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Marie Antoinette: The Journey Paperback – November 12, 2002

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The national bestseller from the acclaimed author of The Wives of Henry VIII. France’s beleaguered queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous “Let them eat cake,” was the subject of ridicule and curiosity even before her death; she has since been the object of debate and speculation and the fascination so often accorded tragic figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted, privileged, but otherwise unremarkable child was thrust into an unparalleled time and place, and was commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in history. Antonia Fraser’s lavish and engaging portrait of Marie Antoinette, one of the most recognizable women in European history, excites compassion and regard for all aspects of her subject, immersing the reader not only in the coming-of-age of a graceful woman, buaimedt also in the unraveling of an era.

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512 pages
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Anchor
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November 12, 2002
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5.28 x 1.28 x 7.99 inches
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0385489498
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978-0385489492
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Fascinating . . . the court at Versailles comes alive.” –The Washington Post

“Colorful, fluently narrated. . . . A touching, psychologically believable portrait.” –The Wall Street Journal

“Absorbing as ever. Fraser’s blend of insight and research persuade us that this unfortunate queen deserves neither the vilification nor the idealization she has received.” –The New Yorker

From the Inside Flap

France?s beleaguered queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous ?Let them eat cake,? was the subject of ridicule and curiosity even before her death; she has since been the object of debate and speculation and the fascination so often accorded tragic figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted, privileged, but otherwise unremarkable child was thrust into an unparalleled time and place, and was commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in history. Antonia Fraser?s lavish and engaging portrait of Marie Antoinette, one of the most recognizable women in European history, excites compassion and regard for all aspects of her subject, immersing the reader not only in the coming-of-age of a graceful woman, but also in the unraveling of an era.

From the Back Cover

France's beleaguered queen, Marie Antoinette, wrongly accused of uttering the infamous "Let them eat cake," was the subject of ridicule and curiosity even before her death; she has since been the object of debate and speculation and the fascination so often accorded tragic figures in history. Married in mere girlhood, this essentially lighthearted, privileged, but otherwise unremarkable child was thrust into an unparalleled time and place, and was commanded by circumstance to play a significant role in history. Antonia Fraser's lavish and engaging portrait of Marie Antoinette, one of the most recognizable women in European history, excites compassion and regard for all aspects of her subject, immersing the reader not only in the coming-of-age of a graceful woman, but also in the unraveling of an era.

About the Author

Antonia Fraser is the author of many internationally bestselling historical works, including Love and Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, which was made into a film by Sofia Coppola, The Wives of Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots, Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot, and Perilous Question: Reform or Revolution? Britain on the Brink, 1832. She is also the author of Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter. She has received the Wolfson Prize for History, the 2000 Norton Medlicott Medal of Britain’s Historical Association, and the Franco-British Society’s Enid McLeod Literary Prize. She was made a Dame of the British Empire for services to Literature in 2011

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

chapter one

A Small Archduchess

"Her Majesty has been very happily delivered of a small, but completely healthy Archduchess."

Count Khevenhuller, Court Chamberlain, 1755

On 2 November 1755 the Queen-Empress was in labour all day with her fifteenth child. Since the experience of childbirth was no novelty, and since Maria Teresa, Queen of Hungary by inheritance, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage, hated to waste time, she also laboured in another way at her papers. For the responsibilities of government were not to be lightly cast aside; in her own words: "My subjects are my first children." Finally, at about half past eight in the evening in her apartments at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Maria Teresa gave birth. It was a girl. Or, as the Court Chamberlain, Count Khevenhuller, described the event in his diary: "Her Majesty has been happily delivered of a small, but completely healthy Archduchess." As soon as was practical, Maria Teresa returned to work, signing papers from her bed.

The announcement was made by the Emperor Francis Stephen. He left his wife's bedroom, after the usual Te Deum and Benediction had been said. In the Mirror Room next door the ladies and gentlemen of the court who had the Rights of Entry were waiting. Maria Teresa had firmly ended the practice, so distasteful to the mother in labour (but still in place at the court of Versailles), by which these courtiers were actually present in the delivery room. As it was they had to content themselves with congratulating the happy father. It was not until four days later that those ladies of the court who by etiquette would formerly have been in the bedchamber were allowed to kiss the Empress. Other courtiers, including Khevenhuller, were permitted the privilege on 8 November, and a further set the next day. Perhaps it was the small size of the baby, perhaps it was the therapeutic effect of working at her papers throughout the day, but Maria Teresa had never looked so well after a delivery.

