how old was maria antonette when she was married had her baby and died?

Answer 1

Marie Antoinette is probably one of the most remembered yet misunderstood women in history. Her name is not only synonymous with the French Revolution and her infamous saying, "Let them eat cake", but also with selfishness, greed, excessiveness, cold-heartedness and so on. But, like every story told, there are two sides to it. Most people are familiar with the one associated with the words above, and to an extent, that is true. But there is also another side to her and that's the side I want to explore of her.


Another aspect that is commonly not associated with Marie Antoinette is that her life was like that of a lot of women in the 18th century. Women, especially ones in royalty, were seen more as bargaining tokens than women and marriages were not based on mutual love,respect, and caring, but on some alliance, union, and the like. So is the case with Marie. Even before she started her adolescent life, her life and its course were being dictated by other people and other events beyond her control.






Her Life




Marie Antoinette of Hapsburg-Lorraine was born on November 2, 1775 as the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. Maria Theresa ruled the great Hapsburg Empire from her palace, called Schonbrunn, in Vienna. Marie grew up as the youngest and favorite daughter and was brought up believing that she would become the queen of France. The marriage between Louis XIV of France and Marie was an arranged marriage between the two countries which formed the Franco-Austrian alliance, which was not popular with the French people.


In 1770, when she was just fifteen years old, she married Louis XIV, who was only sixteen at the time. Four years later, Louis XV, who was the current King of France when Louis and Marie got married and Louis' grandfather, died. So, on May 10, 1774, she became Queen of France. The coronation took place at the cathedral in Reims and the new king and queen exclaimed, "Protect us, Lord, for we reign too young." She was only 19, he 20.


When she left Austria for the final time and entered France, she did not speak any French and from the moment she entered France, she was unpopular and ill received by the French people. They were not excited about having a "foreign" queen, especially since she was part of the Franco-Austrian alliance. Not only was she unpopular with the people outside the palace of Versailles, where she would call home, but she was also unpopular within the palace itself. Popularity, as it turns out, was going to turn out to be a life-long battle for her, one she would end up losing.


Life in the palace was difficult for her and Abbe de Vermond, who was her former tutor in Austria and had now accompanied her to France as her reader, tried to make Marie follow the counsel sent by her mother. As a queen, she had certain daily duties she needed to carry out, these included levees (which is a reception held in the morning as a person of royalty gets out of bed), dressing, holding audiences, public meals, and several others. Of course, a queen's primary responsibility is to provide an heir to the throne.



Marie soon got very bored and tired of these duties and began to withdraw from the restraints and duties of the court, from her husband who had his own affairs, and began to enjoy a life of innocent and frivolous pleasure. One note here is that even though she started to become lazy with her royal duties, she always kept up her regular practice of her religious duties. She surrounded herself with a small circle of friends and created the image of an untrustworthy foreigner, not only among the common French people, but also among the other nobles and courtiers. Between 1774 and 1777, she became known for trivial, yet very expensive escapades which included sleigh racing, opera balls, hunting, gambling (at which she became quite addicted), huge fetes, parties, acting, etc. During this time, the number of theaters grew and there was a change in the musical and theatrical repertoires that welcomed foreigners. She favored composers like Gluck, Piccini, and Salieri while the old French preferred Couperin, who was considered by her to be out-dated at the time. She would also urge the dismissal of ministers who tried to curb her spending on her escapades. People saw her as not only corrupting the court, but also squandering the money of France for her fun.


Yet not all the blame can be focused on her because her own husband was the one who encouraged her to keep the court entertained. Later though, she confessed to the Austrian Ambassador, Mercy, who was a close confidant of hers, that she indulged in this manner to console herself for having no children. "If I were only a mother, I should be considered a Frenchwoman," she wrote to Mercy. Even though much of this sounds very outrageous, one must keep in mind that during this time, she was just in her early 20's, barely a lady, and trying to find acceptance both within and without the palace walls. It would have been difficult for anyone, no matter how strong, to handle her situation. Two courtiers also noticed that at heart, she had innocent motives. Prince de Ligne wrote, "Her pretended gallantry was never any more than a very deep friendship for one or two individuals, and the ordinary coquetry of a woman, or a queen, trying to please everyone." De Goltz, the Prussian minister at the time also wrote similar words, basically saying that though a vindictive person might interpret her (Marie's) conduct unfavorably, there was nothing in it beyond the simple desire to please everybody. Even though she was trying hard to survive, she carried a certain passion and excitement about life. Edmund Burke, who was an Englishmen and an outspoken critic of the excesses of the French Revolution, wrote a speech lamenting her death. In it he described that early in her life, she was "glittering like the morning star full of life and splendor and joy."


An important part of her life to understand is that Marie remained completely loyal to the Franco-Austrian alliance, of which she was such a crucial part. Not only was she loyal to the alliance, but she was also very loyal to her homeland of Austria and wanted to see them benefit. Because of her strong ties to both of these, she was very determined that they both stay in existence and convinced her husband to support them as well. This does not seem like that big of a deal, but the French were not too happy with her enthusiasm for either one and later on down the road, this loyalty would only help her and the French monarchy’s demise.



In order to fully understand Marie's life, one must also examine that of her husband, Louis XIV. From the very beginning, he was not prepared nor did he want to become king. It was only after his older brother died did he become the Dauphin (or crown prince). Unlike his grandfather, Louis XV and his great grand father, Louis XIV, he lacked personal presence and could never seem to truly command his court or his country. His qualities include piety, loyalty, sense of duty, curiosity, and interest in technology, qualities that really are not required of a king. But he was quite an intelligent man who had a mind for numbers and was quite well read. He also enjoyed work with his hands which included locksmithing and was a very gifted craftsman who designed and constructed furniture. He truly loved his people very deeply, and they loved him, more so than Marie, but his lack of decisiveness and his apathy towards many situations seemed to do much more damage to the monarchy than good for it.


