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Marie Anotoinette has been the portrait of decadence and extravagance for almost 250 years. Her unpopularity, fueled in large part by her lavish lifestyle, made her a polarizing figure - so much so that it eventually led to her death. As it turns out, much of the hate for the infamous French Queen was based on lies and rumors. And unlike what you saw in that Sofia Coppola movie, she probably didn’t listen to The Cure.
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Marie Antoinette has been the portrait of decadence and extravagance for almost 250 years
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Her unpopularity, fueled in large part by her lavish lifestyle, made her a polarizing figure
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so much so that it eventually led to her death. As it turns out, much of the hate for the infamous French queen was based on lies and rumors
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And unlike what you saw in the Sofia Coppola movie, she probably did not listen to the cure
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So, today we're debunking well-known facts about Marie Antoinette that just aren't true
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Let's review the royal research. The name Marie Antoinette conjures up lifestyles of the rich, the famous, the spoiled, the selfish, the absolutely gigantic hair
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And it doesn't help a case to relay the most famous tales surrounding her
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Picture Marie Antoinette standing on her balcony, declaring to the hungry people who wanted bread
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let them eat cake, history's equivalent of asking how much a banana could possibly cost
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That shocking disregard for her fellow man ended up becoming the phrase most attributed to the wife of King Louis XVI
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and Queen of France in the 18th century. But before you get all let them eat the rich
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not only did Marie Antoinette never say such a thing, but the actual quote had been around long before she even sat on the throne
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The quote, Let Them Eat Cake, had been written in print since Marie was only 10 years old
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with the concept of the phrase going as far back as 1660. This similar phrase was apparently first uttered by Louis XIV's queen, Marie-Therese, not Antoinette
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But as far as we know, Kirsten Dunst didn't star in any movies about Marie-Therese
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unless we're missing some allegory about bringing it on. For nearly two centuries, the Habsburgs of Austria and the Bourbons of France were the bitterest of rivals
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Think Red Sox versus Yankees, but with slightly more bloodshed. Just slightly
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When the diplomatic revolution occurred in 1756, the two sides agreed to end hostilities and be friends again
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At this time, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI would have been around 10 years old
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but still found themselves at the center of this new alliance. As part of the treaty Marie was betrothed to Louis destined to one day become his bride As you can imagine for the folks who remember just how bitter the Franco rivalry had been
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the idea of an outsider queen did not sit well with most people
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If Derek Jeter suddenly married David Ortiz, your average Bostoner would not welcome Jeter with open arms right away
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You know? You can't mention Marie Antoinette without picturing a pampered, hedonistic queen
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with little regard for those around her, unless they happen to be serving her grapes or something
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As it turns out, those images are highly out of character for the queen. In fact, Marie Antoinette was an intelligent and distinctly charitable woman
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who displayed strong sensitivity toward the poor population in France. Despite her own lavish lifestyle
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She has been described as so happy at doing good and hated any missed opportunity to be helpful
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It is true that this is the same queen who insensitively dressed as a milkmaid to tend to heavily perfumed goats
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So she was undeniably out of touch. But it didn't mean she wasn't capable of doing some actual good
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Plus, those goats must have smelled divine. Speaking of the queen's image, no one is debating whether Marie Antoinette had a penchant for partying
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She liked the finer things in life and had the expensive tastes you would expect of the
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Queen of France. She partied. Big time. However, if you were told that her lavish lifestyle single-handedly took down the French
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economy, allow us to balance the books for you. For this fib, you could place most of the blame on America
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France was heavily involved in the American Revolution. The troops and supplies France provided to the Union helped the U.S. win the war and
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in so defeat France's arch enemy, England. but France's involvement caused them a significant amount of debt
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And those who owned the most property in France, such as churches or nobility
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were exempt from taxes. That means the brunt of the financial burden fell on the poor
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So when your country loses all its money and you have to pick up the bill
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it's easier to blame the queen covered in diamonds rather than fiduciary irresponsibility and funding a war
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back when marie antoinette was on top the expectation was that a man was in charge
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but louis the 16th was for lack of a nicer word a weak monarch incapable of making decisions or leading on his own a non if you will Lucky for him his wife was an intelligent go who was all too happy to step in and call the shots