The Empress's suite of apartments was on the first floor of the so-called Leopoldine wing of the extensive and rambling Hofburg complex. The Habsburgs had lived in the Hofburg since the late thirteenth century, but this wing had originally been constructed by the Emperor Leopold I in 1660. It was rebuilt following a fire, then greatly renovated by Maria Teresa herself. It lay south-west of the internal courtyard known as In Der Burg. Swiss Guards, that doughty international force that protects royalty, gave their name to the adjacent courtyard and gate, the Schweizerhof and the Schweizertor.

The next stage in the new baby's life was routine. She was handed over to an official wet-nurse. Great ladies did not nurse their own children. For one thing, breastfeeding was considered to ruin the shape of the bosom, made so visible by eighteenth-century fashions. The philandering Louis XV openly disliked the practice for this reason. The traditional prohibition against husbands sleeping with their wives during this period probably counted for more with Maria Teresa, an enthusiast for the marital double-bed and the conception--if not the nursing--of ever increasing numbers of babies. As the Empress said of herself, she was insatiable on the subject of children.

Marie Antoinette was put into the care of Constance Weber, wife of a magistrate. Constance, according to her son Joseph Weber, who later wrote his memoirs, was famed for her beautiful figure and an even greater beauty of soul. She had been nursing little Joseph for three months when she took over the baby Archduchess, and it was understood in the family that Constance's appointment would improve all their fortunes. As the foster-brother of an archduchess, Joseph Weber benefited all his life; there were pensions for Constance as well as his other brothers and sisters. During Marie Antoinette's childhood, Maria Teresa took her to visit the Weber household; there she showered gifts upon the children and, according to Joseph, admonished Constance: "Good Weber, have a care for your son."

Maria Teresa was thirty-eight years old and since her marriage nearly twenty years earlier, she had produced four Archdukes as well as ten Archduchesses (of whom seven were living in 1755). The extraordinarily high survival rate of the imperial family--by the standards of infant mortality of the time--meant that there was no urgent pressure upon the Queen-Empress to produce a fifth son. In any case it seems that Maria Teresa had expected a daughter. One of her courtiers, Count Dietrichstein, wagered against her that the new baby would be a boy. When the appearance of a girl, said to be as like her mother as two drops of water, meant that he lost the bet, the Count had a small porcelain figure made of himself, on his knees, proffering verses by Metastasio to Maria Teresa. He may have lost his wager but if the new-born augusta figlia resembled her mother, then all the world would have gained.

If the birth of an eighth surviving daughter was not in itself a disappointment, was there not perhaps something inauspicious about the date itself, 2 November? This, the Feast of All Souls, was the great Catholic Day of the Dead, when the departed were solemnly commemorated in a series of requiem Masses, in churches and chapels heavily draped in black. What this actually meant during the childhood of Marie Antoinette was that her birthday was generally celebrated on its eve, the Feast of All Saints, a day of white and gold. Besides which, 13 June, the feast of her patron saint St. Antony, tended to be regarded as Marie Antoinette's personal day of celebration, just as the feast of St. Teresa of Avila on 15 October was the name-day of her mother.

If one looks to influences, the baby born on the sombre Day of the Dead must have been conceived on or around a far more cheerful feast of the church: 2 February, the traditionally candle-lit celebration of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. An episode during the Empress's pregnancy could also be seen as significant. In April, Christoph Willibald Gluck was engaged by Maria Teresa to compose "theatrical and chamber music" in exchange for an official salary; this followed his successes in Italy and England as well as in Vienna. A court ball at the palace of Laxenburg, fifteen miles from Vienna, on 5 May 1755, marked his inauguration in this role. Two tastes that would impress themselves upon Marie Antoinette--a love of the "holiday" palace of Laxenburg and a love of the music of Gluck--could literally be said to have been inculcated in her mother's womb.

