Why was Marie Antoinette beheaded?
Marie Antoinette has been seen as a symbol of the French ancien régime’s corrupt decadence. Does this really explain the factors that led to her execution?
Image: Marie Antoinette | Public Domain
Marie Antoinette has been besmirched as the arrogant, pampered Queen of France who dismissively said of her starving subjects: ‘Let them eat cake’. With this out-of-touch attitude, she fanned the flames of the French Revolution that engulfed her country during her husband Louis XVI’s reign.
That’s the traditional view of Marie Antoinette, anyway. A stance rooted in the outspoken opinions of the French revolutionaries who bayed for her blood. Her very public, humiliating beheading took place in front of jeering crowds on 16th October 1793, just months after Louis had met the same fate.
Since then, revisionist historians have looked afresh at the late queen’s impact on French political life. Far from the lackadaisical royal spouse of popular memory, Marie Antoinette appears to have been a tragic victim of circumstance. Here’s why many of today’s history buffs, including TikTok star Katie Kennedy, the face of Sky HISTORY’s History Crush, now see her as an icon.
Marie Antoinette’s early life
The future queen consort was born an Austrian archduchess by the name of Maria Antonia on 2nd November 1755. At the time, her father Francis I was at the helm of the Holy Roman Empire. Meanwhile, her mother Maria Theresa was a powerful Hapsburg monarch in her own right, ruling Austria and Hungary.
France and Austria had long been bitter enemies. However, in the 18th century, the two powers decided to unite to fend off the emerging threats of Britain and Prussia. What better way to seal a new geopolitical partnership in this era than with a wedding? And so it was decided that Maria Antonia should marry the heir to the French throne.
The pair were just teenagers not only when they wed in 1770 but also when they became King and Queen of France four years later. Much to the royal court’s frustration, the pair were wed for seven years before finally consummating their marriage. This delay stoked rumours that the queen had been unfaithful. Such scandalous gossip would continue to follow her and blight her reputation for decades.
Marie Antoinette: a truly ‘French’ queen?
The freshly forged political ties between France and Austria proved a hard pill for the French to swallow. When the archduchess joined the French royal family, concerted attempts were made to ‘Frenchify’ her image. This included abandoning her Austrian name ‘Maria Antonia’ for the more French-sounding ‘Marie Antoinette’.
All the same, French courtiers couldn’t shake their suspicions that the queen was secretly acting in the interest of their old enemy. It wasn’t just her close relationship with her mother (the two maintained regular correspondence by letter) that frayed French nerves. It was also Marie Antoinette’s surprising position at court.
Traditionally, French kings’ mistresses held a lot of political sway. Conversely, Louis XVI remained faithful to his wife, ensuring that this power rested with her instead. Hence, the queen took much of the flak when the country’s fortunes went awry.
So, as the French economy approached bankruptcy in the 1780s, the blame wasn’t directed at the king’s financially disastrous support of the American Revolution. Instead, members of the court exaggerated the queen’s supposedly reckless spending. Marie Antoinette sought to tone down this extravagant image by wearing muslin rather than silk. However, this provoked complaints that she was turning her back on France’s lucrative silk industry.
How the French Revolution changed everything
Desperate to revitalise the national finances, Louis XVI called for a meeting of the previously long-dormant French parliament, the ‘Estates General’, in 1789. This unleashed a torrent of revolutionary fervour that turned increasingly hostile towards the monarchy.
A fearful Marie Antoinette wrote to Austrian authorities to appeal for their support. French revolutionaries would later accuse her of treasonously conspiring with a foreign power against France’s interests. After being put on trial in October 1793, Marie Antoinette was found guilty of exactly that.
Days later, Marie Antoinette set foot on the scaffold, at one point apologising to the executioner for accidentally stepping on his shoe. Her guillotine-sliced body was deposited in an unmarked grave in the Madeleine cemetery. Her remains would not be given a proper burial until her brother-in-law Louis XVIII became king after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Today, historians see scant evidence for many of the alleged misdeeds, including orgies and incest, Marie Antoinette’s critics attributed to her. Yes, even the ‘Let them eat cake’ line. Who knew that misinformation could have such devastating consequences?
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