Marie Antoinette was born Maria Antonia, daughter of the Austrian monarchs Francis I and Maria Theresa on November 2nd 1755. Maria Antonia lived a lavish life in the Austrian court. Her mother was a beloved monarch to Austria, sensitive to the people, and tried to raise all 16 of her children to be just as compassionate and intelligent. Maria Antonia was often in awe of her mother, and closer to her kind-hearted father. As a child, she was expected to be educated, but her education was not as emphasized as it may have been. Instead, the young princess enjoyed music, and had a talent at it. She often played duets with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Austrian palace. The small princess was a beauty, and her parent’s favorite child. She had a governess who watched over her when her parents were busy serving the Court, a governess who doted on little Maria and allowed her any fancy she wanted. It has been said that Maria Antonia had quite the temper, and if was

Marie Antoinette was used to the more informal court in Vienna, and found the straight-laced rituals and etiquettes of the French Court a bore. She often giggled through ceremonies, or sat looking intensely bored. She tended to be sarcastic and directed her sarcasm to the older Aunts of the house, who noticed and disliked Marie Antoinette’s behavior. The Queen had an eye for fashion and beauty, and spared no expense in attaining the highest of both. Marie Antoinette hired private designers and stylists, who came up with new fashion ideas and hair styling ideas daily. She was allowed a certain amount of money for her dresses each year, and each year overspent grossly. Along with having a passion for beauty and fashion, she had a taste for the social night life. Marie Antoinette threw many lavish parties for her small group of friends. Whereas the King would generally be in bed by 11, the Queen would be up until all hours of the morning with her circle of friends gambling and drinking, and occasionally dabbling into drugs.

The Austrian Royal family was a loving and warm one, as Maria Theresa and Francis I married out of love rather than political alliances. The family was formal while in the Austrian Court, but quite informal and casual outside of it, when acting as a family. The life of Maria Antonia was deeply darkened when her father died at the age of 56 due to a stroke.

The French people held major disdain towards the young Queen. The disgruntled Nobles were spreading rumors viciously about the Queen. The French people were reading of her extravagances and foolish spending daily. They even began to call her L’autrichienne (the Austrian) and chanted “The Austrian to the Lamppost!” as in the days before the guillotine, people were hung from lampposts. It was now that Marie Antoinette realized how much the French people really despised her.

Marie Antoinette began to ignore French custom in her duties as Queen, and appointed her friends to great positions. In doing so, she was snubbing both tradition, and great French Houses. Not only was Marie Antoinette isolating the citizens of France, but was now isolating the nobles as well. Her excesses not only spanned her fashion and beauty, but her home life as well. King Louis gave her a small palace on the grounds of Versailles called Le Petit Trianon. Marie Antoinette also had a small village built, called the Hameau, a village where Marie Antoinette acted as if she was a milk maid, but did not do any tasks that a milk maid herself would do. Marie Antoinette loved drama and theatrics. It is unsure if the Queen realized that her extravagances were draining France’s treasury. France had already been in a state of a small economic depression before Louis XVI had come to the throne, due to the spending and disregard of the treasury by the House of Bourbon. Past Kings had many debts, and kept digging deeper and deeper by borrowing more and more. By the time Louis XVI came to power, France’s currency was almost drained.

The mobs soon turned to Versailles. One night, after a banquet, the mobs found an entrance to Versailles and stormed into the Queen’s chambers. She escaped narrowly through a passage way to the Kings chambers, but was extremely shaken. The royal family knew that they had to leave Paris, or they would be executed. The Queen convinced Louis that they had to flee the country. While in flight, a postman recognized the King from a picture on a coin, and alerted revolutionaries. The royal family was imprisoned in the Tuileries Palace. On August 12th, 1792, a mob stormed the Tuileries and the royal family was thrown into the basement in a prison. A month later, France was declared a republic. King Louis XVI was executed under the guillotine January 21st, 1793, after being found guilty of treason by trial.

Her mother, Maria Theresa, knew her da

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