Adopt a linden tree online and contribute to the replanting of the linden tree Alley at the Mortemets, to bring the royal perspectives back to life in the park of Versailles. Dumouriez sympathized with the royal couple and wanted to save them but he was rebuffed by the queen. After many delays, the escape was ultimately attempted on 21 June 1791, but the entire family was arrested less than twenty-four hours later at Varennes and taken back to Paris within a week. Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793) is one of the most famous figures in the history of the Versailles Palace . While some advocated her death, others proposed exchanging her for French prisoners of war or for a ransom from the Holy Roman Emperor. She was convicted of high treason and executed by guillotine on the Place de la Révolution in October 1793, aged 37. Picture 9 : Vase Duplessis with Chinese scenes, Sèvres Manufactory. Louis XV reign. [128][129][130] At the news, Paris was besieged by riots that culminated in the storming of the Bastille on 14 July. Despite her attempts to remain out of the public eye, Marie Antoinette was falsely accused in the libelles of having an affair with Lafayette, whom she loathed,[145] and, as was published in Le Godmiché Royal ("The Royal Dildo"), and of having a sexual relationship with the English baroness Lady Sophie Farrell of Bournemouth, a well-known lesbian of the time. Marie-Thérèse, known as “Madame Royale”, was soon followed by a Dauphin, Louis Joseph Xavier-François, born in 1781. There, she enjoyed the taste of a "simple" life, surrounded by her children and friends. She and her court also adopted the English fashion of dresses made of indienne (a material banned in France from 1686 until 1759 to protect local French woolen and silk industries), percale and muslin. Barnave and the moderates comprised about 260 lawmakers in the new Legislative Assembly; the radicals numbered around 136, and the rest around 350. Among the accusations, many previously published in the libelles, were: orchestrating orgies in Versailles, sending millions of livres of treasury money to Austria, planning the massacre of the gardes françaises (National Guards) in 1792,[196] declaring her son to be the new king of France, and incest, a charge made by her son Louis Charles, pressured into doing so by the radical Jacques Hébert who controlled him. She did participate in the King Council, the first queen to do this in over 175 years (since Marie de' Medici had been named Chef du Conseil du Roi, between 1614 and 1617), and she was making the major decisions behind the scene and in the Royal Council. The Queen was always an affectionate mother and was close to her children. His title was bestowed by his royalist supporters and acknowledged implicitly by his uncle's later adoption of the regnal name Louis XVIII rather than Louis XVII, upon the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1814. [158][159], Upon learning of the capture of the royal family, the National Constituent Assembly sent three representatives, Antoine Barnave, Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve and Charles César de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg to Varennes to escort Marie Antoinette and her family back to Paris. The following year, William Hamilton (1751-1801) depicted her as a martyr, going from the jail to the guillotine (picture 14). There were even cheers for the queen, particularly when she presented the Dauphin to the public.[150][151]. Marie-Antoinette is the only Queen that influenced Versailles Palace with her own taste. Je ne l’ai pas fait exprès" or "Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose", after accidentally stepping on her executioner's shoe. He began to institute more cutbacks at court while trying to restore the royal absolute power weakened by parliament. 0, Architectural elements, staircase, columns. Although public opinion of her was initially very favourable, the Queen gradually became the target of pamphlets, libels and caricatures, which intensified after the Affair of the Diamond Necklace in 1785, a swindle of which she was an innocent victim. Marie Antoinette was instrumental in the reinstatement of Jacques Necker as Finance Minister on 26 August, a popular move, even though she herself was worried that it would go against her if Necker proved unsuccessful in reforming the country's finances. She sang during the family's evening gatherings, as she had a beautiful voice. [182][183], On 21 September 1792, the fall of the monarchy was officially declared and the National Convention became the governing body of the French Republic. Picture 2 : Portrait of Marie Antoinette, 1783, by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Died in childhood on the very day the Estates General convened. Prenez connaissance de toutes les mesures mises en place. Thomas Paine advocated exile to America. [121][122], On the eve of the opening of the Estates-General, the queen attended the mass celebrating its return. © Château de Versailles. [222] The queen's political ideas and her belief in the absolute power of monarchs were based on France's long-established tradition of the divine right of kings. As to Fersen, despite the strong restriction imposed on the queen, he was able to see her a final time in February 1792.[170]. Despite these measures, several of her guards were open to bribery and a line of communication was kept with the outside world. The Cabinet Doré (Gold Room) (picture 5), originally created for Marie Leczinska , was entirely redesigned in 1783 for the Queen based on drawings by Richard Mique, her favorite architect. [125] Her role was decisive in urging the king to remain firm and not concede to popular demands for reforms. It was publicly suggested that her supposed behavior was learned at the court of the rival nation, particularly lesbianism, which was known as the "German vice". [152] This leverage with the Assembly ended with the death of Mirabeau in April 1791, despite the attempt of several moderate leaders of the Revolution to contact the queen to establish some basis of cooperation with her. Du 21 septembre au 23 novembre 2020, le château de Versailles organise un concours photo sur Instagram sur le thème de l'automne. The "Louis XVI style” would be more accurately called the “Marie-Antoinette style”. Her health also began to deteriorate, thus further reducing her physical activities. Palacefrom 9:00 am to 5:30 pmclosed on Mondays, Estate of Trianonfrom 12:00 pm to 5:30 pmclosed on Mondays, Coach Galleryfrom 12:30 pm to 5:30 pmclosed on Mondays, + 33 1 30 83 78 00price of a call to France, Musical Fountains Shows and Musical Gardens, Research centre of the Palace of Versailles. [12] She also excelled at dancing, had "exquisite" poise, and loved dolls. He had joined the Third estate and was not against the monarchy, but wanted to reconcile it with the Revolution. It is a three storey square building. Around the Petit Trianon are all At this point, the tide against royal authority intensified in the population and political parties, while Marie Antoinette encouraged the king to veto the new laws voted by the Legislative Assembly in 1792. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she became queen. Mme de La Motte was sentenced for life to confinement in the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, which also served as a prison for women. [82], Around this time, pamphlets describing farcical sexual deviance including the Queen and her friends in the court were growing in popularity around the country. All rights reserved. - Mon - Sun. A significant achievement of Marie Antoinette in that period was the establishment of an alliance with Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, the most important lawmaker in the assembly. [153][154][155] Fersen and Breteuil, who represented her in the courts of Europe, were put in charge of the escape plan, while Marie Antoinette continued her negotiations with some of the moderate leaders of the French Revolution.[156][157]. Le roi Louis-Philippe entouré de ses cinq fils [...] Plus d'infos. Once Louis XVI finally did commit to a plan, its poor execution was the cause of its failure. [58] Marie Antoinette pleaded with her husband for the French to intercede on behalf of Austria. [8][4][5][9] Despite the private tutoring she received, the results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. It was proposed that the cost could be covered by other sales, such as that of the château Trompette in Bordeaux. [93] This was unpopular, particularly with those factions of the nobility who disliked the queen, but also with a growing percentage of the population, who disapproved of a Queen of France independently owning a private residence. She was under constant surveillance, with no privacy. The king wanted to have a haven at the end Marie Antoinette feared that the death of her mother would jeopardize the Franco-Austrian alliance (as well as, ultimately, herself), but her brother, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, wrote to her that he had no intention of breaking the alliance. "The Best way to discover Versailles from Paris !". Unable to stop the crisis, Louis XVI powerlessly witnessed the storming of the Bastille and the end of the monarchy on September 22nd, 1792.