Fun Facts About Marie Antoinette
- Marie Antoinette is not known to have said "Let them eat cake." The line first appears in Rousseau's Confessions, credited to a "great princess" in a passage dated before she arrived in France.[1]
- At age seven, the future queen met the child prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was two months younger than she was.[1][3][4]
- Her last words were an apology to her executioner, "Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose," after she accidentally stepped on his shoe.[1]
- Before her marriage, Marie Antoinette got a French makeover: a French dentist straightened her teeth, and a teacher taught her the gliding walk of the Versailles court.[1]
- According to her first Lady of the Bedchamber, the queen's hair turned white in a single night during the royal family's failed escape to Varennes in June 1791.[1]
- Starting in 2016, scientists uncovered redacted passages of her letters to the Swedish diplomat Axel von Fersen. They confirm a very strong emotional relationship.[1]
- Marie Antoinette was alive at the same time as George Frideric Handel — their lives overlapped for 4 years (1755–1759).[1][2][5][6]
- Marie Antoinette lived to about 38, from 1755 until 1793.[1][2]
Marie Antoinette was Queen of France as the wife of Louis XVI from 10 May 1774 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1792. She was beheaded during the Reign of Terror, a period of political violence in the French Revolution.[1]
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Questions About Marie Antoinette
When was Marie Antoinette born?
Marie Antoinette was born on November 2, 1755, and died on October 16, 1793.
How old was Marie Antoinette at death?
Marie Antoinette was born on November 2, 1755, and died on October 16, 1793, at age 37.
What was Marie Antoinette known for?
Marie Antoinette was known for: Queen of France, executed in the Revolution. Marie Antoinette was Queen of France as the wife of Louis XVI from 10 May 1774 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1792. She was beheaded during the Reign of Terror, a period of political violence in the French Revolution.
Who was alive at the same time as Marie Antoinette?
Marie Antoinette's closest contemporary was Immanuel Kant. Their lives overlapped for 38 years.
Sources
- Marie Antoinette — Wikipedia. Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Marie Antoinette (Q47365) — Wikidata
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Wikipedia
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Q254) — Wikidata
- George Frideric Handel — Wikipedia
- George Frideric Handel (Q7302) — Wikidata
- Portrait: Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun - Marie-Antoinette dit « à la Rose » - Google Art Project.jpg — Wikimedia Commons. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Public domain