Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette was born on 2 November 1755 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.  She was the fifteenth child of Holy Roman Emperor Francis and his indomitable wife Empress Maria Theresa.  Her full title was Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen.  Her early years were spent under the family governess and the tutelage of Christoph Willibald Gluck.  The young Maria Antonia became an accomplished musician and met a very young but already supremely gifted Mozart. This aptitude for music however did not translate into a grasp of written German.  She also struggled with the formal court language of Europe, French.

France had been the traditional enemy of the Habsburgs for many generations as they wrestled for dominance in Europe.  This changed in the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War and the ensuing Diplomatic Revolution.  To formalise this process Louis XV asked the hand of Maria Antonia for his eldest grandson Louis-Auguste the Dauphin (heir of France).  So it was that Maria Antonia became Marie Antoinette marrying the Dauphin in Vienna.  The ceremony took place between Marie Antoinette and her brother Archduke Ferdinand taking the place of the Dauphin.  A month or so later she would meet her husband and have another wedding on the 16th May 1770.  The traditional ritual bedding was then held this did not result in successful consummation France and Austria hoped for.

Reports filtered back Austria and the all controlling Marie Theresa of how well Marie Antoinette was adapting to French court life.  She was pleased to see her plan coming to fruit when Louis XV died on the 10th of May 1774 and the dauphin became Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette became Queen of France.  Marie Antoinette was gifted the small estate of the Petit Trianon.  The initial interest and in some quarters excitement at having a young beautiful queen began to fade as the expected heir did not become apparent.  This was coupled with concerns at the young Queens apparent spendthrift ways concerned many.  Tall tales circulated of lavish spending on the Petit Trianon.  For want of a political purpose lacking access to the King’s cabinet and not performing the role of mother the young Queen took to surrounding herself with new friends.  Two of these were Marie-Louise, princesse de Lamballe and Duchesse de Polignac.  There were also male admirers who began to accumulate around the Queen.  Questions were asked in Paris as to why the Queen was not performing her motherly duties these extended to people questioning as to who the queen was sleeping with.

As concern mounted in Austria at the lack of an heir Marie Theresa sent Marie Antoinette’s brother Joseph (now Emperor) to see if he could solve the problem.  It was thanks to his frank discussion with Louis that the couple were finally able to consummate their marriage which led as these things to do the birth of a young daughter Marie-Thérèse Charlotte in 1778.  Marie Theresa was even more delighted when Marie Antoinette was able to intervene on her brother’s behalf and end a short war when he had claimed the throne of Bavaria.  However questions were beginning to be asked who was the Queen working for Austria or France?  However soon after the Queen would no doubt have been delighted when on the 22nd October 1781 she gave birth to another child, a son, Louis Joseph Xavier François the dauphin of France.

France’s long term economic crisis became far more severe when it started first financing the rebels in America and then finally sending the navy and then army.  Marie Antoinette assisted the King by suggesting (in 1783) Charles Alexandre de Calonne a close personal friend of the Polignacs as Controller of Finances.  Many in France were shocked when word spread of expense that Marie Antoinette was having spent on her rural retreat which was designed to mimic the idealised form of a French peasant village.  Unease across France escalated as news of Louis purchasing Saint-Cloud for his wife at an exorbitant price.

On the 27th March 1785 Marie Antoinette had a second son named Louis Charles.  Soon after tragedy enveloped the royal household as Antoinette gave birth to a second daughter only for her die the following year.  Tragedy soon turned to farce and the sympathy that the Queen was given was quickly eroded in the wake of the diamond necklace affair.

As the economic crisis deepened Louis was forced to call the Assembly of Notables in 1787. However the Assembly failed to pass any of the much needed reforms Calonne sought.  He was soon replaced with Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne a favourite of the Queen which increased people’s belief that the Queen was using her influence to control events in France. Running out of options the King believed that the only possibility was to call for the Estates General not seen since 1614.  As the most difficult period of the royal family’s political life began their concern was understandably directed elsewhere as the young dauphin was entering the final weeks of his life suffering with tuberculosis of the spine.  His death on the 4th of June 1789 was not greeted with nationwide remorse as many in France had hardened their view towards the family.