In contrast, the fact that a colossal earthquake took place in Lisbon on 2 November, with 30,000 killed, was not at the time seen as relevant. This was an age of poor European communications and news of the disaster did not reach Vienna until some time afterwards. It was true that the King of Portugal and his wife had been engaged to stand as the coming baby's godparents; the unfortunate royal couple had to flee from their capital at about the time Marie Antoinette was born. But, once again, this was not known at the time. In any case, royalties were not expected to be present at the event; according to custom, proxies were appointed in their absence: the baby's eldest brother, Joseph, and her eldest sister, Marianne, aged fourteen and seventeen respectively.

The baptism took place at noon on 3 November (baptisms were always held speedily and in the absence of the mother, who was allowed to recover from her ordeal). The Emperor went with a cortege to the Church of the Augustine Friars, the traditional church used by the court, and heard Mass, including the sermon. After that, at twelve o'clock, as Count Khevenhuller noted in his meticulous diary, which is an important source for our knowledge of events in Maria Teresa's family, the baptism was held in "the new and beautiful Anticamera" and performed by "our Archbishop," since the new Papal Nuncio had not yet made a formal appearance at court. The imperial family sat in a row on a long bench. Two galas were ordered: a great gala for the day of the baptism, and a lesser gala for the day after. On 5 and 6 November there were two more spectacles that were shown to the public for free, and on those days there was no charge to the public for entry at the city gates. It was all a very well established ritual.

The baby in whose honour these celebrations were held was given the names Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna. The prefix of Maria had been established for all Habsburg princesses in the days of the baby's great-grandfather, the Emperor Leopold I and his third wife Eleanora of Neuburg; it was intended to signify the special veneration of the Habsburg family for the Virgin Mary. Obviously in a bevy of eight sisters (and a mother) all enjoying the same hallowed prefix, it was not going to be used for everyone all the time. In fact the new baby would be called Antoine in the family.

The French diminutive of the baptismal name, Antoine, was significant. Viennese society was multilingual, people being able to make themselves easily understood in Italian and Spanish as well as in German and French. But it was French, acknowledged as the language of civilization, that was the universal language of courts throughout Europe; Frederick II of Prussia, Maria Teresa's great rival, for example, preferred his beloved French to German. It was French that was used in diplomatic despatches to the Habsburgs. Maria Teresa spoke French, although with a strong German accent (she also spoke the Viennese dialect), but the Emperor Francis Stephen spoke French all his life, not caring to learn German. In this way, both in the family circle and outside it, Maria Antonia was quickly transmogrified into Antoine, the name she also used to sign her letters. To courtiers, the latest archduchess was to be known as Madame Antoine.

Charming, sophisticated, lazy and pleasure-loving, an inveterate womanizer who adored his wife and family, Francis Stephen of Lorraine handed on to Marie Antoinette a strong dose of French blood. His mother Elisabeth Charlotte d'Orleans had been a French royal princess and a granddaughter of Louis XIII. Her brother, the Duc d'Orleans, had acted as Regent during the childhood of Louis XV. As for Francis Stephen himself, although he had Habsburg blood on his father's side and was adopted into the Viennese court in 1723 at the age of fourteen, it was important to him that he was by birth a Lorrainer. From 1729, when his father died, he was hereditary Duke of Lorraine, a title that stretched back to the time of Charlemagne. This notional Lorrainer inheritance would also feature in the consciousness of Marie Antoinette, even though Francis Stephen was obliged to surrender the actual duchy in 1735. It was part of a complicated European deal whereby Louis XV's father-in-law, who had been dispossessed as King of Poland, received the Duchy of Lorraine for the duration of his lifetime; it then became part of the kingdom of France. In return Francis Stephen was awarded the Duchy of Tuscany.

The renunciation of his family heritage in order to soothe France was presented to Francis Stephen as part of a package that would enable him to marry Maria Teresa. On her side, it was a passionate love match. The British ambassador to Vienna reported that the young Archduchess "sighs and pines all night for her Duke of Lorraine. If she sleeps, it is only to dream of him. If she wakes, it is but to talk of him to the lady-in-waiting." Wilfully, in a way that would be in striking contradiction to the precepts she preached as a mother, Maria Teresa set her heart against a far grander suitor, the heir to the Spanish throne. The medal struck for the wedding bore the inscription (in Latin): "Having at length the fruit of our desires."

