the head (glans) of the penis. If he did have phimosis, intercourse would be painful, hence, why it took seven years to consummate the marriage. Another theory is Maria Theresa, sent Marie’s brother, Emperor Joseph II, to Versailles to help the couple bear children.

The issue was secured either because King Louis XVI underwent surgery to correct the problem or because, in the words of the emperor, the couple had been “two complete blunderers.” Marie Antoinette gave birth to the first of the couple’s four children. Her first child’s name was Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France, born on December 19, 1778. Her second child Louis Joseph de France was born on October 22, 1781, but died on June 4, 1789, of tuberculosis at seven years old. This undoubtedly left his parents in grief. Their third child Louis Charles was born on March 27, 1785, and died on June 8, 1795, at ten years old. He died of tuberculosis as well. The fourth child was Sophie Beatrix born on July 1786 and tragically died the following year on June 9, 1787, at eleven months also of tuberculosis.

During her rule as queen she inherited the name ‘Madame Deficit” because of her extravagant parties, fashion, food, etc. She ordered an enormous amount of food, built a “model farm on the palace grounds so that she and her ladies-in-waiting could dress in elaborate costumes and pretend to be milkmaids and shepherdesses” (History). While the people of France were struggling to eat and keep up with the inflation of the cost of bread, she was spending an enormous amount of money on her lifestyle and people soon blamed her for all of France’s problems. Although it has not been proven to be true, it was circulated in the press that when told the people of France could not afford to buy bread she said, “let them eat cake.” Although, she did not say this, the damage was done and people believed it. She was growing unpopular among the people of France because of her spending while they starved, her disregard for the famine, and because they believed she was conspiring against the people because she was Austrian. Perhaps one of the most damaging blows to her reputation was the affair of the diamond necklace.

In 1785, the infamous diamond-necklace scandal permanently ruined the queen’s reputation. A woman named Jeanne de la Motte hired someone who resembled the queen and devised a plan to get the necklace. She hoped to gain wealth with the necklace. A man named Cardinal de Rohan, who was a former “French ambassador to the court of Vienna” (Watts). Marie did not acknowledge him because he spread rumors about her non-traditional behavior, lavish spending, disregard for the famine, etc. and sent word to her mother, Maria Theresa. Marie also found out that the Cardinal spoke ill of her mother, and she was offended. He was trying to get her respect so he could become one of the King’s ministers, so he easily fell for Jeanne de la Motte’s plan. The Cardinal believing love letters that Jeanne wrote under the guise of the queen began to believe that the queen was in love with him. He met with a woman resembling the queen named Nicole Le Guay d’Oliva, who was in fact a prostitute. Because of her resemblance to the queen, he believed it was Marie. The two began to have an affair and Nicole, acting as the queen said she forgave their past disagreements. Nicole convinced the Cardinal to buy an expensive necklace on January 1785, that cost 2,000,000 Pound which is 2,516,666.62 U.S. dollars.

Nicole told the Cardinal that she did not want to publicly purchase the necklace because of the financial turmoil France was in. She told him to pay half of the amount to the jewelers and to bring the necklace to Jeanne’s house. She promised to pay him back and the jewelers in payments. He went to Jeanne’s house to delivery the necklace and gave it to a man he believed to be one of the queens valets. According to Sydney Watts, the necklace,“was promptly picked apart, and the gems sold on the black markets of Paris and London”(Watts). When the Cardinal went to the real queen to ask for the money she did not know what he was talking about. He told her the entire ordeal, and she stated that she did not order the purchase of the necklace and did not have it. Although she was not involved in the scheme, the public saw her as guilty.

The Cardinal was found guilty along with Jeanne and Nicole, but even then the queen’s reputation was irreparable. The public still speculated that because she did not like the Cardinal she used Jeanne and Nicole to set him up. Her history of excessive spending did not aid in her innocence plea and she grew even more unpopular. The public grew to hate her more and continuously published false stories of the affair and the necklace in the papers. The King, however, defended her and grew closer to her during this time.

The French Revolution came about after the famine and the people’s resentment towards the King and Queen’s lavish lifestyle while they all were starving. France was in debt, harvests were poor, the people could not afford the rising cost of bread, all while the royal monarchy was living in a palace and ignoring the famine. According to Jocelyn Hunt, “from his accession in1774, Louis XVI had faced a worsening financial situation, compounded by the money and troops sent to assist the Americans in war against Britain. France failed to gain the expected benefits: the liberated colonists continued to trade mainly with Britain, and were slow to repay the French loans. Turgot had warned that the first shot would drive France into bankruptcy, and he was proved right” (Hunt). It’s important to note that the wealthy did not pay as much in taxes as the people of France did. Because of the high taxes, inflation of bread, and famine the people of France revolted against the royal family.

On July 14, 1789, approximately 900 people took the Bastille prison to take weapons, marking the beginning of the French Revolution. On the same year on October 6, roughly 10,000 people marched to the Palace of Versailles and called for the king and queen to be taken to Paris. The king did not know what to do so Marie quickly set up meetings with their advisors and “dispatched urgent letters to other European rulers, begging them to help save France’s monarchy” (Hunt). They tried to flee Paris on June 1791 but were caught and returned to Paris. On September 1791, King Louis XVI agreed to sign a new constitution which was presented by the Constituent National Assembly. She agree to sign it with conditions, that he would still keep represented power. However, in 1792, a radical leader named Maximilien de Robespierre asked for the removal of the king. In September of the same year the king and queen were arrested and their rule was abolished. According to Nancy Barker, “one of Marie Antoinette’s best friends, the Princesse de Lamballe, was dismembered in the street, and revolutionaries paraded her head and body parts through Paris” (Barker). King Louis XVI was put on trial for treason, and in January he was executed. On July 1793, Marie lost custody of her ten year old son, Louis Charles. He was forced into accusing her of sexual abuse and incest before an all male jury and they unanimously sentenced her to death. In October, she was executed by a guillotine at thirty-seven years old.

Some find the life and lifestyle of Marie Antoinette fascinating while others believe her to be the downfall of France. Whatever your feelings are of her, she definitely led an interesting and unapologetic life. While she was implanted in a different country as a teenager and married to build an alliance after the Seven Years War, she did not say, “let them eat cake.”

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