A Brief History
On May 16, 1770, the 14 year old Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna of the House Habsburg-Lorraine married Louis-Auguste, Dauphin (heir to the throne) of France, House of Bourbon. During her short (23 years) life to follow, Queen Marie Antoinette, as she became when Louis became King Louis XVI of France, came to symbolize the callous indifference to the plight of peasants.
Digging Deeper
At first fairly popular, the royal couple became objects of envy and scorn as financial problems hit France and the monarchs spent money like it really was theirs. Marie became known derisively as L’Autrichienne, or The Austrian Bitch. The masses thought she was throwing away their tax money on a lavish lifestyle (she was) and was secretly loyal to the Austrian Empire instead of France (not likely).
When the public outrage finally exploded into the French Revolution, Marie and Louis were taken prisoner and held at Temple Prison in 1792. Louis was led to Madame Guillotine and executed, and 8 months later, on October 16, 1793 Marie Antoinette was decapitated on the guillotine after being convicted of treason.
After the marriage ceremony, the bad omens started right away. Failing to consummate the marriage on the wedding night was considered bad form, and the couple had clearly married for political purposes, the wedding arranged by relatives before the 14 year old bride and 15 year old groom had ever met. Their marriage was not a romantic one, and they seldom slept together. Each basically did their own thing, and for Marie that was largely spending money and gambling.
Marie was Austrian and born in the royal palace in Vienna. Her immediate predecessor as Queen of France was Maria Leszczynska, a Polish princess. Louis was the second cousin once removed of Marie.
After a childless first 7 years of marriage during which rumors of Marie’s infidelities and Louis’ impotence breezed through French society, Marie finally gave birth, and went on to have a total of 4 children. With the birth of the first child, the tabloids of the day were filled with rumors about the paternity, although Louis never questioned it. (The scandalous rumors, lies, and half-truths in the tabloids then was as bad as now, maybe worse.)
In 1785 and 1786 a scandal erupted over a diamond necklace that Louis’s father (King Louis XV) had commissioned for his mistress. When the elder Louis died, the jewelers were left with no customer for the fabulously expensive necklace. Marie refused Louis’ offer to buy it for her and when con artists attempted to buy the necklace through trickery and forgery implicating Marie, the public was outraged even more than they already were becoming by that point. Marie was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the affair left a shadow on her honor. By this time known as Madame Deficit the people finally revolted in 1789, deposing the monarchy in 1792.
At her trial, Marie was accused of outrageous acts, sending French tax money to Austria, holding orgies, having sex with her son, plotting to kill other officials, declaring her son king (she did not), and even of massacring the Swiss Guard (royal bodyguards for her own family) which had been killed by a mob intent on capturing the royal couple. Her last words were to her executioner, “Pardon me sir, I meant not to do it.” when she accidentally stepped on his foot.
Numerous books, movies and all manner of cultural references have been made to Marie Antoinette, who has come to symbolize the beautiful but spendthrift Queen detached from her subjects that were mere ants on an anthill to her. In reality, once she was promised to Louis, she never really had any chance for success and was doomed. Question for students (and subscribers): Do you think any country should still have a monarchy? Let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bashor, Will. Marie Antoinette’s Head: The Royal Hairdresser, The Queen, And The Revolution. Lyons Press, 2013.
Fraser, Antonia. Marie Antoinette: The Journey. Anchor, 2002.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2232 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2232">79 Comments
It is ironic that the French people were hungry and crying for bread at a time when Marie Antoinette powdered her yard-high poufs, especially when her subjects believed she was powdering her hair with their dearly needed flour.
Marie Antoinette was accused of some crazy things. I don’t think there should be a monarchy, they seem to cause a lot of distress and destruction most of the time.
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A monarchy was a bad idea for the French. Marie was blamed for many uncontrollable events. She really did not have a chance at success like the article tells us.
