Time Is Kind
Marie Antoinette was depicted a vilified figure, blamed for France's financial woes that led to the French Revolution. But Antonia Fraser wanted us to look at the big picture.
Fraser, renowned author of historical biographies, published "Marie Antoinette: The Journey" in 2001. The British writer was thorough and just, building on earlier biographies and first-hand accounts of the Archduchess of Austria, who become Dauphine of France and then Queen of France and Navarre. Marie Antoinette was a fair beauty, with a charming personality to please anyone, but she didn't have the political skills to influence advisers and other important figures in the French court. Many believed this was her downfall, but this was no fault of hers.
Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna was the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I, the fifteenth of sixteenth children. The only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions showed preference to her older children, who were intelligent. She also treated her offsprings as diplomatic pawns, as the Austrian Empire tried to cement alliances with other kingdoms they entered into due to the Seven Years' War. One of those was France, Austria's traditional rival. Both countries suffered losses during that conflict, and the union between Maria Antonia and Dauphin Louis-Auguste was the only way to keep the alliance.
Maria Theresa prepared her teenage daughter for the court life, but this wasn't enough when she arrived in Paris. It was a cycnial world, and the French didn't make the young lady feel welcomed. They were suspicious and right about it, as mother constantly kept in touch with daughter, always reminding her to keep on advancing Austria's interest. She did so, but without subtlety. Then there were other scandals, like the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, which took place four years before the Storming of the Bastille.
Marie Antoinette needed understanding and affection, but then wasn't the right time to yearn for both. She grew up mistrusting older, bright people after seeing the close relationship between her mother and sisters. This was why she brushed off farsighted advisers, who could have helped her husband ward off the revolution. Louis XVI was an indecisive monarch who failed to grasp the extent of the problem that his kingdom was facing during his reign. He embraced the French Enlightenment, the only good thing going on, but he was too conservative. His indecisiveness averted the royal family's escape from the revolutionary crowd during the Flight to Varennes.
Marie Antoinette was accused of lavish spending and mingling with people of her liking instead of other members of the Bourbons and the public. Maybe some of the guilt was true, but Fraser pointed out her life experiences prompted her to act that way. The outcome might have been different if she were born earlier, but it was pointless to muse on that. Some accounts showed that she did the best that she could despite some shortcomings. She was human. Final moments showed how she learned her lessons, which redeemed her.
