In the spirit of our series of posts about theCrisis that gave rise to the French Revolution, “A Reason to Party,” it is worth recalling one of the great party girls – Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen, better known to us as Marie-Antoinette, whose 265th birthday falls exactly today (November 2).
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Marie Antoinette's misfortune
A few thoughts on the matter. I would venture to say that their turbulent lives were related to the heavy burden that surrounded them:
An old woman born on the Catholic “Day of the Dead”
First of all, she was the 15th child of her mother, Empress Maria Theresa – which created a great distance between her and her older siblings, the future Emperors Joseph II and Leopold II. If they had been a little closer in age, they might have liked their little sister a little more, and perhaps, who knows, even acted with some determination to save her, instead of standing by and scratching their heads as the Parisians dragged her husband and her to the gallows.
Add to that the fact that she was born on “All Souls’ Day,” the Catholic holiday of the dead – not exactly a happy and lucky day.
The day before she was born, a terrible disaster occurred in Portugal.
The day before, on November 1, 1755, the Great Lisbon Earthquake occurred – one of the most horrific events of the period, with a death toll estimated at between 10 and 100. No one in Vienna knew about it at the time of the birth, but given that the new baby’s official godparents were the King and Queen of Portugal, we all understand that someone was trying to say something about the young Archduchess’s future.
Even the decorations in the pavilion where Marie Antoinette was delivered to France foretold ill things about the future.
As if the ceremony of handing over the Austrian bride to the French wasn't humiliating enough (for this purpose, an entire pavilion was built on a neutral island in the middle of the Rhine, where the 14-year-old princess was supposed to say goodbye to her homeland and her Austrian entourage, take off all her clothes, put on French attire, and move into her new entourage), the walls of this pavilion were decorated with mythological scenes. Guess which ones?
That's right – the marriage of Jason and Medea, which, as is well known, culminated in the Abkhazian wife, fed up with her Levantine husband's treachery, burning her rival along with her father, slaughtering the children, and riding off in a chariot drawn by dragons. How's that for an engagement party decoration?
Well, even the young Goethe, who bribed the guards and sneaked in to peek into the pavilion before the ceremony began, was shocked: “Who gave the order?!” he cried.
But who listened to Goethe, eh? I ask you, who listened to him?!
Her son-in-law couldn't "do his job" properly.
And of course her groom, the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI. Already after the wedding night, the prince marks in his diary: “Rien”, and this “nothing” will last for seven years! The guy suffered from phimosis (who wants check Wikipedia – See You Were Warned) and for literally seven whole years, he was afraid to resolve the matter with the simplest means of all – circumcision.
In those happy days, matters of royal health and fertility were public domain, and you can imagine what this did to the couple’s marriage and their conduct in the most promiscuous and mocking court in Europe. Only a persuasive personal visit from Joseph II, the queen’s brother, pushed Louis to go to the mohel and, finally (and wink), produce an heir. It was undoubtedly a comfortable and enjoyable conversation for all parties involved.
It is precisely in these seven meager years that one must seek an explanation for Marie-Antoinette's lust for parties and extravagance, from where the unfounded rumors about her extravagance grow, and there one must seek the seeds of aristocratic and popular resentment against the weak and unsuccessful monarchy.
Want to read more articles about Marie Antoinette?
If the tragic life of the most famous queen in French royal history interests you, you are welcome to read the following articles:
- Marie Antoinette – A French Fashion Icon (Who Also Influences Us) by Ariella Goichman Garber
- A trip to Versailles in the footsteps of Marie Antoinette
- The porcelain bowls shaped like Marie Antoinette's breasts
- The End of Marie-Antoinette (When Abyssal Hatred Meets Misogyny)
- Chapelle Expiatoire – the mysterious chapel in the heart of Paris