Monarchies are pretty much only good for monarchs as displayed by the nature of Marie. And I find it highly unlikely that monarchies would have a leg to stand on in today’s modern society, and not only from my experiences in American culture. Even supremely strict and traditionalist cultures are heading in this direction. The simple fact is, the world is moving away from it’s god-fearing past and into a self-serving future. Therefore, what would we require a god-chosen leader for? That isn’t to say that the world consists only of heathens and anarchists, but the mindset is far more prominent these days in both black, white, and shades of grey.
I think a monarchy is a bad idea. If the monarch was not liked it seemed to cause much trouble for both the people and the monarch. Marie was accused of a lot which she may or may not have done.
I found it interesting how the article said that right after the marriage ceremony was finished, bad things started to happen. Kind of a coincidence seeing that she got married at fourteen years old. I cannot imagine my sister who is fourteen getting married, that is just too young! I am almost nineteen and my boyfriend and I have been dating for three years, but I still can’t imagine getting married now!
I find people’s last words very interesting. You should do an article about the top 10 last words by famous people throughout history!
I disagree with the idea behind monarchy. Any time a monarch was viewed in a negative light, they are blamed for anything that goes wrong at that time. Kind of like the Lerners were when they owned the Browns. They weren’t the worst owners (see Jimmy Haslam), but when times are tough we need someone to blame.
So strange that people used to marry at 14 back then.
Could you imagine a 14 year old getting married in the U.S. today? That would not go down well.
Getting married that young is really strange, I still can’t believe how different it was back then.
I can only imagine the dreadfulness of getting married at 14. I also feel bad for Marie Antoinette because she and Louis were executed even though they did not know better. Also on the other hand, it must have been hard being led by two kids who do not know what they are doing.
I think in a monarchy, no one should be able to rule the nation by themselves, until the age of 20. Until they have reached that age, they should have elder people helping them make rational decisions when it comes to their country.
This woman lived a pretty tough life from my understanding. Set up to marry a stranger at 14 (!!) and then being a target for the public’s hatred for the rest of her life.
Marie Antoinette has always interested me. I honestly think she was kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time and she suffered for it. That is not to say that she never did anything wrong, she had her fair share of issues, but I feel like marrying into French royalty right before the French Revolution was the worst timing ever. Obviously not intentional but still…
Countries shouldn’t still have monarchies…but then again that may just be my bias of living in a democratic society.
Thinking of the emotional and intellectual development of a person from age fourteen to their early twenties is crazy, let alone their physical development. It’s like having a new marital partner every couple years.
Marriage at 14 is just such a foreign idea. I guess it made sense because life expectancies were so short
There was a volcanic explosion in Iceland at the time, which caused a mini ice age, harvest failure and famine. Knowledge is power.
I wonder just how many of the crimes she was accused of she actually committed.. I feel as though many of her “crimes” may have been a bit fabricated in order to get the publics unwavering approval of her beheading
I do too wonder the same thing. Were some or majority of the crimes she was accused of created because she was in the public eye and the public did not like her? Although she did give the public some reasons why she may have not been the best fit to be in power, I believe they fabricated crimes so they could behead her and get rid of her altogether.
On a side note, I find it interesting how many rumors were spread about her. It really is like the modern day paparazzi and how the tabloids will make up anything and everything to get you to believe something about someone famous’ life.
Married at fourteen is pretty crazy. That’s a young age to commit yourself to another person.
As a way of governance monarchy has no place in modern society, as a figurehead and for traditions sake sure, like in Great Britain, other than that monarchy is obsolete.
The fact that tabloids have been around since the 1770’s is insane to me! Also what kind of parents set up a wedding for a 14 and 15 year old and then complain that they didn’t consummate the marriage.
At those young ages neither of them knew what they wanted. That’s a very young age to be in love with someone. The parents had to be nuts to even let this happen.
If I was married at 14 then I’d feel so bad for my husband, I was so sassy in high school. It’s crazy to think that this is how it works for some.
Getting married at such a young age to someone you have never met before just sounds awkward. It’s no surprise that their marriage sucked
The couple was doomed from the start. I don’t think that I could say not one country should have a monarchy in place. I do not think that they should be the primary governing body, but act more as a figure head. Some countries have rather impressive histories and traditions regarding monarchs so I think that some should have a Queen or King to carry on their traditions.
