Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (1755-93). Queen of France. In 1770 she married the dauphin of France, who became Louis XVI in 1774. Her extravagant and frivolous way of life, which included romantically playing at being a milkmaid on an imitation farm at Versailles, made her unpopular, as did her interference in political affairs. When told that the people of Paris had no bread, Marie Antoinette is supposed to have said: “Let them eat cake”. With the outbreak of the French Revolution she displayed both stubbornness and courage, exercising considerable influence over her weak-willed husband. In 1793, together with Louis, she was convicted of trea-son and guillotined.
“Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end? Marie Antoinette, remark on her way to the guillotine, 16 October 1793”
