Marie Antoinette-'The Widow Capet'
Marie-Antoinette was queen of France from 1774 to 1793 and is associated with the decline of the French monarchy. On October 16,1793,Marie Antoinette, once Queen of France and symbol of royal excess, was executed by guillotine at Place de la Révolution.
(pics from internet for illustrative use only)
When Marie Antoinette was led to the guillotine at the age of 37, her hair is said to have turned white the night before, in anticipation of her execution.Marie Antoinette had to endure jibes and insults from the crowd, but she had become immune to this after her time in prison and she held her head high. Some onlookers described her as a dignified figure, while her enemies accused her of being arrogant even at the end.
(pics from internet for illustrative use only)
Her last words were: "Pardonnez-moi, monsieur. Je ne l'ai pas fait exprès." (Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose). She is believed to have spoken these words to her executioner, Henri Sanson, after accidentally stepping on his foot while climbing the scaffold.This occurred just before she was guillotined on October 16, 1793.The lavish queen who had once worn gowns that could bankrupt a city now stood in a plain white shift, her hair crudely cut to expose her neck.
Marie Antoinette's head was buried in a mass grave in the Madeleine Cemetery in Paris.Her remains, along with those of her husband, Louis XVI, were later transferred to the Basilica of Saint-Denis, the traditional necropolis of French royalty. The path from palace to scaffold was steep. Born an Austrian archduchess, married into the French Bourbon dynasty,with her angelic face and feminine manners, all eyes were on Marie Antoinette as the people wondered what kind of queen she would become: a patron of the arts, a discreet diplomat, a political advisor to her husband, a pious wife and queen?
(pics from internet for illustrative use only)
As it turned out, she marked her time in French history unlike any other French consort.She soon became a target both at court and beyond and her extravagance quickly turned this love into criticism.But was Marie Antionette a heartless, wasteful queen, or a convenient scapegoat in turbulent times."Let them eat cake” is the most famous quote attributed to Marie-Antoinette and The alleged original phrase that Antoinette said was, “Qu'ils mangent de la brioche,” which translates to “let them eat brioche.”
(pics from internet for illustrative use only)
Did she ever actually utter those words? Probably not!The quote, attributed to her, is a popular myth that predates her reign and has been linked to other royal figures before her. Despite her great influence on the arts, Marie Antoinette was often seen as the pawn of her mother, the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa – she was often criticised at the French court and called 'The Austrian' by her detractors.
Marie Antoinette gained a reputation for excessive spending on fashion, gambling and other indulgences.It was also rumoured, when she gave birth to her first child in December 1778, that Louis was not the father.The queen's reputation, already tarnished by gossip, was further sullied by 'The Affair of the Diamond Necklace'; a false accusation that she had participated in a crime to defraud the Crown's jewellers in acquiring a very expensive diamond necklace she then refused to pay for.
(pics from internet for illustrative use only)
In reality, she had rejected the idea of buying it only to have her signature forged by Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy.Although Valois-Saint-Rémy was later convicted,'The Affair of the Diamond Necklace' event remains historically significant as one of many that led to the French disillusionment with the monarchy.
She became known as Madame Déficit because the country's financial crisis was blamed on her lavish spending and her opposition to social and financial reforms proposed by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and Jacques Necker.Soon Marie-Antoinette was more widely seen as the very incarnation of the Counter-Revolution.
(pics from internet for illustrative use only)
The execution of Louis XVI of France left the king’s widow, Marie Antoinette, overwhelmed with grief. Like a ghost, she haunted her chambers in the Tower of the Temple, the Paris prison fortress where she and her children were being detained by the revolutionary government.
The former queen was melancholic, barely spoke and rarely ate. She refused to even go into the gardens for fresh air and had turned pale and sickly during her imprisonment.No longer referred to as 'Her majesty' she was referred to as the 'Widow Capet'.
Capet was the name of a French royal house from which her husband,Louis XVI was descended.This title was used by the revolutionary government to signify her loss of royal status and her status as the widow of the executed king. Nine months after the execution of her husband, the former King Louis XVI of France, Marie Antoinette followed him to the guillotine.
(pics from internet for illustrative use only)
A tribunal tried Marie Antoinette for high treason, sexual promiscuity and incest.And so the 'Widow Capet' also served as a scapegoat for those who would rather blame the Austrian queen than criticize their King.She was the Queen of France, notorious for living in opulence while peasants starved and became a symbol of everything wrong with monarchy.
Imprisoned, separated from her children, and subjected to humiliation by her captors, it is said that she went to the guillotine willingly. This woman, who had once led such a splendid existence, had been brought low by the hand that fate dealt her.She was silenced—not just by steel, but by a revolution that devoured its monarchy.The death of Marie Antoinette is considered a key moment in the French Revolution, but was it necessary?
Comments (4)
