Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette (2 November 1755 - 16 October 1793), was Queen of France and Archduchess of Austria. She was the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and his wife Empress Maria Theresa, wife of Louis XVI, and mother of Louis XVII. She was guillotined at the height of the French Revolution, and is interred with her husband in the Chapelle Expiatoire in Paris.

Reputation

Marie Antoinette went down in history as shallow, weak, self-indulgent and stupid. Only royalists, who saw her as a martyr, viewed her any differently. They later recovered her body and reburied it in the Bourbon dynasty crypt in Paris, they also retrieved the bodies of Louis XVI and Princess Elisabeth (who was executed in 1794).

Related Topics:
Bourbon - Paris - 1794

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In recent years, however, this has somewhat changed. In 1933, Stefan Zweig wrote a biography of her Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Ordinary Woman, in which he argued the queen achieved greatness during the final years of her life thanks to her extraordinary courage. His biography was later made into a hugely successful movie starring Norma Shearer (see below.)

Related Topics:
1933 - Stefan Zweig - Norma Shearer

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French historians, like André Castelot and Évelyne Lever, have generally been more critical in their biographies of Marie Antoinette; although neither have attacked her with the venom that she received during her lifetime.

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The trend in recent years, however, has been to focus on Marie Antoinette's strengths rather than her weaknesses. Deborah Cadbury, in her biography of Louis XVII, praised Marie Antoinette's devotion to her family and Munro Price, in his political study on the fall of the French monarchy, wrote "Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette have often been portrayed as weak and vacillating. Far from it; their policy between 1789 and 1792 was entirely consistent, and highly conservative. They were prepared to die for their beliefs, and ultimately did so."

Related Topics:
Louis XVII - 1789 - 1792

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The most thorough biography of Marie Antoinette has come from British historian, Lady Antonia Fraser. Marie Antoinette: The Journey was first published in 2001 and became an instant best-seller. Plans are now afoot to turn it into a Hollywood movie (see below.) After reading Fraser's book, historian Simon Sebag Montefiore concluded that Marie Antoinette was "a woman more sinned against than sinning."

Related Topics:
Antonia Fraser - 2001 - Hollywood

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The only major disagreement amongst modern historians is the role played by the Swedish aristocrat, Count Axel von Fersen. There were unsubstantiated rumours at court that the dashing Fersen was at one time Marie Antoinette's lover. It is true that the two were very close and that Fersen risked his life many times to try and free her from prison. Some historians, like Evelyn Farr and Antonia Fraser, seem convinced that at one point the two did enjoy a physical relationship. Others remain sceptical, arguing that there is no concrete evidence to support the idea that the two were lovers in the physical sense.

Related Topics:
Swedish - Axel von Fersen

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