The desires in question, however, did not include the bridegroom's continued enjoyment of his hereditary possessions. As his future father-in-law Charles VI crudely put it: "No renunciation, no Archduchess." Maria Teresa of course believed in total wifely submission, at least in theory, another doctrine that she would expound assiduously to her daughters. Her solution was to tolerate and even encourage her husband's Lorrainer relations at court, as well as a multitude of Lorrainer hangers-on.

The marriage of Maria Teresa's sister Marianna to Francis Stephen's younger brother Charles of Lorraine strengthened these ties; Marianna's early death left Maria Teresa with a sentimental devotion to her widower. Then there was Francis Stephen's attachment to his unmarried sister Princess Charlotte, Abbess of Remiremont, who was a frequent visitor. She shared her brother's taste for shooting parties, in which she personally participated. In the year of Marie Antoinette's birth, a party of twenty-three, three of them ladies, killed nearly 50,000 head of game and wild deer. Princess Charlotte fired over 9000 shots, nearly as many as the Emperor. This strong-minded woman was so devoted to her native Lorraine that she once said she was prepared to travel there barefoot.

Thus Marie Antoinette was brought up to think of herself as "de Lorraine" as well as "d'Autriche et de Hongrie." In the meantime Lorraine had become a foreign principality attached to France, so that princes of Lorraine who made their lives in France had the status of "foreign princes" only and were not accorded the respect due to foreign royalties nor that due to French dukes. This ambiguous status was one from which the foreign princes ever sought to escape, while those of superior birth in French courtly terms sought to hold them down. A seemingly small point of French etiquette--small at least to outsiders--was to be of considerable significance in the future of Francis Stephen's daughter.

This was an age of multiple intermarriage where royal houses were concerned. Insofar as one can simplify it purely in terms of her four grandparents, Marie Antoinette had the blood of the Bourbons--the Orleans branch--and of Lorraine on her father's side. More remotely, her Orleans great-grandmother, a Palatine princess known as Liselotte, brought her the blood of Mary Queen of Scots via Elizabeth of Bohemia--but this was to go back 200 years. On the maternal side, Marie Antoinette inherited German blood from her grandmother Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick-Wolfbuttel, once described as "the most beautiful queen on earth." Her appearance at the age of fourteen enchanted her husband Charles VI: "Now that I have seen her, everything that has been said about her is but a shadow devoured by the light of the sun." However, if exceptional beauty was to be found in the pool of genes that Marie Antoinette might inherit, it was also true that the lovely Empress became immensely large and dropsical in later years.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Anchor (November 12, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385489498
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385489492
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.28 x 1.28 x 7.99 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #157,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #164 in French History (Books)
- #267 in Royalty Biographies
- #1,944 in Women's Biographies

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Antonia Fraser is the author of numerous novels and historical works including Marie Antoinette, The Wives of Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scots, and Faith and Treason. She is also famous for her Jemima Shore series of mysteries. She and her husband, Harold Pinter, live in London.

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Charles Scott

Anarchy reins. Justice prevails. The people form a new government.

