Marie Antoinette's Life and Achievements

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Who was Marie Antoinette? A prestigious queen who was the face of France and a role model to her people, or a partying, rude woman with a luxurious life that would come to a tragic end? Ever since Marie Antoinette was 10 she always knew she would be a queen. Her mother Maria Theresa, who was the Empress of Austria, had arranged a marriage with King Louis XV; the grandfather of Louis XVI, who was to become the King of France, the man she was destined to marry. Together they would rule France and stay entwined in marriage through thick and thin, and anything that came their way. The marriage between the two happened when Marie was only 15 and Louis was 19. Having an arranged marriage was very common in the 1700s and the ages could differ from two to 10 years apart. Despite their age difference, that never stopped Marie and Louis from having the same marital problems. Marie Antoinette lived a life of crime, gambling, having affairs, and starting revolutions which all turned into her gruesome death.

Born on November 2nd, 1755 in Hoffenberg palace in Vienna, Austria, Marie Antoinette had many brothers and sisters to share the huge palace along with her mother and father. Louis XVI’s grandfather Louis XV believed that Marie needed training to prepare to be so, he sent a tutor to help her. The tutor stated that Marie was "more intelligent than has been generally supposed," but rumors later on spread that Marie was very stupid, for a queen’s standards. The tutor also said: "She is rather lazy and extremely frivolous, she is hard to teach," which showed that Marie Antoinette had an excitable side to her and would likely lean towards breaking the rules. Looking into Marie’s future she had a wild side, which was even noticeable at a v...

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...ually abusing her son this crime truly helped decide her sentencing of death. Although the accusation was completely false, Marie was then sentenced on October 16,1793 to death by the guillotine the same way her husband was killed. Before her death, a priest told her to have courage and Marie replied, “The moment when my ills are going to end is not the moment when courage is going to fail me.” Everyone watching Marie expected her to be shaking and crying, but she stayed composed and stayed strong. Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France and left the biggest impact on France after she died. Whether Marie was canceling laws or starting revolutions she always winded up finding a way to escape the grasps of the law. Marie will always be known as the most hated queen of France that had always caused the most havoc, but still left her people infatuated with her.

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