How can people get married so young? This would be extremely frowned upon today.
I feel that Marie and Louis wouldn’t have been so reckless had they been a little older. They weren’t quite ready for the responsibilities of being king and queen.
I don’t think a country should have a monarchy. If there is a democracy, it serves no purpose.
Giving that much power to such a young unexperienced kid, they’re bound to let the power go to their head.
getting married at 14? no surprise the marriage was short, and a sham. marriage before 18 is frowned upon in this society.
Sad thing is I know people with kids this age and they say they want to be married
Getting married at 14 is just bonkers. In this day and age that wouldn’t fly with most people let alone society.
Getting married so young and having that much power…? Dumb just dumb.
An arranged marriage between two young kids with so much power was bound to end badly.
Marie Antoinette was not exactly born into ideal circumstances. Being married at the age of 14 and given access to a ton of money will only end badly. Yes, she made many mistakes. However, it is hard not to make mistakes given her circumstances and power. The combination of power and monarchies seem to lead to more problems than good.
I think that Marie Antoinette was so young and I think that being married is a very scary prospect. Being her age, she probably didn’t think anything of spending because it was something that made her happy in such a difficult situation. She really didnt have a childhood, nor did her young husband, so it makes sense that they as monarchs struggled to handle the political pressure.
Having your marriage arranged at such a young age should have predicted their hardships in power. I would hate being in power and having as many rumors going around about me as they had experienced.
It seems like any forced marriage would lead to issues in the future, especially in such a turbulent time. I’m sure it was hard on both royals to talk about their issues and the issues of society. It is interesting that gossip was just as prevalent then as it is nowadays. You would think at one point nations could stop that pettiness and focus on the real issues surrounding them.
Now I can see why the drinking age is 21 and being “legal” is age 18. Marie at age of 14 was way to young to be married and also to young to be queen and have power. She was not developed at all to handle that kind of power and money. She was childish and her age was probably a reason why. She also committed treason to her country and tried to give the tax money to Australia. She was no where near ready to handle that kind of power.
Fourteen sounds so amazingly young now. I don’t know if I can honestly say Id be any more mature with that much money at that age. That being said a forced marriage to a fifteen year old would not be an ideal situation either. Especially when it takes you out of your home country.
I never knew that Marie Antoinette was only 14 when she got married! Her story is really interesting. The article describes her as a woman, or rather a child, who loved money, gambling, beauty and comfort. When we talk about a 14-year-old today most of these concepts are hard to associate with such a young individual. I wonder if everything she was accused of at her trial was actually true of they just wanted to get rid or her, and if so why would they want to do so?
People were crazy over gossip back then too! It just shows that if you are in the public eye and you have one fault (Marie’s being a big spender/gambler) then the public will run with it.
There is a lot of development that occurs in teenage years for anyone! For Marie to be married at such a young age and run an empire with her husband must have been a lot. But, at that young of an age, how can you not expect someone to make a lot of mistakes.
She seemed to be a greedy teen that wanted it all but in the end lost it all. It makes sense that the people did not like her on account that she missed used money and her heart was not truly with the France. Marie had her execution of being decapitated coming for the wrong she did.
This story is appalling because the Queen was not loyal to the people. She betrayed the trust of the people by spending their tax dollars. The King did not do anything to support the people either. Overall, the two were only concerned about themselves and did nothing to help the people that they ruled over.
Two extremely young kids having an arranged/forced marriage, coupled with the bad socioeconomic state France was in at the time, could have only ended poorly. Being so young I am sure they did not have the chance to grow up and mature into responsible leaders with the care of the French people in mind. If I were a civilian I would be upset too.
This was actually very common back then and pretty recently too. My family is from Italy and my grandma (my mom’s mom) actually got married at the age of 13 back in the day. And God bless my two grandparents they have been together ever since, they were never forced though like the young kids in this article. So much power at such a young age, that was set up for disaster.