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2019

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I fell fast asleep after having read the incredible biography of Marie Antoinette. Later on, in the middle of the night, I'd been startled wide awake, having sensed a spiritual presence in the room. It became larger and was gradually coming closer. Looking toward the open doorway of my bedroom, I saw a brightly illuminated light, as if from a candle. There before me stood a pale, flaxen-haired lady in a plain white dress. She seemed to hover in the air and watch over me. She appeared as a vision of loveliness, an angel of mercy. Her voluminous, shiny, wavy, amber hair cascaded down over her shoulders and onto the front of the finely-woven garment she wore. She positively glowed and beamed. She seemed to radiate pure energy. I couldn't help smiling and thinking, how so unlike the style and grace of any woman I'd ever met or seen in person. Then, she abruptly vanished in an instant, thus breaking the spell. The room went completely dark again. It had been like viewing a real person in the mist of a hologram. I rolled over, went back to sleep, and slept soundly for the remainder of the night.
Antonia Fraser picked quite an interesting subject, when she wrote the historical biography, Marie Antoinette: The Journey, which was published in 2001. Marie Antoinette is probably the most famous and memorable Lady in French history, bar none. She began life as the daughter of an Austrian Queen. Her father was the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Pretty powerful stuff, no doubt. Born in the middle 1700's, when the world was ruled by wealthy, omnipotent rulers called monarchs, whose authority supposedly came directly from God, or was at least divinely inspired and unquestioned, Marie Antoinette married the King of France, in an arranged marriage. The idea was to preserve the peace among the various nations, which wanted to maintain their mutually beneficial interests in trade, enterprise, prosperity, and for purposes of expansion throughout the known world.
Selfishness and greed is what usually throws a wrench into the works of the best laid plans, and so it was that many of the nations and principalities were often at war, or preparing for war. At the time of Marie Antoinette's rise to prominence, France's Seven Years' War was just ending and times of peace and prosperity were looming. It just so happens that certain ambitious individuals, often highly organized, over vast geographical regions see this as an opportunity for making themselves as rich and powerful as the monarchs. They do so, by many diversified methods and means. Some publish pulp fiction. Some bake bread and make fried potatoes. Some manufacture durable goods. Some manufacture arms. Some go into the gambling business. Some sell alcohol. Some sell precious metals and jewelry. They build ships. They venture to the New World. They go into Theater, Opera, and Ballet. We call it making progress, today.
To make a long story short, large groups of well-educated individuals, lawyers, professional soldiers, statesmen, and prominent businessmen collaborate, organize, and decide to take over the function of government entirely. They put themselves in power with the intention of ending the rule of the unsuspecting monarchs, associated noblemen, and aristocrats. They plan to cut them out of the picture all together. They call their noble efforts a revolution, and put themselves in power in their place. They become the new ruling class, in effect.
Unfortunately, in the new scheme of things, justice is not often dispensed with fairness and impartiality. The punishment does not always fit the crime. The new system is crude. Inhumane. Cruel and unusual punishment is the order of the day. Government becomes an ugly and unpleasant business. They rob Peter to pay Paul. They don't always pay the piper for his services.
Caught up in the ensuing chaos and madness is King Louis XVI of France, his Queen Marie Antoinette, their family, their associates, and their closest friends. They become libelled, scandalized, and suffer the dire consequences. You can't help but feel sorry for certain adversely affected persons, who are forced to experience life-altering events beyond their control. Many are forced to undergo difficult transitions in their lives, which not all can endure without hardship and suffering. I must admit, after reading Chapter 19, the situation was starting to look bleak. It wasn't looking very promising for the home team, so I impatiently skipped to the Epilogue, looking for redemption, before resuming my reading of the closing chapters.
One curious observation I made, after all was said and done, was that, while modern laboratory technicians, having analyzed surreptitiously-obtained DNA tissue samples from the body of Marie Antoinette's youngest son, they did not explicitly reveal who had been Louis Charles' actual father. Or, maybe I missed something in the rapid reading of this fascinating book. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that someone significant, Marie Antoinette's daughter, Marie Theresa, had somehow survived captivity.
R. Royce somehow obtained a sample of the latest element of the periodic table to be recently discovered, number 131, in the row of super-nova elements. Miners call it star-dust, golden sunshine, or radicon. He wanted to have it independently analyzed, for his own peace of mind, and appraised right away. He wondered, if it is completely stable. Is it safe? And, what is it worth? He did not attempt to open the lead-lined box into which it had been placed, as it sat there ominously on the coffee table in his living room.
"What a novel conversation piece!" said Cornelius Korn, walking in unannounced and spying the object of their curiosity. He was a long-time friend and business associate. "I bet you can't find a Pandora's Box like this one anywhere in China." He knew what was going on. He'd been briefed."
"Are you going to let us in on the big secret?" inquired Raquel, Royce's significant other, and their business associate. "Or are you going to keep us guessing?"
"They don't have an approved name for it, yet. It's so new, that scientists have only assigned it a letter so far, element K. I call it special-K," said Korn. "You aren't going to believe this, but there are already a number of proposed uses for this revolutionary new product. Melting a small quantity of the substance at high temperatures, pouring it into a mold, and allowing it to cool, transforms it into an impervious metal, more durable than gold, and just as pleasing to the eye. Combining the substance with quartz, sand, or other crystalline minerals, under intense heat and pressure, and it can be transformed into gemstones, harder, clearer, more fiery and precious than diamonds."
"So, special-K is quite valuable, then," said Raquel.
"That's not the half of it," continued Korn. "In the form of a fine powdery compound, the chemical substance can be made to dissolve in salt-water or ordinary tap-water."
"That doesn't sound so impressive," interrupted Royce.
"Not to the seasoned mall shopper or average guy in the street," said Korn. "But when you consider some of it's other extraordinary chemical properties, you begin to see it's really strategic usefulness. If properly trained Hazmat teams are able to inject the powdery special-K compound into containers of nuclear material, the compound instantly reacts with the material to form a completely harmless by-product, commonly known as garden-variety fertilizer. In other words, it becomes a manageable, granulated mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium--NPK. Alternatively, the end-product could just as easily be Portland cement, or even masonry bricks. As you know, chemists and chemical engineers are only limited by their imaginations. Essentially, adding Special-K can render nuclear material of all types, into something non-radioactive, non-lethal, and non-threatening, such as ordinary building construction materials."
"In theory, or practice?" asked Royce.
"You'd have to ask Dupont or Dow Chemical about that," said Korn.
"I'm all in favor of better living through chemistry," said Alexis Sue Shell, the fourth member of the bridge club and garden party, having just arrived. "But, I was under the impression that special-K originates from black holes at the edge of the universe."
"That's the next row of elements in the periodic table, the black-hole elements." said Raquel. She could be a highly informative subject matter expert.
"Most people believe that once matter goes into a black-hole, due to the immense pressure of gravitational forces, it never comes out again. The exception is when the black-hole is a hole in the shape of a doughnut. I think of it as a glazed chocolate funnel cake doughnut. Matter goes in, becomes forever transformed, and exits out the opposite side of the funnel. The miners call these black-hole element substances moon-dust," explained Royce. "They also call them crystal moonbeams, because they contain particles of light, like a fire opal."
"They remind me of a lava lamp I once bought at a gift shop on the beach," said Alexis Sue.

