Page 37 - All About History - Issue 27-15

The Hated Queen: Marie Antoinette

The executioner
chopped off Marie's
hair to allow for a clean
cut of the guillotine

Marie had expected life imprisonment,
so her death sentence was received
with much personal shock
Marie’s actions had brought war to France, and Shehadalwaysfoundcomf
the people brought war to her. On 10 August, an butinJuly,despiteherpleas,h
armed mob stormed into the palace, forcing the was taken from her, and in Se
king and queen into a tiny reporter’s box. Under taken from the only family sh
heckles and the glare of the crowd, they stood by daughterandsisterinlaw.She
helplessly as the 900 Swiss guards charged with to a month of horrific solitary
defending them were massacred. All their precious a dank underground cell in th
objects were gathered and piled on desks as they Under constant surveillance, s
were forced to listen to the debates that declared a of escape, but she would not h
republic and ended the monarchy. discover her fate.
If Marie loathed her imprisonment On 14 October, Mari
in the Tuileries, the Temple her enemies at the
fortress she and her family Tribunal. The c
were escorted to was another her were mor Expert Opinion
hell entirely. Stripped of all person than
the finery that had for so Versailles headlines t
long defined her, Marie libelles we Melanie Clegg is the
was treated horrifically smelledawful fact. They author of five historical
novels and is also a
by her jailers. As well as duringtheera, organising g , regular contributor to
the constant abuse and soMarie’srooms orchestrating the massacre Majesty magazine and
insults, they blew smoke werescented oftheSwissguards,sending her own women's history
in her face and allowed withflowers, France’s money to Austria blog Madame Guillotine.
Her first biography, Marie
her no privacy. Under such potpourriand and, most appalling of all, Antoinette: An Intimate
extreme conditions her perfumes sexually abusing her own son. History is out now and her
health deteriorated and she At this she refused to respond, second biography, A Life
Of Marie De Guise, is due
developed tuberculosis. But simply uttering: “If I make no to be published by Pen
worse than illness, worse than reply,itisbecauseIcannot.Iappeal and Sword Books in 2016.
rags, and worse than jeers, her royal to all mothers in this audience.” Her
name, her pride and identity had been unbelievable defiance and strength despite Was Marie really to blame for the French
Revolution, or was she simply a scapegoat?
stripped from her. Royalty no longer, the family the horrors she had endured was remarkable, but Although the image of the flaunting, extravagant
was given the name Capet, ending the long line the verdict had been decided before she even queen causing the French Revolution with her
of monarchs that had ruled the country for more entered the room. Guilty. careless profligacy is a potent one, the fact is that
the revolution was ultimately the result of centuries
than 1,000 years. Inherexecution,Mariedisplayedthecourage of fiscal and social inequality. A series of poor
In December, Louis, Marie’s ever indecisive and andmarkingsofatruequeenuntiltheend.But harvests and the ruinously expensive involvement
conservative husband, was found guilty of high that was the problem exactly: she was a queen in the American Revolution acted as the catalyst
in 1789. Marie Antoinette, the unpopular foreign
treason and sentenced to death. A month later ineverysenseoftheword.Shewasborntobea queen who was commonly believed to be the power
he was executed. Although the royal couple had queen, trained to be a queen, had performed her behind the throne, while at the same time in league
always been a mismatched pair, and rumours of duties as queen throughout her entire life – but with the Austrians, was a convenient scapegoat for
all – for the aristocracy, who had no wish to lose
Marie seeking comfort elsewhere may not have France didn’t want a queen. Her lifeless body was their privileges; the middle classes, who resented
been entirely untrue, he had been the father of dragged from the guillotine and tossed in a cart the power and privilege of the upper classes; and the
her children, her companion for more than 20 and her head was thrown between her legs. Her lower orders, who believed the scurrilous lies and
years and her only security in time of terror and remainsweredumpedinanunmarkedgrave,but exaggerations being spread by disaffected members © Joe Cummings; Alamy
of the aristocracy and even the royal family about
uncertainty. There is no doubt that his execution thememoryofMarieAntoinettewouldliveonas the queen’s personal life and spending habits.
shocked and saddened Marie to her core. France’s hated, but eternal, queen.
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