Louis basically inherited a country already headed down hill. His great grand father, Louis XIV, spend vast amounts of money on the building of the Palace of Versailles, which was the largest and most lavish palace in Europe at the time, several other extravagant chateaux, a lavish court life, various escapades, etc. He really depleted the treasury for his own personal use. His son, Louis XV, carried on the same sort of lifestyle for himself and his court, although not as extravagant, but it didn’t help the majority of French people nor the treasury at all. Instead, it only did the reverse. There were already grumblings about the social condition amongst the majority of the population when young Louis XVI took over. It is interesting fact to consider that if a stronger monarch had replaced Louis, would the Revolution still have occurred?


Marie Antoinette's reputation was not faring that well with either the public or court, that is until she gave birth to her first child, which was Madame Royale in 1778. She gained back some public support and approval when she gave birth to the first Dauphin in 1781, who unfortunately died in 1789. She later gave birth to another daughter who died in infancy and finally to another son who was to become the Dauphin after his brother died. He was born in 1785. During this time, the public and court were not so harsh with her, although that time would return sooner rather than later. The public, though, had waited eleven long years for her to produce an heir and that combined with her overly indulgent lifestyle, their ill will towards her never really diminished.


One event that worsened her standing with the French public was the "Affair of the Diamond Necklace" which took place between 1785 and 1786. This affair started when one of the French ministers, Cardinal de Rohan, was swindled into buying a diamond necklace that he believed the Queen wished to have. He was swindled by a lady who called herself Comtesse de la Motte-Valois. A lawsuit ensued between the minister and the unpaid jewellers in which the Cardinal was aquitted. But the Comtesse, pretending that Marie Antoinette knew and was involved wth the about the transaction, publically made accusations about secret, romantic rendezvous that Marie had had and so on. These accusations were exploited by Marie's enemies to help tear her down even more in the eyes of the French people.


French politics at this time were anything but stable, and as the years got went by, the more unstable they got. Many politicians wanted changes and reforms within the monarchy that slowly diminished the royal power. At first, Marie was very resolute that no concessions be made and was determined to overthrow all of the new reforms. One of the reasons she was so resolute goes back to the Franco-Austrian Alliance, of which Marie was so dedicated to keep in tact. Louis, like most of his ruling life, was apathetic in these situations, although he did favor reforms and was willing to work with the States-General in bringing them about. But Marie's determination not to see this happen again one over because of her forcefullness and his lack of standing up to her. Again we see how she got what she wanted and by standing up for the Alliance, it only hurt her popularity even more. By 1789, though, just at the brink of the start of the Revolution, she advocate royal compromise with the revolutionary States-General whom she hated so much. And by this time, popular hatred of her was at an all time high, and would stay that way until her death.


In fall of 1789, after several important events took place, a mob forced the royal family from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris where they were virtual prisoners for the next two years. During this time when much of the country was in a state of upheval, Marie was trying secretly to negotiate with foreign powers, including her brother, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, who was now the king of the Hapsburg Empire, for the safety of Louis. In June of 1791, she arranged for the family to flee from Paris to the eastern borders and hopefully into Austria. But they were caught and arrested at Varennes and sent back to Paris.Leopold and Frederick William of Prussia both signed the Declaration of Pillnitz which would never allow the new French Constitution to be established or recognized. Louis, though, was forced to accept the new constitution while Marie was secretly favoring the French Declaration of War against Austria in 1792. By doing this, she hoped that Prussia and Austria would then declare war on France, come in and easily defeat the unorganized revolutionaries and restore the monarchy. Unfortunately, by sending military secrets to Austria, she was committing treason. But by this time, it was too late for any foreign involvement.


On August 10, 1792, the huge uprising by the Parisian mobs permanently destroyed and abolished the monarchy; the royal family was arrested on suspicions of treason and imprisoned in the Temple and by late September, a republic was declared. On January 21, 1793, King Louis XIV was tried and convicted of treason and executed on the guillotine. Marie and her three children remained in the Temple until August of 1793 where she was moved to the Conciergerie. Her living conditions in the Conciergerie, where her younger son also accompanied her, were that of a filthy slum. During this time, she repeatedly turned to the Bible and a chaplain for strength and support while suffering from internal bleeding and losing a lot of weight. Her trial started on October 14 and the charges brought against her included incest, unnatural sexual practices and treason to the State. The most absurd and insulting charges was that she was having sex with her ailing son while still in prison. Despite the ridiculous nature of the charges, she sat with her head high and proud everyday while testimony was given against her, usually by drunken soldiers, disgruntled servants, or paid witnesses. The final day of her trial lasted twenty hours straight and her jury only convened for one hour before delivering a verdict of guilty.


October 16, 1793 was the day of her execution and she was given a few pieces of paper on which she wrote to her sister-in-law, Elisabeth, asking her to pass her love onto her children and friends Axel Fersen and Gabrielle de Polignac. Her hair, which started to turn white while she was in the Tuileries Palace, was cut and her hands tied. She was lead to an open cart which was slowly driven around Paris for three hours during which time she had to endure was jeers, boos, being spit upon, and so on. She was helped off of the cart and mounted the steps of the guillotine undauntedly and with her head held high.

Answer 2

She was 19 years old and had bore 2 children until her 3rd child was born who was the the next heir, but she was in her 20s when she died by beheading.