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Dave Dumas

Just Like Being There.

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2014

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is a phrase that is used often. But it's true about this book. Antonia Fraser is a very skilled writer who takes you on your own journey, besides the subtitle journey of Marie Antoinette herself. This is a look inside Versailles in the 18th century, a look at the daily life of its inhabitants, the extreme care taken with court etiquette, the intrigues and backbiting as well as the stunningly rich life of the King (Louis XVI) and his wife Marie Antoinette.

What struck me forcibly is that she was nothing like the character who supposedly said "Let them eat cake". That saying went back way before Marie Antoinette was even born. She was in fact a very sensitive, sensible, caring, compassionate woman, especially for the time in which she lived and the high position she found herself in.

You'll see that from the very beginning, a young girl from Austria (Marie Antoinette) was not entirely welcome in the French court. As well, you'll be taken on a tour of the place and times as if you were actually in the rooms witnessing what others witnessed in fact.

Very highly recommended.

10 people found this helpful

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gatorplyr2000

Marie Antoinette: The Journey

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2010

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At 544 pages, MARIE ANTOINETTE "The Journey", is an immense book. Antonia Fraser has the amazing capability to make history interesting and simple to read. Books regarding noble families typically are more apt to be dreadfully complex and challenging to understand. However, Fraser gradually presents the main players accompanied by the setting of 18th-century Austria and France. No aspect gets away from her eye; from the crackle of material to the queen's individual possessions, to the affiliation among the royal family, to their consultants, this book is energetic, gripping, and educational.
Marie Antoinette's story is such a distressing one but Antonia Fraser writes it as a caring, yet silent observer, and brings her to life in such a way no other could. One of the key themes throughout this book is what little control Marie Antoinette really had over her own life. She was a pawn on her mother's chessboard. Marie Antoinette, the youngest of fifteen children, was married off to the Dauphin of France, Louis XVI at the age of 14, in expectation to obtain a secure affiliation with France, if not a future for Austria.
Regrettably the marriage didn't begin as planned. It took eight years for the couple to ultimately deliver a successor because their marriage remained unconsummated for over seven years. Without suitable training she had a fascination for mingling, spending, dancing and gambling. In spite of this, after she became a mother, the partying started winding down. In addition, the reader must remember that she was a teenager and in her very earlier twenties when she did most of her foolishness. If she was a squanderer, she was in good company as the entire court of Versailles lived extravagantly. Marie Antoinette substituted her gambling addiction with a new hobby. She starred in exclusive theatrical performances where she performed as a milkmaid. Antonia Fraser disputes that Marie Antoinette's wastefulness and partying were actual responses to her lack of power, her marriage, and the excessive system of etiquette in the French court.
Fraser also gives several details about the charitable works of Marie-Antoinette, thus revealing her efforts to help the poor to be vaster than I had initially imagined. Her gifts and grants filled her whole reign and certainly her whole life, dating back to infancy gifts for those in need. Kindness was not only part of her rearing, but part of her sympathetic personality, of which Fraser writes many examples. She was kept in the dark about politics and recent events but they surprisingly still held her accountable for all the bad things that were going on in her country. They wanted her to be an embellishment, not to govern French people who were besieged under burdensome taxes.
Marie Antoinette's political beginnings finally came about when France was taken over by the revolutionary forces. Her husband who was just as inexperienced in politics as she was discovered that he had no capability to yield decisions about their impending future. So Marie Antoinette had taken the reins in an attempt to rescue the kingdom for her son. Regrettably, due to her lack of understanding of politics, she did not make the right choices, and her whole family ultimately encountered a dire downfall. The reader may feel much linked to the individual strengths and weaknesses of these characters. What was in their "less than competent" hands to transform, and what was carried along by the dishonesty of a court system based on greed and a tormented method of indisputable tradition. Without a doubt, you feel more compassion for the king and his queen after analysis of this book.