As the Estates General metamorphosed into first a combined group (initially against the King’s wishes) and finally into a National Assembly demanding a constitution.  As the King struggled to maintain control and relevance Marie Antoinette suggested the removal of Necker on the 11 of July. This would be one of the catalysts for the Storming of the Bastille on the 11th of July 1789 which saw the emergent revolution descend into violence.  This outbreak of violence caused many close to the royal family such as the Polignacs to flee the country.  The initial reforms of the revolution had failed to sate the Parisian crowd as the price of bread continued to rise.  Rumours circulated that the royal family had been part of a ceremony with royalist troops who had trampled on the revolutionary cockade. On October 5th 1789 a crowd predominantly made up of women marched on Versailles.  The situation nearly ended disastrously as various groups stormed the palace and sought out the “Austrian bitch” only by fleeing through secret corridors was the Queen able to escape with her children.  Lafayette the freshly appointed commander of the National Guard was forced to acquiesce to the crowd’s demands and escort the Royal family to Paris.  The royal family would now reside in the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

The Queen sought anyway to maintain any form of power for the monarchy.  This saw her draw up unlikely working relationships with men she detested such as Lafayette and then Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau.  In secret liaisons with the former aristocratic and one of the most prominent members of the National Assembly she was able to pay him to work in the King’s interest.  It seemed as if some form of understanding could be reached as the King swore to uphold the fledgling constitution in the 14th July Festival of Federation in 1790.

Whatever hold the Queen held over Mirabeau and thus the Assembly ended when he died in 1791.  By April 1791 the atmosphere had once again turned against the royal family as a crowd blocked their attempt to attend Saint Cloud for Easter mass.  The situation was worsened by Lafayette’s inability to control the National Guard who sided with the Parisian crowd.  It became clear to the Queen that they would have to flee Paris.  With assistance of a Swedish Count Alex von Fersen (who many believed to be a lover of the Queen) the royal family made their attempt to escape on the 21st June 1791.  The Flight to Varennes as it was later described descended into chaos as numerous technical and logistical problems saw the royal family recaptured a day later and once again returned to Paris.

On their return to Paris they were placed under virtual house (palace) arrest.  The Queen managed to develop a close relationship with one of the members of the Assembly sent to escort them to the capital.  Barnave acted in the role Mirabeau previously occupied seeking to aid the royal families cause in the Assembly as best he could. However his power to effect events were greatly restricted as the more radical Girondins took control of the Assembly a group the King could not work with.  The restrictions placed on the royals also did not stop communication between the royals and the outside monarchical regimes across Europe who were increasingly concerned with what was occurring in France.  By April 1792 war had broken out between Prussia and Austria and the revolutionary state.  Many now saw the King as adding and abetting France’s enemies.

On the 20th 1792 a mob broke into the Tuileries palace and forced the King to don a revolutionary bonnet and toast the Republic.  This attack on the royals led the Duke of Brunswick to issue his infamous manifesto on the 25th July 1792 declaring that any attack on the person of the King and his family would be met with serious consequences for the populace of Paris.  The mob would return to the palace on the 10th August not seeking any token gesture from the King.  The subsequent assault saw the royal family flee to the Assembly for protection.  Their loyal Swiss guards were cut down.  The royals would then be placed in the Temple prison as the revolutionaries decided what course to take.  The September massacres would see one the Queen’s favourite’s Princesse de Lamballe brutally murdered and her head paraded past the Temple window.  By September the monarchy was abolished and now Louis Capet would have to come to terms in life in prison.

Events moved rapidly as Louis was separated from his family and tried with undermining the Republic.  He was found guilty and executed on the 15th January 1793.  The National Convention struggled to deal with the now Widow Capet.  As the continued assault on France from Prussia and Austria continued and royalist rebels rose in the Vendee radicals called for further measures.  The Dauphin, Louis Charles was removed from Marie Antoinette’s care and placed in the hands of devoted radicals who would reeducate him in the ways of the revolution.  Soon Marie Antoinette would be removed and placed in the Conciergerie known as the waiting room of the guillotine.  Under pressure from more radical elements such as Hebert Marie Antoinette was put on trial.  The trial on the 14th October 1793 saw accusations of liaising with the enemies of France.  The outlandish accusations of instigating orgies at Versailles and astonishingly incest with her own son were also levelled at her.  Testimony for this last charge came from Louis Charles himself who had been coerced into delivering condemning evidence against his own mother.  On the 16th October she was found guilty of depleting the national treasury, providing information to the enemy and conspiring against the state.  She made a composed journey to the scaffold despite the abuse of some from the crowds.  Her last words were said to be, “Pardon me, sir, I meant not to do it,” as she stood on the executioner’s foot.  Her body was thrown in an unmarked grave.

