Famous Austrians: Marie-Antoinette

Marie-Antoinette

Marie-Antoinette is famous for being the last queen of France. As the youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Franz I of Austria, however, it should be obvious (especially to those of you who saw the Sofia Coppola verson) that this archduchess and eventual queen spent her youth in the Habsburg residence in Vienna, Hofburg (just down the street from the Museums Quartier, for those interested in taking a tour) and the summer home of Schönbrunn. However, despite how Sofia characterizes her in the film, Marie-Antoinette spoke German and French growing up, as well as Italian, and did not have to learn the language upon her marriage to Louis XVI. That's just a bit of an exaggeration. Perhaps done because Kirsten Dunst played her.

Other interesting facts: the film correctly portrayed her party-girl persona; and the fact that the French didn't really like her (and called her names like l'Autruchienne: ostrich-bitch, a play on l'Autrichienne: Austrian woman); also, she was basically betrothed to the dauphin Louis because too many of her sisters died of smallpox or were already betrothed to other royals and, thus, she was the only one left when France came a-calling. This may be one of the reasons it took seven years to consummate the marriage.    

Possibly the first to establish "shabby chic" as a fashion choice, what with her penchant for "farming" at Petit Trianon and the robe à la polonaise, Madame Antoinette was way ahead of her time in the world of fashion. Perhaps too far ahead, which made the French dislike her more! Not interested in much more than fashion or cakes (well, she was Austrian), poor Marie-Antoinette ended up being somebody's political stool pigeon throughout her reign, from the Affair of the Diamond Necklace (thanks to that bitch Madame du Barry), to the dubious attribution "Let them eat cake" - it seems she never got a break. Until the end that is, when she did get one: right on her neck.