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Described at a young age as a bit of a tomboy, Marie had no qualms showing off her more aggressive traits
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one of which was to counsel government in her husband's stead. She probably also threw a wicked heater during royal baseball games
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Toward the end of their reign, and therefore the end of their lives, It was Marie who held council with ministers and ambassadors
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It was Marie who watched over their undertakings and revised their dispatches
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And it was Marie who decreed that every Tuesday would be Taco Tuesday. Well, maybe not the last one, though that probably would have helped her approval rating
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Women in 18th century France were viewed by some as little more than people factories
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So the importance of fertility could not be overstated. Back then, if you didn't bear children for seven years, that was a huge problem
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And it was almost always considered a lady problem. So when Marie Antoinette could not conceive for close to a decade
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the people pointed the finger at her. Although there's no telling what caused their dry spell
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historians believe that Louis suffered from phimosis, a handicap which made sexual intercourse painful
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He eventually had surgery to correct the problem, but not before the typhoon of blame had made landfall at Marie's feet
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There's one thing a celebrity has in short supply It's privacy And for Marie Antoinette
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All her riches and fortune paled in comparison to some good old-fashioned alone time
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Before she was queen, her imperial family at the Austrian court lived their lives in a relaxed and domestic way
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Like most imperial family units do today However, privacy wasn't really a thing in French court
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Royalty was expected to be available and on display to the public that supported them all day, every day
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So when Marie arrived in France, she shrugged off court etiquette almost immediately
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As soon as the 18-year-old bride married the king, he gifted Marie her own hideaway where she could escape the struggles of royalty
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The clubhouse, known as the Pleasure House, was very exclusive, limited only to Marie's closest friends
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This caused the rest of the French court to feel snubbed by the queen. And so, like a bunch of mean girls, they started to spread rumors about the hideaway
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The presence of spicy gossip and salacious cartoons only fueled the flames of resentment from the lower class who struggled While it appeared to them Marie was apparently living in a hedonistic paradise
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As far as celebrity scandals go, the affair of the necklace would have been a tabloid gold mine
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And while Marie Antoinette took most of the flack for the scandal, she wasn't even involved
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In 1785, a Catholic cardinal named Louis de Rouen thought he was corresponding with the Queen in order to purchase an expensive diamond necklace
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De Rouen had been on Marie's blacklist ever since he insulted her mother
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Ouch. So he was keen on getting back in her graces. But here's the rub
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De Rouen was an early victim of catfishing. He hadn't been corresponding with the Queen at all
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In reality, he was trading letters with a woman named Jeanne de Lamotte
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She convinced Durand not only that she was the queen, but that she was excited to purchase
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the necklace she had previously poo-pooed for being too expensive. The grift even went as far as an in-person meeting, using a woman who looked enough like
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Marie to trick the cardinal. In the end, the necklace went missing, and the cardinal accused Marie Antoinette of stiffing
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him on the bill. Mott was eventually found out and sentenced to jail
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but not before word spread that Marie was the kind of queen who doesn't pay up
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Her already fragile reputation ended up in tatters, and nobody even got a necklace out of it
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Wait, I guess somebody did. Despite being despised by so many, Marie Antoinette was known for keeping her cool
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Incredibly poised after her arrest and imprisonment, Marie wrote about how her time in the big house
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had actually made her stronger, not weaker. When the day of her execution came
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she didn't fight or yell. Instead, she wrote that since her conscience was clear
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she felt a certain sense of calm. Marie was also devoted to her family
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up until the bitter end. When given the choice between freedom or remaining in prison
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she chose the latter in order to be with her family. And when campaigning for her family's release
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it was Marie who spent the time incessantly writing copious amounts of letters
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Not her husband, King Louis. Man, did that guy do anything? After a grueling 32-hour trial spanning the course of two days
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Marie Antoinette was found unanimously guilty and sentenced to the guillotine. But throughout it all, the former queen remained one cool cucumber