Wollstonecraft on Marie Antoinette and her early days in France.  Taken from A Vindication of the Rights of Man, Oxford University Press (2008)  p301

During this general depravation of manners, the young and beautiful dauphine arrived; and was received with a kind of idolatrous adoration, only to be seen in France; for the inhabitants of the metropolis, literally speaking, could think and talk of nothing else; and in their eagerness to pay homage, or gratify affectionate curiosity, an immense number were killed.

In such a voluptuous atmosphere, how could she escape contagion?   The profligacy of Louis XIV, when love and war were his amusements, was soberness compared with the capricious intemperance of the inebriated imagination at this period.  Madame du Barry was then in the zenith of her power, which quickly excited the jealousness of this princess, whose strongest passion was their intolerable family pride, which heated the blood of the whole house of Austria.

Comte de Segur on the young Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.  Memoirs of Louis Philippe Comte de Segur, The Folio Society (1960) p21

The throne was occupied by a young Prince who was already universally known by the goodness of his heart, the correctness of his mind, and the simplicity of his manners.  He appeared to feel no other passion than that of carrying out his duties, and making his people happy.  Averse to ostentation, to luxury, to pride, and to flattery, it seemed as if heaven had modelled this King not for his court, but for his subjects.

Queen Marie-Antoinette, endowed with all the charms of her sex, united that dignity of deportment which commands respect, and that grace which softens the pride of majesty.  The expression of her features alone retained a degree of Austrian pride.  Her manners and conversation were amiable, engaging, and truly French.  Too much wearied perhaps with the etiquette to which her Lady-in-Waiting, Madame de Mouchy, endeavoured to induce her to conform, she used too many efforts to free herself from its troublesome restraint in order to enjoy the sweets of private life; she felt the want of friendly intercourse, a want very seldom experienced by persons in so elevated a station….

For a young King, whose chief defect consisted in feeling too much diffidence in his own powers and in being ashamed of the careless education he had received, and a Queen who, though endowed with wit, was both thoughtless and inexperienced, it was a difficult task to govern a fickle, impassioned nation which thirsted after glory and novelty, at a time when the finances were in complete disorder and the minds of the people were aflame, all thirsting to avenge the disgrace of an unfortunate war and the shame of a licentious reign.

Edmund Burke on Marie Antoinette.  Taken from Reflections on the Revolution in France, Penguin Classics (2004) p169-170

It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision.  I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in, - glittering like the morning star, full of life and splendour, and joy. Oh! What a revolution! And what an heart must I have, to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom; little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers.  I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult.  But the age of chivalry is gone.  That of sophisters, economists and calculators, has succeeded.  The glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. Never, never more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom.

Wollstonecraft on Marie Antoinette and her early days in France.  Taken from A Vindication of the Rights of Man, Oxford University Press (2008)  p323

The unfortunate queen of France, beside the advantage of birth and station, possessed a very fine person; and her lovely face, sparkling with vivacity, hid the want of intelligence.  Her complexion was dazzlingly clear; and, when she was pleased, her manners were bewitching; for she happily mingled the most insinuating voluptuous softness and affability, with an air of grandeur, bordering on pride, that rendered the contrast more striking.  Independence also, of whatever kind, always gives a degree of dignity to the mien; so that monarchs and nobles, with most ignoble souls, from believing themselves superior to others, have actually acquired a look of superiority.

But the opening faculties were poisoned in the bud; for before she came to Paris, she had already been prepared, by a corrupt, supple abbe, for the part she to play; and young as she was, became so firmly attached to the aggrandizement of her house, that, though plunged in deep pleasure, she never omitted sending immense sums to her brother, on every occasion.  The person of the king, in itself very disgusting, was rendered more so by gluttony, and a total disregard of delicacy, and even decency in his apartments: and, when jealous of the Queen, for whom he had a kind of devouring passion, he treated her with great brutality, till she acquired sufficient finesse to subjugate him.

Austrian diplomat Florimund Mercy, Count d’Argenteau (who served in the French court) reports back to Marie Antoinette’s mother Marie Therese taken from Madame De Lamballe by Georges Bertin,  Godfrey A. S. Wieners, (1901) p36

" The queen's (Marie Antoinette) time is at present completely given up to the laying out of an English garden… This amusement would be a very harmless one if it left her time for serious thought."

Marie Therese replied

" I am more and more convinced that I am not deceived in my daughter's character, which for a long time I have thought inclined towards frivolities."

