In 1770, four years after he was crowned the French king, Louis XVI, married Marie Antoinette of Austria. He was 15; she was 14. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lived 10 miles outside of Paris in the palace at Versailles. The royal residence had been established 100 years before by the absolutist monarch, Louis XIV. Gradually, all government functions and royal ceremonies were moved to this magnificent structure with its elaborate gardens.

While the famous Hall of Mirrors had been a central meeting place for Louis XIV, the young Louis XVI preferred the vast hunting grounds around Versailles. Marie Antoinette had much of the queen's areas of the palace refurbished and updated, but she often retreated to Trianon, a set of quaint buildings on the palace grounds. From this private space, the Austrian girl could imagine that she was in a quiet Austrian hamlet.


What brought on the downfall of the king and queen?
Many historians point to Louis XVI's good-heartedness as a cause for his downfall. He was not ready to rule, was easily influenced by the people around him, and he desperately wanted to be liked. When he allied himself with the nobility, he upset the delicate balance that had prevailed throughout his family's long reign. French kings had traditionally been viewed as allies of the people, a counterweight to the selfish nobles. When Louis XVI shifted his allegiance to the most privileged class in French society, the bourgeoisie, known in French government as the Third Estate, determined that it was time for the masses to take control. On June 17, 1789, the Third Estate voted to establish the National Assembly. Meeting in a Paris tennis court, they took an oath of loyalty to a constitution that greatly limited the monarchy, the so-called Tennis Court Oath. By 1791 a new governing body, the National Convention, controlled France. The monarchy was stripped of much of its power and then eliminated altogether. Louis XVI was condemned as a traitor and executed on the guillotine on January 21, 1793.

Because Marie Antoinette was an Austrian, she was regarded as a foreign sympathizer. The country's heavy debts were a chief cause of national unrest, and exaggerated reports about Marie Antoinette's luxurious lifestyle became associated with the nation's deficit. Because the queen had considerable influence over her husband, many French people held her accountable for all the problems of his reign. Her popularity increased slightly with the birth of her children, especially her first son, but she was soon the most hated person in France and the subject of wild rumors spread by pamphleteers. On October 16, 1793, she too was beheaded.

Credits: Girondists © Corbis; Marie-Antoinette and Her Children (1787). Louise Elizabeth Vigée-LeBrun. Oil on canvas, 275 x215 cm. Inv. MV 4520. Chateau, Versailles, France/Photo © Giraudon/Art Resouce, New York; Louis XVI. Antoine-Francois Callet. Chateaux de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles, France. Photo © Giraudon/Art Resource, New York; Chateau, Versailles, France/Photo © Giraudon/Art Resource, New York; Petit Trianon; Execution of Louis XVI North Wind Picture Archives.

Top of Page