IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ❘ MARIE ANTOINETTE
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MARIE ANTOINETTE
Marian Jones explores the story of France’s ill- fated and much-reviled queen, from her arrival as a teenager from Austria to her death at the guillotine
T
he story of Marie Antoinette’s 19-year reign as Queen of France begins at Versailles, but its tragic end can only be understood through a number of other places in Paris – the ones where she was imprisoned, mocked, tried and executed. The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette arrived in Paris from Austria in May 1770, to marry the Dauphin Louis, heir to the French throne, who was just a year older. As her carriage and entourage swept through the gates of Versailles, she must have been overwhelmed: 6,000 people had gathered to see the future queen, who had only been introduced to Louis earlier that week. The wedding took place in the Royal Chapel later that same day and a witness, describing how tiny she looked in the white brocade dress she wore for the ceremony, estimated her age as ‘not above 12’.
Marie Antoinette settled into a life of pleasure and luxury at Versailles. She had numerous servants – train-bearers, pages, equerries, ladies of the bedchamber – and indulged her passions for fashion and shopping, frequently summoning her dressmaker, Rose Bertin, to the palace and wearing her hair piled 3ft high and decorated with feathers, jewels and ribbons. Her extravagance has been talked about ever since. The four rooms known as the Queen’s Suite showcase the opulence which surrounded Marie Antoinette – white and gold from floor to ceiling, glistening
chandeliers, exquisitely-carved furniture. Then there is the Royal Opera, the largest court theatre of its day, which was hastily finished in time for her wedding and sumptuously decorated in fitting royal colours of blue, white and gold. There, she presided over fabulous balls, operas and banquets. The vast gardens had been designed for a previous monarch – Louis XIV – but for her wedding the Grand Canal was illuminated and the various feasts, opera
performances and a masked ball ended in a magnificent firework display.
A ROYAL SHOW
But there were problems too, not least that she lacked basic privacy. In the Queen’s Bedchamber, she washed and dressed every morning under the gaze of courtiers. Family members and important officials gathered there to watch as she gave birth to her children. In the Queen’s Antechamber there is a poignant reminder of one of the many tragedies of her life. The portrait ‘Marie Antoinette and her children’, by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, shows her with three children, one of whom is pointing to an empty cot: her second daughter, Sophie, died at 11 months, before the work was complete, and was painted out.
Marie Antoinette had a special connection to the Petit Trianon, a little château in the grounds of Versailles, where she liked to escape the stuffy court etiquette, spend time with her
The Petit Trianon at Versailles, where Marie Antoinette sought refuge from court formalities 50 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Oct/Nov 2023
favourites and relax. She enjoyed having the garden remodelled in a less formal, English style, and commissioned the building of a model village, known as le hameau (hamlet), where the so-called cottages, clustered around an artificial lake, boasted fancy balconies and were surrounded by over 1,000 specially commissioned ceramic pots bearing her monogram. For this, she was ridiculed. It was at Versailles that the events leading to the eventual downfall of the royal couple began. Most historians today believe that Marie Antoinette didn’t actually utter the words ‘Let them eat cake’ when bread riots broke out in Paris in July 1789. But because of her legendary extravagance, people were prepared to believe she did. The monarchy was threatened when republicans met to demand a written constitution at the Royal Tennis Court in Versailles and just months later, in
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