Madame Campan on Marie Antoinette and Petit Trianon.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p72

The King gave Marie Antoinette Petit Trianon.  Henceforward she amused herself with improving the gardens, without allowing any addition to the building, or any change in the furniture, which was very shabby, and remained, in 1789, in the same state as during the reign of Louis XV.  Everything there, without exception, was preserved; and the Queen slept in a faded bed, which been used by the Comtesse du Barry.  The charge of extravagance, generally made against the Queen, is the most unaccountable of the popular errors respecting her character.  She had exactly the contrary failing; and I could prove that she often carried her economy to a degree of parsimony actually blamable, especially in a sovereign.  She took a great liking for Trianon, and used to go there alone, followed by a valet; but she found attendants ready to receive her, - a concierge and his wife, who served her as femme de chamber, women of the wardrobe, footmen, etc.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on Marie Antoinette.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p83

Notwithstanding the enthusiasm which the splendour, grace, and kindness of the Queen generally inspired, secret intrigues continued in operation against her.  A short time after the ascension of Louis XVI to the throne, the minister of the King’s household was informed that a most offensive libel against the Queen was about to appear.  The lieutenant of police deputed a man named Goupil, a police inspector, to trace the libel; he came soon after to say that he had found out the place where the work was being printed, and that it was at a country house near Yverdun. He had already got possession of two sheets, which contained the most atrocious calumnies, conveyed with a degree of art which might make them very dangerous to the Queen’s reputation.  Goupil said that he could obtain the rest, but that he should want a considerable sum for that purpose.  Three thousand Louis were given to him, and very soon afterwards he brought the whole manuscript and all that had been printed to the Lieutenant of the Police.  He received a thousand Louis as a reward for his address and zeal; and a much more important office was about to be given to him, when another spy envious of Goupil’s good fortune, gave information that Goupil himself was the author of the libel; that, ten years before, he had been into the Bicetre for swindling; and that Madame Goupil had only been three years out of the Salpetriere, where she had been placed under another name…  All this affair was hushed up; but it show that it was the Queen’s fate to be incessantly attacked by the meanest and most odious machinations.

Account of the salary of Madame De Laballe taken from Madame De Lamballe by Georges Bertin, Godfrey A. S. Wieners, (1901) p52-53

" Order for fifty thousand crowns salary for Madame la Princesse de Lamballe

"To-day, the 20th October, 1775. The king, being at Fontainebleau, having chosen Madame la Princesse de Lamballe to fill the position of super intendent of the royal household, his Majesty wishes at the same time to make known the esteem and special affection with which the queen honours her, by granting to the aforesaid Princesse de Lamballe the means to support herself in this important position with the dignity suitable to a princess of her rank. To this end his Majesty has declared, and does now declare, wish, and intend that, beginning with the first of last September, Madame la Princesse de Lamballe shall enjoy, as superintendent of the royal household, apart from a salary which is due her from the royal estate, so long as she shall occupy the aforesaid position, the sum of fifty thousand crowns, to be paid annually on her simple receipts without any deductions now or in future; the sum to be set aside for this purpose by the keeper of the royal treasury, now and in future, according to the conditions or directions which shall be drawn up concerning it, without, however, the granting of this favour, which is a personal one to the Princesse de Lamballe, to those who may succeed her in the aforesaid position ; and, as a pledge of his will, his Majesty has signed with his own hand the present document, and has ordered it countersigned by his secretary of state and of the fiscal board."

Austrian diplomat Florimund Mercy, Count d’Argenteau (who served in the French court) reports back to Marie Antoinette’s mother Marie Therese on the expense that de Lamballe was costing the King and Queen taken from Madame De Lamballe by Georges Bertin,  Godfrey A. S. Wieners, (1901) p57

" I have proved that the Princesse de Lamballe costs the state annually more than one hundred thousand crowns, including the salary her brother obtains here, and the number of additional expenses caused by the revival of the position of superintendent, and that the object of these wholly useless expenses is merely to satisfy an affection of the queen for one for whom she wishes to procure a brilliant and useful position. But this same person should be circumspect enough not to take advantage of the kindness of the queen, especially on occasions which in no wise affect this superintendent, who exceeds her duties by soliciting favours manifestly contrary to the true service of her sovereign, bringing upon herself the odium of making people believe that her credit is used only to effect superfluous expenditures." " All my remonstrance’s have not prevented the queen from almost yielding several times to the reiterated importunities of the Princesse de Lamballe; and yet I have succeeded in so far as her Majesty is still undecided, and at least there will result the advantage of making her see to what point one may go in abusing her kindness and generosity."

