14 Facts You Didn’t Know About Marie Antoinette

14 Facts You Didn't Know About Marie Antoinette

What do you know about Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France (1755-1793) and Versailles? Here's 14 facts you may not know about this iconic French Queen who started a new life in France with youth and enthusiasm and ended up living in one of the most tumultuous periods of history.

Described by her brother, Emperor Joseph II, as “honest and lovable,” Marie Antoinette was an Austrian princess and the wife of King Louis XVI. She remains one of the most iconic characters in Versailles’ rich history. She arrived at the French Court aged only fifteen. From the time of her marriage to the Dauphin Louis, heir to the throne, she found it difficult to adapt to French customs and when she became Queen, she committed more and more blunders, often unwittingly, which gradually alienated public opinion, helping to tarnish her image in a most disastrous way. - Chateau of Versailles official website

• Marie Antoinette born to Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina, ruler of the Habsburg dominions and Empress of Austria, was actually named Maria Antonia at birth. She was known affectionately by her family as ‘Antoine’.
• Marie Antoinette was one of fifteen children and enjoyed an idilic childhood.
• Did you know Marie Antoinette met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? It was during a recital for the imperial family in 1762 when Mozart was only six. Marie was also schooled in the flute, harp and harpsichord and played to a high standard.
• Biographer Antonia Fraser writes in her book 'Marie Antoinette', about how the young archduchess loved to spend time in the gardens of Schloss Schonbrunn and the family's holiday residence Laxenburg. Maybe this is why the young queen loved the outdoors and her private hamlet at Versailles.
• Imagine having your own chocolatier to keep you in supply of delicious drinks. Well, Marie Antoinette did. She was so fond of drinking chocolate that she brought her own chocolatier from Vienna to live at Versailles. Around the Royal court he was called the "chocolate maker to the Queen". 
• The private hamlet or mock village known as the Hameau de la Reine (the ‘Queen’s Hamlet’) was created complete with a working farm, artificial lake and watermill. This is my favourite area of Versailles and I really recommend exploring this peaceful part of Versailles. 

• The Queen's portrait was painted around 30 times by the same female painter, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Élisabeth was born into relatively modest circumstances, but became established in upper society after being the Queen's favoured and official artist (1755-1842).
• Did you know that the sweet blue wild cornflower was Marie Antoinette's favourite flower. It was the same colour as her eyes and history records that she gathered them in fresh bouquets in the gardens of the Petit Trianon.  
• Because Marie Antoinette loved cornflowers so much, she commission the Royal Sèvres Manufactory to create a royal service. It featured pearls and cornflowers and was delicate with a bunch of wild flowers in the centre..
• Only two of the original pieces from this celebrated dinnerware service can still be found as part of French national collections: one is held by the Versailles château and the other by the Louvre Museum.

• Proving to be a true lady right up to the last moments of her life, the Queen of France, as she was making her way to the guillotine and her certain death, actually apologised to her own executioner after she stood on his foot.
• Madame Tussaud's quick thinking at the time of the death of the Queen of France, and making of a wax death mask, has preserved the Queen's face for history.
• Did you know Marie Antoinette gave birth to her children in full public view? This is because of a decree that the French King Louis XIV, known as the The Sun,  made that all queens and princesses should give birth in public. He thought this would assure that the child was legitimate and that no imposters could be inserted into the royal crib. 
• Sadly only one child of Marie Antoinette's four children survived into adulthood. Marie Thérèse born in 1778 was the eldest and survived her brother Louis Joseph and two other siblings.

How many of these 14 facts about Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France did you know?

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