Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette
Portrait, c. 1775
Queen consort of France
Tenure	10 May 1774 – 21 September 1792
Born	Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (1755-11-02)2 November 1755 Hofburg, Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died	16 October 1793(1793-10-16) (aged 37) Place de la Révolution, Paris, French First Republic
Cause of death	Execution
Burial	21 January 1815 Basilica of Saint-Denis (Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France)
Spouse	Louis XVI of France ​ ​ (m. 1770; died 1793)​
Issue	Marie-Thérèse, Duchess of Angoulême Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France Louis XVII Sophie
Names German: Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna French: Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne
House	Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother	Maria Theresa
Signature
Coat of arms

Marie Antoinette (/ˌæntwəˈnɛt, ˌɒ̃t-/;^[1] French: [maʁi ɑ̃twanɛt] ^ⓘ; Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France prior to the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child and youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. She became dauphine of France in May 1770 at age 14 upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne. On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she became queen.

As queen, Marie Antoinette became increasingly unpopular among the people; the French libelles accused her of being profligate,^[2] promiscuous, having illegitimate children, and harboring sympathies for France's perceived enemies, including her native Austria. She was falsely accused in the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, but the accusations damaged her reputation further. During the French Revolution, she became known as Madame Déficit because the country's financial crisis was blamed on her lavish spending and her opposition to social and financial reforms proposed by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot and Jacques Necker.

Several events were linked to Marie Antoinette during the Revolution after the government placed the royal family under house arrest in the Tuileries Palace in October 1789. The June 1791 attempted flight to Varennes and her role in the War of the First Coalition were immensely damaging to her image among French citizens. On 10 August 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the royal family to take refuge at the Assembly, and they were imprisoned in the Temple Prison on 13 August. On 21 September, the monarchy was abolished. Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. Marie Antoinette's trial began on 14 October; she was convicted two days later by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason and executed, also by guillotine, at the Place de la Révolution.