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on Marie Antoinette.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p112

On the 22nd of October, 1781, the Queen gave birth to a Dauphin.  So deep a silence prevailed in the room that the Queen thought her child was a daughter; but after the Keeper of the Seals had declared the sex of the infant, the King went up to the Queen’s bed and said to her, “Madame, you have fulfilled my wishes and those of France you are the mother of a Dauphin.” The King’s joy was boundless; tears streamed from his eyes, he gave his hand to everyone present; and his happiness carried away his habitual reserve.  Cheerful and affable, he was incessantly taking occasion to introduce the words, “my son,” or the “the Dauphin.”

Louis XVI recounts in his journal the birth of his son the dauphin taken from Madame De Lamballe by Georges Bertin,  Godfrey A. S. Wieners, (1901) p115-116

The queen passed a very comfortable night the 21st of October. She felt some slight pain on awakening, but this did not prevent her from bathing; the pain continued, but to no great extent. Until noon I gave no order for the shooting I was to do at Sacle. Between twelve and half-past the pain became greater; the queen went to bed, and just one hour and a quarter later, by my watch, she gave birth to a boy. There were present only Madame de Lamballe, the Comte d'Artois, my aunts, Madame de Chimay, Madame de Mailly, Madame d'Ossun, Madame de Tavannes, and Madame de Guemenee, who went alternately into the Salon de la Paix, which had been left empty. In the large cabinet was my household, that of the queen and the grand entries, and the under-governesses, who entered at the critical moment and who remained at the rear of the chamber so as not to cut off the air. " Of all the princes to whom Madame de Lamballe sent at noon to announce the news. Monsieur le Due d' Orleans alone arrived before the critical moment (he was hunting at Fausse Repose). He remained in the chamber or in the Salon de la Paix. Monsieur de Conde, Monsieur de Penthievre, Monsieur le Due de Chartres, Madame la Duchesse de Chartres, Madame la Princesse de Conty, and Mademoiselle de Conde arrived also; Monsieur le Due de Bourbon in the evening, and Monsieur le Prince de Conty the next day. The following day the queen saw all these in turn.   My son was carried into the large cabinet, where I went to see him dressed, and I laid him in the, hands of Madame de Guemenee, the governess.  After the queen had been delivered I told her that it was a boy, and he was brought to her bedside. . .

On the birth of the dauphin many wrote to the royal family including the women of La Halle taken from Madame De Lamballe by Georges Bertin,  Godfrey A. S. Wieners, (1901) p117

'Congratulations of the fishmongers of Paris on the birth of Monseigneur le Dauphin

To THE King.

Sire : Heaven owes a son to a king who looks upon his people as his family; m our wishes and our prayers we have long asked for him. These are at last answered. We are sure that our grandsons will be as happy as we are, for this cherished child must resemble you. You will teach him to be good like yourself; we will undertake to instruct our sons how they should love and respect their king.

To THE Queen.

Madame: All France has already proved to your Majesty its true and lively joy at the birth of Monseigneur le Dauphin. We have shown our delight with all the love we have for you; it is permitted us to-day to lay at the feet of your Majesty the expression of our hearts; this privilege is dearer to us than life. We have loved you, Madame, so long without daring to say so, that it requires all our respect not to abuse the permission to tell you of it.

To Monseigneur le Dauphin:

Our hearts have long waited for you; they were yours before your birth. You cannot yet hear the vows we make around your cradle, but some day they shall be explained to you; they all amount to seeing in you the image of those to whom you owe life.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on Marie Antoinette and her views on the American War of Independence.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p119

The Queen spoke out more plainly about the part France was taking respecting the independence of the American colonies, and constantly opposed it.  Far was she from foreseeing that a revolution at – such a distance could excite one in which a misguided populace would drag her from her palace to a death equally unjust and cruel.  She only saw something ungenerous in the method which France adopted of checking the power of England.

