One of 16 children,Marie Antoinette was born in 1755 to Maria Theresa ,the Archduchess of Austria,Queen of Hngary and Bohemia ,and Francis 1,the Holy Roman Emperor.
Antonia (Marie''s maiden name ) was by nature a frivolous child ,but a shadow fell over her happy life when her father died of a stroke .At 14,she was forced to marry the Dauphin of France ,in order to cement an alliance betweeen Austria and France .
Her 15-year-old groom,Louis ,spent more time hunting than attending to matters of state .He also suffered from a condition known as phimosis ,which prevented him from fathering children for the first seven years of their marriage.The public knew nothing of this ,and openly blamed Marie Antoinette for her failure to bear heirs to the throne The court of Versailles was very rigid ,stimulating in Marie Antoinette a spirit of rebellion .She insisted on going out alone ,without attendants and often refused to wear the proper corsets and stays of the times.
When in 1774 ,Louis became King of France ,Marie tried to settle down to alife of queenly diginty .But the French people hated the Queen for her Austrian blood and frivolous ways .She was rumoured to have had numerous affairs .She was called Madame Deficit and was blamed for the country''s financial losses .But Marie Antoinette was not as legend makes her out to be .It is not true that she said "Let them eat cake "when told that the people were straving .It was just that as a woman and a foreigner ,she made a convenient scapegoat for the problems of France .
As she matued,Marie Antoinette became less extravagant .She had had a surgical procedure to cure his condition .
The French Revolution erupted in 1789.On October 5 , a mob of Parisians marched on Versailles ,shouting for the Queen and their children were taken to Paris and imprisoned in the Tuileries Palace.In 1791 ,they managed to escape ,but they were reconised in Varennes and arrested.Marie Antoinette urged Austria to intercede in the affairs in France ,resulting in a war between the two countries .Then Louis and Marie were charged with treason .Louis ''trial began in 1792,ending with his death on the guillotine in 1793 .
Marie Antoinette was sentenced to be guillotined .In October 1793 ,she was taken through the streets of Paris in an open cart ,she maintained her dignity to the very end .