The last queen of France...

I want to talk about Marie Antoinette here. I know that most of you probably won't be interested. I have read her biography (http://www.amazon.com/Marie-Antoinette-Journey-Antonia-Fraser/dp/0307277747/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196173030&sr=1-1) by Antonia Fraser. I want to talk about the woman rather than the Queen or the Archduchess that left Austria. I know that the French revolution might be an emotional topic for some. Whilst, I agree that the removal of the ancien régime was a good thing, I don't think that the royal family or many people needed to die and certainly not Marie Antoinette anyway.

She was someone that I believe was born at the wrong time. It was only by chance that she became engaged to the dauphin of France. In fact, her sister Maria Carolina was supposed to be to marry the dauphin.

Anyway, Marie Antoinette was the worst person that could've become Louis XVI's queen. Growing up in Schönbrunn, this was a girl that loved music, children and a simple life - ugh! I hate to use a Paris Hilton reference here. But in all honesty, she would've been better suited to being a simple farmer's wife. She was not cut out for politics.

And yet she suffered. She suffered needless especially in relation to accusations of her abuse of her son and brutal mockery from the French people.

The fact was that the seeds for destruction were already planted by Louis XIV (le roi soleil) who left the country bankrupt and his descendants all got worse and worse. Nothing that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette did would've averted the events leading up to and including the French revolution. I question why she was simply not exiled as was the case with queen consorts when their husbands were executed - like Henrietta Maria of England.

Marie Antoinette was a victim. Thoughts?

Marie Antoinette's daughter Marie-Therese-Charlotte was technically Queen of France for about 20 minutes, between Charles X signing his papers of abdication and Louis-Antoine ("Louis XIX") signing his. (Louis VIII and Charles X's wives died before they became king, and Marie Amalie, the wife of Louis-Philippe was "Queen of the French.")

"Caught in events" I think is the apt description.

She obviously was slandered — but all royalty was, it was kind of unavoidable that character assassinations of royal and courtly persons would occur given the personal nature of politics under the monarchy.

And the royals probably wouldn't have been executed, had the king not decided to attempt to flee France, to join the coalition set up to crush the revolution, which landed the entire royal family in the frying pan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A9nie_de_Montijo

Correction this is the real last Queen/Empress of France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A9nie_de_Montijo

Correction this is the real last Queen/Empress of France

Queen =/= Empress, strictly speaking. Marie Antionette was the last queen, Eugene was the last empress.

"Caught in events" I think is the apt description.

She obviously was slandered — but all royalty was, it was kind of unavoidable that character assassinations of royal and courtly persons would occur given the personal nature of politics under the monarchy.

And the royals probably wouldn't have been executed, had the king not decided to attempt to flee France, to join the coalition set up to crush the revolution, which landed the entire royal family in the frying pan.

It's hard to say that. During the reign of terror people were executed just for beign of noble origin, even the "Citoyen Égalité" was eventually guillotined. Of course one can argue that maybe things would not have gone that way had the king stayed in France, but honestly I think he would be killed anyway. Most important figures of the revolution did.