Madame Lage reports on the royal family attending on the terminally ill dauphin with Princess Lamballe from Madame De Lamballe by Georges Bertin,  Godfrey A. S. Wieners, (1901) p117 p166-168

This afternoon we went to see the little dauphin.  It is heart-breaking. Such endurance, such consideration and patience go straight to the heart.  When we arrived someone was reading to him. He had had a fancy for lying on his billiard table where they had placed his mattress. My princess and I looked at it, and it occurred to us both that it resembled the mournful state bed after death. Madame de Lamballe asked him what he was reading.  ‘A very interesting period of our history, Madame: the reign of Charles VII there were many heroes then.’  I took the liberty of asking if Monseigneur read connectedly or merely the most striking episodes.  ‘Connectedly, Madame. I have not known them long enough to choose; besides, it all interests me.’  These were his very words. His beautiful dying eyes turned towards me as he spoke. He recognized me; he said in a low tone to the Due d'Harcourt that they had been told of the arrival of the princess, and that she had just come.  ‘It is, I think, the lady who so greatly likes my map of the world,’  Then turning to me,  ‘This will perhaps amuse you for a moment.' He ordered a valet to turn it around, but I will confess to you that although when I saw it on New Year's Day I had been delighted with the perfection of the immense machine, to-day I was much more interested in listening to that dear and unfortunate child whom we saw hourly growing weaker.  The poor child was so ill.  Everything the little one says is beyond belief; he breaks the queen's heart; he is wonderfully tender to her. The other day he begged her to dine with him in his room. Alas! she swallowed more tears than bread.

Edmund Burke on the events of the 5th to the 6th of October 1789.  Taken from Reflections on the Revolution in France, Penguin Classics (2004) p164-165

History will record, that on the morning the 6th of October 1789, the king and queen of France, after a day of confusion, alarm, dismay and slaughter, lay down, under the pledged security of public faith, to indulge nature in a few hours of respite, and troubled melancholy repose.  From this sleep the queen was first startled by the voice of her centinel at her door, who cried out to her, to save herself by flight- that this was the last proof of fidelity he could give- that they were upon him, and he was dead.  Instantly he was cut down.  A band of cruel ruffians and assassins, reeking with his blood, rushed into the chamber of the queen, and pierced with an hundred strokes of bayonets and poniards the bed, from whence this persecuted woman but just time to fly almost naked, and through ways unknown to the murderers had escaped to seek refuge at the feet of the king and husband, not secure of his own life for a moment.

The king, to say no more of him, and this queen, and their infant children (who once would have been the pride and hope of a great and generous people) were then forced to abandon the sanctuary of the most splendid palace in the world, which they left swimming in blood, polluted by massacre, and strewed with scattered limbs and mutilated carcasses.  Thence they were conducted into the capital of their kingdom.  Two had been selected from the unprovoked, unresisted, promiscuous slaughter, which was made of the gentlemen of birth and family who composed the king’s body guard.  These two gentlemen, with all the parade of an execution of justice, were cruelly and publickly dragged to the block, and beheaded in the great court of the palace.  Their heads were stuck upon spears, and led the procession; whilst the royal captives who followed in the train were slowly moved along, amidst the horrid yells, and shrilling screams, and frantic dances, and infamous contumelies, and all the unutterable abominations of the vilest of women.  After they had been made to taste, drop by drop, more than the bitterness of death, in the slow torture of a journey of twelve miles, protracted to six hours, they were under a guard, composed of these very soldiers who had thus conducted them through this famous triumph, lodged in one of the old palaces of Paris, now converted into a Bastille for kings.

Letters XI from Helen Maria Williams detailing her visit to Versailles after the events of October 1789 Taken from Letters Written in France, Broadview Literary Texts, (2002) p98-99

We are just returned from Versailles, which I could not help fancying I saw, in the background of that magnificent abode of a despot, the gloomy dungeons of the Bastille, which still haunt my imagination, and prevented my being much dazzled by the splendour of this superb palace.

We were shown the passages through which the Queen escaped from her own apartment to the King’s on the memorable night when the Poissardes visited Versailles, and also the balcony at which she stood with the Dauphin in her arms, when after having remained a few hours concealed in some secret recess of the palace, it was thought proper to comply with the desire of the crowd, who repeatedly demanded her presence……..

All the bread which could be procured in the town of Versailles, was distributed amongst the Poissardes; who, with savage ferocity, held up their morsels of bread on their bloody spikes, towards the balcony where the Queen stood, crying in a tone of defiance, “Nous avons du Pain!” (We now have bread)

During the whole of the journey from Versailles to Paris, the Queen held the Dauphin in her arms, who had been previously taught to put his infant hands together, and attempt to soften the enraged multitude by repeating, “Grace pour maman.” (Spare mama).