Antonia Fraser's sparklingly persuasive and amusing writing method contributes itself flawlessly to the alluring chronicle of the unfortunate French queen. Reading Antonia Fraser's book is like viewing a video of a calamity. Fraser sheds light from the inside out with her subjects. The book is full of splendid detail about court life, seen through Marie Antoinette's eyes. Fraser moves the story from Marie Antoinette's birth to her prearranged marriage, then to adulthood, her delight at the birth of her children, the approaching breakdown of the French aristocracy, and lastly her unfortunate death at a young age.
Fraser remains on the Queen's Austrian life, before Versailles, long enough to guide the reader to new light about this woman's anguish on account of her astonishing disposition. Pre-Revolutionary France bleeds through the pages. Fraser writes like an engrossed surgeon; her research shows flawless shrewdness of superior resources that is beyond compare, an indispensable book about astounding things.
Ms. Fraser relentlessly sets up the events leading to the termination of the royal family in the French Revolution. She describes a compassionate image of Marie Antoinette, but leaves room for the reader to determine if she was worthy to be as loathed as she was. This was a woman who was clearly slandered and criticized. She had her faults (which were certainly not overlooked by Fraser), but surely no one who has even a small amount of empathy could think that this woman warranted the cruel behavior she received and the horrible disgrace to which she was subjected to. Fraser's magnificent writing technique makes the reader overlook the conclusion of events and in its place has you on the rim of your seat at times. I would say Fraser fulfilled her goal of not letting Marie Antoinette's life story be surpassed by how it ended. Her life was about more than that. She is represented to be kind, compassionate and a somewhat normal woman: she was not extremely stunning (even though she had a vast amount of charisma, sophistication and elegance that made her looks, as if she was beautiful), she was not extremely smart, ruthless or creative. However, what made her extraordinary in the end, was her vast amount of bravery in the face of surprising, mind-boggling adversity. She confronted the unbelievable trials life pitched at her with a commendable strength and poise that few others could.
Marie Antoinette's education was periodic and deficient, in part because her much loved governess was not much of a teacher and never required her to study for any length of time. When Marie Antoinette went to trial she reacted with enormous intellectual sharpness. She stunned the courtroom with her humor and confidence. The only time she was truly upset was when she was wrongly blamed of incest. After her initial shock Marie Antoinette answered, "I speak to all the mothers in the courtroom." This must have really affected Marie Antoinette because motherhood was something she did extremely well. I found it to be enchanting, alluring, fascinating, educational, and discerning making it a delight to read and a book that I could not put down until the end. I came away from the book with a better awareness, understanding, and sympathy for one of the most renowned women in history and a much profound appreciation of the French Revolution and of the countless factors leading up to it.
In fact there was one chapter that went into the story of how she and the king, were trying to escape Paris and their incarceration, I genuinely anticipated that they would get away! I was so swept along by the author's flow that I truly embraced silent hope for the queen's release from the Conciergerie, where she was confined prior to her death. As an end result, I was trampled when Marie Antoinette met her horrific death. Once the expected decision was made, she met her death with courage.
The book is a work of art at illustrating how people are creations of their era. Sometimes it is very tough to stay focused. There are countless characters to keep straight, several different names for the same person. Ms. Frazier every now and then refers to people by their descendant's names, occasionally by their first names, and at times by their titles. I found myself continuously going back and forth in the book trying to figure out precisely who she was talking about. It also lags when Fraser attempts to give details on the bloodline relationships between different aristocrats. If all of Miss Frazer's details and theories are to be believed, then Marie Antoinette was one of the prevalent scapegoats in history and also one of its most superb heroines.

