10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Real Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette is often remembered as a cruel queen who had little sympathy for the poor, a characterization cemented by the infamous cry of “Off with her head!” Yet, the real story of France’s last prerevolutionary queen is much more nuanced. Before she met her fate at the guillotine, Marie Antoinette was a victim of a hostile press that fueled public resentment with exaggerated and often false stories.
1. A Child Bride
Marie Antoinette was married off when she was just fourteen years old to Louis-Auguste, who was fifteen at the time. Their wedding was a grand affair attended by five thousand people. This was a political union, and it took many years for their marriage to be consummated.
2. Stripped of Her Austrian Identity
Born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, she had to shed her Austrian roots upon marrying into the French royal family. Not only did she change her name, but she also had to abandon her homeland’s language and customs. Symbolically, she was even ordered to strip off her Austrian clothes and don the attire of the Bourbon household, marking a complete transformation.
3. Forbidden to Mourn Her Children
Marie Antoinette faced immense sorrow with the deaths of two of her children. However, she wasn’t allowed to publicly mourn their loss. As French royalty were considered almost divine, any association with death was forbidden. She couldn’t attend her children’s funerals and was even depicted in royal portraits next to an empty crib where her deceased child had been painted out.
4. Misattributed Quote
Despite popular belief, Marie Antoinette never said, “Let them eat cake,” in response to the peasants’ lack of bread. Contrary to this cruel image, she often directed surplus flour and grain from the royal kitchens to the poor and donated her personal items like shoes and stockings. During her imprisonment, she spent her time knitting and distributing clothes to Paris’s needy.
5. Country Dreams
Marie Antoinette longed for a simpler life. She retreated to Petit Trianon, a small estate on the edge of Versailles, where she loved to pretend she was a peasant girl. Unfamiliar with farm life, she used papier-mâché animals instead of real livestock. At Petit Trianon, she would exchange her luxurious gowns for simple cotton dresses, a practice that later became fashionable despite criticism.
6. The Real Versailles
Today’s opulent Versailles was once quite filthy, teeming with rats and dogs and overrun by masses of people. Anyone could wander into the palace, with minimal separation from the royal living quarters. Outside of her private Petit Trianon retreat, Marie Antoinette’s life was constantly on display.
7. Not a Beauty Queen
Marie Antoinette was often described as unattractive by the press. She had a prominent jaw and a splotchy complexion. Her style, which included lavish wigs and elaborate gowns, may have served to distract attention from her natural appearance.
8. Struggles with French
Despite being born into nobility, Marie Antoinette never mastered the French language completely. Her accent was never convincing and her written French was rife with grammatical errors.
9. Name Changed Again
After her arrest, Marie Antoinette was stripped of her royal title and became known as Antoinette Capet, a surname from an older French dynasty. To further diminish her status, she was referred to not as Marie, to sever any association with the Virgin Mary, but as the Widow Capet.
10. True Love
Marie Antoinette and Louis’s marriage may have started as a political move, but it grew into genuine love. Despite their separation in prison, Louis promised to meet her before his execution, although circumstances prevented him from fulfilling this promise. She spent her remaining days in profound grief over his death.
This deeper look into Marie Antoinette’s life offers a more sympathetic view of a queen who has often been misrepresented by history.