Mons. De la Fayette prevented the whole Gardes du Corps from being massacred at Versailles, by calling to the incensed people, “Le Roi vous demande grace pour ses Gardes du Corps.” (The King begs of you to spare his body guard).  The voice of Mons. De la Fayette was listened to, and obeyed.

Germaine De Staël on events of the 5th to the 6th October 1789.  Taken from Considerations on the Principle events of the French Revolution, Germaine De Staël, Liberty Fund, (2008) p228-229

The people demanded with great clamour that the King and royal family should remove to Paris; an answer in assent had been given on their part, and the cries, and the firing which we heard, were signs of rejoicing from the Parisian troops.  The Queen then appeared in the hall; her hair dishevelled, her countenance pale, but dignified; everything in her person was striking to the imagination.  The people required that she should appear on the balcony, and, as the whole court, which is called the marble court, was full of men with firearms in their hands, the Queen’s countenance discovered her apprehensions.  Yet she advanced without hesitation along with her two children, who served as her safeguard.

The multitude seemed affected on seeing the Queen as a mother, and political rage became appeased at the sight: those who that very night had perhaps wished to assassinate her, extolled her name to the skies.

The populace, in a state of insurrection, are in general, inaccessible to reasoning, and are to be acted on only by sensations rapid as electricity, and communicated in a similar manner.  Mobs are, according to circumstances, better or worse than the individuals which compose them; but whatever be their temper, they are to be prompted to crime as to virtue, only by having recourse to a natural impulsion.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on the Marie Antoinette and Joseph Barnave on the return from Varennes.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p205

The three commissioners sent by the Assembly to meet the King, MM. de Latour-Maubourg, Barnave, and Potion, joined them in the environs of Epernay.  The two last mentioned got into the King’s carriage.  The Queen astonished me by the favourable opinion she had formed of Barnave.  When I quitted Paris a great many persons spoke of him only with horror.  She told me he was much altered, that he was full of talent and noble feeling.  “A feeling of pride which I cannot much blame in a young man belonging to the Tiers Etat,” she said, “made him applaud everything which smoothed the road to rank and fame for the class in which he was born.  And if we get the power in our own hands again, Barnave’s pardon is already written in our hearts.”  The Queen added, that she had not the same feeling towards these nobles who had joined the revolutionary party, who had always received marks of favour, often to the injury of those beneath them in rank, and who, born to be the safeguard of the monarchy, could never be pardoned for having deserted it.  She then told me that Barnave’s conduct upon the road was perfectly correct, while Potion’s republican rudeness was disgusting; that the latter ate and drank in the King’s berlin in a slovenly manner, throwing the bones of the fowl out through the window at the risk of sending them into the King’s face; lifting up his glass, when Madame Elisabeth poured him out wine, to show her that there was enough, without saying a word; that this offensive behaviour must have been intentional, because the man was not without education; and that Barnave was hurt at it.  On being pressed by the Queen to take something, “Madame,” replied Barnave, “on so solemn an occasion the deputies of the National Assembly ought to occupy your Majesties solely about their mission, and by no means about their wants.” In short, his respectful delicacy, his considerate attentions, and all that he said, gained the esteem not only of the Queen, but of Madame Elisabeth also.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on the flight to Varennes.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p206

The Queen mainly attributed the arrest at Varennes to M. de Goguelat; she said he calculated the time that would be spent in the journey erroneously.  He performed that from Montmedy  to Paris before taking the King’s last orders, alone in a post-chaise, and he founded all his calculations upon the time he spent thus.  The trial had been made since, and it was found that a light carriage without any courier was nearly three hours less in running the distance than a heavy carriage preceded by a courier.

The Queen also blamed him for having quitted the high road at Pont-de-Sommevelle, where the carriage was to meet the forty hussars commanded by him.  She thought that he ought to have dispersed the very small number of people at Varennes, and not have asked the hussars whether they were for the King or the nation; that, particularly, he ought to have avoided taking the King’s orders, as he was previously aware of the reply M.d’Inisdal had received when it was proposed to carry off the King.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on Barnave and Marie Antoinette.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p225

Barnave, seeing that the Queen did not follow his counsel in anything, and convinced that she placed all her reliance on assistance from abroad, determined to quit Paris.  He obtained a last audience.  “Your misfortunes Madame,” said he, “and those which I anticipate for France, determined me to sacrifice myself to serve you.  I see, however, that my advice does not agree with the views of your Majesties.  I augur but little advantage from the plan you are induced to pursue, - you are too remote from your succours; you will be lost before they reach you.  Most ardently do I wish I may be mistaken in so lamentable a prediction; but I am sure to pay with my head for the interest your misfortunes have raised in me, and the services I have sought to render you.  I request, for my sole reward, the honour of kissing you hand.”  The Queen her eyes suffused with tears, granted him that favour, and remained impressed with a favourable idea of his sentiments.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on a possible rescue by Lafayette.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p231

