Marie-Antoinette
Queen · 1774-1792 · born on 2 November 1755, died on 16 October 1793
Daughter of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie-Antoinette married the Dauphin Louis, the future Louis XVI, in 1770, to seal the Franco-Austrian alliance. Dauphine, then Queen of France in 1774, she was at first appreciated, then increasingly criticized for her spending and her acquaintances.
Her reputation was durably tarnished by pamphlets and scandals, including the affair of the diamond necklace (1785), of which she was nonetheless innocent. Mother of four children, she sought to support an indecisive husband as the Revolution broke out in 1789.
After the attempted flight to Varennes (1791), she was seen as the soul of the counter-revolution. Tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal, she was guillotined on 16 October 1793. Her death, the most famous of the Ancien Régime, fed many myths and works.
In the tree of power
- Spouse: Louis XVI (1774-1792)