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This rp is about Marie and her life, starting from her first day and then goes on into our imaginations! Ha, that sounds so cheesy...Well here is a little about her....
Marie Antoinette was the beautiful Queen of France who became a symbol for the wanton extravagance of the 18th century monarchy, and was stripped of her riches and finery, imprisoned and beheaded by her own subjects during the French Revolution that began in 1789.
Austrian Princess
As her life began there was little hint of this total reversal of life's fortunes. Marie Antoinette was born in 1755 at very apex of the European social pyramid.
She was born a princess and archduchess, the 15th and the favourite daughter of Maria Teresa, Empress of Austria. The Hapsburg house of Austria was the oldest royal house of Europe, and the young princess enjoyed the relaxed environment of the Schonbrünn Palace and the indulgence of tutors her parents, brothers and sisters.
Marie Thérèse was famous Austrian empress who counted among her many accomplishments her ability to marry her many children in ways strategic to the Austrian empire. So it was with Marie Antoinette. For her pretty and favourite daughter, Marie Thérèse arranged a special marriage to cement the new alliance with France that she had concluded with Louis XV. So, Marie Antoinette was to leave Austria to the most prestigious throne in all Europe.
French Queen
The life of Marie Antoinette was the stuff of dreams when she was married at age 15 to the crown prince of France, the dauphin. France was then the most powerful nation of continental Europe, and the royal palace at Versailles the most opulent. The young princess could hardly have hoped for a more prestigious marriage and her magnificent marriage ceremony in 1770 was unmatched in royal pageantry.
At the border she was stripped and re-dressed with clothing fashionable at the French court. When she was presented to the French king Louis XV, he pronounced her delightful, and told others of her fine full figure, of which he much approved.
Her enchanted life reached its pinnacle when the old king died and her husband became King Louis XVI in 1774. Marie Antoinette, still a teenager became Queen of France.
Unhappy Marriage and Boredom
But this daughter of life's fortune was unhappy in her marriage. Louis was homely, awkward and hardly her heart's desire. His devotion to the hunt, clocks and his workshop and his early hours were in contrast to her pursuit of the arts, fashion, dance and French nightlife. The contrast of Charles and Diana comes to mind. While King Louis XV, her husband's brothers, Provence and Artois, and others at court noticed at once her grace and beauty, her own shy husband was slow to exercise the rights of the marriage bed. From afar, Louis XVI, like the others, much admired Marie's physical charms and her character, and Louis would become a thoroughly devoted husband, but in her early years in France he was little comfort to her. Marie was constantly commented upon her inability to produce an heir with her shy husband.
Circle of Friends
Marie Antoinette sought escape from her marital frustration and the boredom of court life. Time went by and she began to exercise power as queen, Marie Antoinette spent less time at court, and surrounded herself with a dissolute clique, led by Yolande de Polignac and Thérèse de Lamballe. She lavished expensive gifts and positions upon these friends and in doing so ignored the great houses of the French nobility.
With her young friends, Marie Antoinette threw herself into a life of pleasure and careless extravagance. These included masked balls in Paris, gambling, theatricals and late night promenades in the park. Her circle included the King's frivolous young brother the Count of Artois, and handsome young courtiers the Duc de Ligne, Counts Dillon, Vaudreuil and Axel Fersen.
I know its long, sorry. But I find it interesting...
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