A plan was presented to the Queen, in which it was proposed by a junction between La Fayette’s army and the King’s party to rescue the royal family and convey them to Rouen.  I did not learn the particulars of this plan; the Queen only said to me upon the subject that M. de La Fayette was offered to them as a resource; but that it would be better for them to perish than to owe their safety to the man who had done the most mischief, or to place themselves under the necessity of treating with him.

Germaine De Staël  discusses Louis XVI and his wife.  Taken from Considerations on the Principle events of the French Revolution, Germaine De Staël, Liberty Fund, (2008) p46-47

The Queen, Marie Antoinette, was one of the most amiable and gracious persons who ever occupied a throne: there was no reason why she should not preserve the love of the French, for she had nothing to forfeit it.  As far, therefore, as personal qualities went, the King and Queen might claim the hearts of their subjects; but the arbitrary form of the government, as successive ages had moulded it, accorded so ill with the spirit of the times, that even the virtues of the sovereigns were overlooked the amid the accumulation of abuses.  When a nation feels the want of political reform, the personal character of the monarch is but a feeble barrier against the impulse.  A sad fatality placed the reign of Louis XVI in an era in which great talents and profound knowledge were necessary to contend with the prevailing spirit, or, what would have been better, to make a fair compromise with it.

Madam Campan (one of the Queen’s lady in waiting) on Marie Antoinette’s trial.  Taken from Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete Madame Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Echo Library (2007) p245

What affecting things I have heard the Queen say in the affliction caused her by the belief of part of the Court and the whole of the people that she did not love France! How did that opinion shock those who knew her heart and her sentiments! Twice did I see her on the point of going from her apartments in the Tuileries into the gardens, to address the immense throng constantly assembled there to insult her. “Yes,” exclaimed she, as she paced her chamber with hurried steps, “I will say to them Frenchmen, they have had the cruelty to persuade you that I do not love France! – I! The mother of the Dauphin who will reign over this noble country!- I whom providence has seated upon the most powerful throne of Europe! Of all the daughters of Maria Theresa am I not that one whom fortune has most highly favoured?| And ought I not to feel all these advantages?  What should I find at Vienna?  Nothing but sepulchres! What should I lose in France? Everything which can confer glory!”

Letters from Helen Maria Williams on the trial of Marie Antoinette.  Taken from Letters Written in France, Broadview Literary Texts, (2002) p172

Marie Antoinette made no defence, and called no witnesses, alleging that no positive fact had been produced against her.  She had preserved an uniform behaviour during the whole of her trial, except when a starting tear accompanied her answer to Hebert.  She was condemned about four in the morning, and heard her sentence with composure.  But her firmness forsook her in the way from the court to her dungeon-she burst into tears; when, as if ashamed of this weakness, she observed to her guards, that though she wept at that moment, they should see her go to scaffold without shedding a tear.

In her way to execution, where she was taken after the accustomed manner in a cart, with her hands tied behind her, she paid little attention to the priest who attended her, and still less to the surrounding multitudes.  Her eyes, though bent on vacancy, did not conceal the emotion that was labouring in her heart- her cheeks were sometimes in a singular manner streaked with red, and sometimes overspread with deadly paleness; but her general look was that of indignant sorrow.  She reached the place of execution about noon; and when she turned her eyes towards the garden and the palace, she became visibly agitated.  She ascended the scaffold with precipitation, and her head was in a moment held up to the people by the executioner.

Gouverneur Morris comments on Marie Antoinette’s execution in October 1793.  Taken from Witnesses to the Revolution American: American and British Commentators in France 1788-1794, Weidenfeld and Nicholson (1989) p181

The queen was executed the day before yesterday.  Insulted during her trial and reviled in her last moments, she behaved with dignity throughout.  This execution will, I think, give future hostilities a deeper dye, and unite more intimately the Allied Powers.  It will silence the opposition of those who would not listen to the dismemberment of their country, and therefore it may be concluded that the blow by which she died was directed from a distance.  But whatever may be the lot of France in remote futurity, and putting aside the military events, it seems evident that she soon be governed by a single despot.