PicoBlog

Welcome back to The Fascinator’s series on Royal Scapegoats! In these installments, we’re examining the lives of women who have been the subjects of blatantly biased treatment throughout history.

In the case of Mary of Modena, the Catholic Queen from Part I who lived out her later days in royal exile, her cardinal sin was merely her proximity to an unpopular ruler. It would be so easy to claim the same for Queen Marie Antoinette, who famously became a target for 18th-century French citizens who were clamoring for wider social change—and who took her head in the process.

The truth, in la reine Marie’s case, is a bit more complicated than the cut-and-dry scapegoat narrative I have sold you on up to this point.

I’ve debated whether to chronicle these women’s stories chronologically for a while, but I think Marie, perhaps the most famous victim of royal scapegoating, provides a more interesting place to start than, say, Isabeau of Bavaria. (I know, who? Hold on to your hats, that’s all I can say).

And so, welcome to our first in-depth look at a royal scapegoat: Queen Marie Antoinette.

We’re all at least somewhat familiar with Marie, right? Born in 1755 in Austria, she was sent to the Court of Versailles at age 15 to marry the Dauphin—that is, the heir who later became King Louis XVI. As Dauphine, Marie had two jobs: to seal an alliance between her native Austria and her adopted country of France and to produce a male heir. Several, if she could manage it.

Upon her arrival in France, the royal court at Versailles initially celebrated their lovely and amiable new princesse. Soon, however, courtiers who opposed the French alliance with Austria sought to undermine Marie’s position at Versailles. It wasn’t personal; it was just politics.

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