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Delawanna

Eye opening!

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023

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Do not let what you heard over the years distort your thought of this historical woman. She is quite remarkable and a beautiful soul! This biography is so well written, I now want to read Ms. Fraser’s other books as well. I could not put down and by the end I was lamenting what happened! I know she is advanced in years but I hope she is still writing!

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Daniel

The Best Book about A Magnificent Queen

Reviewed in Brazil on March 26, 2023

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Already, in my opinion, a classic on the biography section, a must-read! Very comprehensive and yet filled with so many information about the queen that went down in history more as a myth, a bad one, than as an actual person, an actual royal figure, and as it turns out, a dignified magnificent woman that she in fact was.

RAFAEL

Biografía de la última Reyna de Francia

Reviewed in Mexico on July 28, 2021

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Excelente biografía nos da una detallada muestra de otra mujer muy diferente a la ya conocida .

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M. J. Gilfedder

Fascinating

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2023

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This is my third historical biography by Antonia Fraser and she has it down to a fine art. This biography of Marie Antoinette is meticulously researched, opening up a whole new world of monarchy, French and European culture, politics and history. Marie Antoinette, at the centre of it all, is a fascinating and often misunderstood person. Yes, there was great social and economic inequality in France during her time as Queen and she lived a lavish lifestyle while many went hungry, but she was not the only one and Fraser portrays her as something of a scapegoat. Love her or loathe her, she's certainly a compelling historical character. Fraser writes with intelligence, perception and authority. It's an absorbing read, I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in biography or history.

One person found this helpful

CJ*

Todo 5*s

Reviewed in Spain on May 22, 2023

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Estuve buscando este libro por mucho tiempo. Finalmente lo encontré y a excelente precio de 2da mano!
El libro estaba en muy muy buenas condiciones - casi como nuevo. La envoltura puede ser mejorada pues no venía tan protegido. Muy buen libro para mis lecturas de noche y excelente servicio! :)

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Mumu

J'ai hâte !!!!

Reviewed in France on March 30, 2017

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Bien que je n'ai pas vu le film et j'en suis bien contente car il me semble qu'il fasse passer Marie-Antoinette pour ce qu'elle n'était pas... J'ai hâte de me plonger dans ce livre pour découvrir tout ce qu'il peut m'apprendre de nouveau et me faire ma propre opinion. De plus, il contient des illustrations, connues et moins, voire que moi-même que je ne connaissais pas. Bel ouvrage pour qui aime lire.

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