Background: The Fall of the Monarchy
Marie Antoinette was born in 1755 in Vienna, Austria, the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. She married Louis-Auguste, who would later become Louis XVI of France, in 1770, when she was just 14. The union was politically motivated, aimed at securing peace between Austria and France. However, the young Austrian archduchess quickly became a symbol of French extravagance and excess.
As Queen, Marie Antoinette was often the target of public criticism. She was blamed for the country's financial woes, largely due to her lavish spending on fashion, parties, and court life. Her famous alleged quote, "Let them eat cake," though likely apocryphal, became a symbol of her perceived indifference to the suffering of the common people, even though there is no evidence she ever uttered those words.
When the Revolution erupted in 1789, the monarchy's power weakened. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were seen as symbols of the old regime and were increasingly disliked by the revolutionaries. The royal family was imprisoned in the Tuileries Palace and, in 1792, the monarchy was abolished. Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on January 21, 1793, and the queen’s fate was soon sealed. shutdown123