These two were forced to marry at ages 14 and 15, they had never met one another, and were barely old enough to even have started to develop sexually. The rumors of infidelity and the nasty things said of Marie not having children for seven years just seem outrageous. She was only a child herself still and seven years after marriage was only then twenty-one. The lack of sense for money and the gambling Marie did does not surprise me, as she was so young and practically forced into this position. However, I do not believe she was sending money back to Austria.
I’ve always found the story of Marie Antoinette fascinating! I can’t believe her and Louis were 14 and 15 when they married. It’s not surprising they had no intimate relations for a while being so young. I don’t think Marie ever stood a chance to look favorably in the eyes of the French people. It seems the French were ready to get rid of the monarchy and Marie was only used as a means to that end.
I would be mad, too, if I was a tax payer and the queen appeared to be spending my hard-earned money on her own personal riches. It was evident that sketchy behavior was going on with the king and queen and the people were well-aware of it. Some of the things this article explained that Marie was doing were downright outrageous!
What a crazy story. I don’t blame the tax payers for being mad. It is crazy that during these days it was normal for people to get married at the age of 14. Some of the stories that were said about Marie Antoinette were disturbing and crazy. I hope that some of those things were not true!
I have always heard of Marie Antoinette but I have never read about her story. In my opinion, forcing her to wed when she was 14 set the stage for something like this to occur. Marie’s accusations at her trial were outrageous and disturbing. I never knew this was the story that went along with her name.
I find it impressive the amount of mistake she didn’t make. Someone that young, it’s crazy she was able to do what she did. Be married and run an empire.
Marie seemed to be a target back then. I think she would have done good things for her time.
It’s sad they these two were forced into the marriage and throne because of their family name and later be executed at such a young age. The amount of pressure and anxiety of those two had to be insane for just a 14 year old and 15 year old.
I remember reading and learning about her in high school but never knew her age. It amazes me that she was only 14 when married. Things were certainly different back then.
It is interesting to read that she was thrown into spotlight like she was. Perhaps if the French economy had been better, even good, she would have instead been revered? I never knew Marie was Austrian and not French!
I guess people were even more upset with how public officials spent taxpayer money then than they are now – shocking.
Man the news back them might have come up with more lies and scandals to get there way than now that’s hard to believe it could be any worse than today.
I’ve never liked marie Antoinette.. the way she treated the people of France just didn’t seem to sit right with me. Although she may have been forced into the whole situation a little early.
Married at fourteen? I think it’s extremely impressive that she married as a teenager and ran an empire. Props to her; great story!
Reminds me of king tut!!! young persons running empires!!! Wish i had it like that , but not the problems.
I don’t know what the expectations were of such young rulers but it sounds like Marie got the raw end of the deal.
At fourteen years old a girl doesn’t even know what love really is and part of life is finding the love of your life. I can not imagine having to marry, live and sleep with a man tat I didn’t know until I said I do.
I would hate being in power and having as many rumors going around about me as they had experienced and power between two young people was going to go sour.
It’s just crazy how a fourteen year old could be arranged to get married at that age.
It is so sad that she was ridiculed like she was. She was a child and born royalty. With the way the French people were already angry at the monarchy, she never stood a chance.
To hear that they had “tabloids” back then or even “gossiped” is just weird even though it happened. When reading these it’s sad that some of those things happened especially to her son.
I couldn’t even imagine me being married at only fourteen years old..
It is crazy that this much chaos could come to someone of this age.
I’ve always been fascinated with Marie Anntoinette! My mom taught me about her when I was 6 years old.
It’s so weird thinking about getting married at 14..
getting married at such a young age is still so crazy to me!
I can’t even imagine being married at 14 to a guy I never met before, let alone rule with him as a monarch of France. Her story is fascinating to me.
i don’t think a country should be a monarchy its not a good way to run the country. Marie is selfish and cared only for her and the royalty of the family, even wanting to keep it in the family by having sex with her son.
Yeah getting married at such a young age is crazy but also remember that the life span of people back then was probably half of what we live to now days.