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On 10 May 1774, her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI and she became queen. As queen, Marie Antoinette became increasingly unpopular among the people; the French libelles accused her of being profligate, promiscuous, having illegitimate children, and harboring sympathies for France's perceived enemies, including her native Austria.
- Who Was Louis XVI of France?
- Early Life
- King Louis XVI of France
- King Louis XVI and The French Revolution
- Louis XVI Calls The Estates General
- Escape Attempt
- Louis XVI’s Execution
- Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI’s Children
- Accomplishments
Louis XVI was the last Bourbon king of France who was executed in 1793 for treason. In 1770 he married Austrian archduchess Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. After a slew of governing missteps, Louis XVI brought the French Revolution crashing down upon himself. Louis was guillotined, followed by Marie...
Louis XVI was born on August 23, 1754, in the Palace of Versailles. Named Louis Auguste de France, he was given the title Duc de Berry signifying his junior status in the French Court. Louis XVI was the third son of Louis, Dauphin of France and grandson of Louis XV of France. His mother, Marie-Josephe of Saxony, was the daughter of Frederick August...
On May 10, 1774, Louis Auguste became Louis XVI upon the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Only 20 years old at the time, Louis XVI was immature and lacked self-confidence. While Louis XVI wanted to be a good king and help his subjects, he faced enormous debt and rising resentment towards a despotic monarchy. His failure to successfully address s...
Louis XVI’s policy of not raising taxes and taking out international loans, including to fund the American Revolution, increased France’s debt, setting in motion the French Revolution. By the mid-1780s the country was near bankruptcy, which forced the king to support radical fiscal reforms not favorable with the nobles or the people. When the press...
In May 1789, Louis XVI convened the Estates General to address the fiscal crisis, an advisory assembly of different estates or socio-economic classes (the clergy, the nobility and the commoners). The meeting did not go well. By June, the Third Estate declared itself the National Assembly, aligned with the bourgeoisie and set out to develop a consti...
The royal family was forcibly transferred from Versailles to Paris on October 6, 1789. Louis ignored advice from advisors and refused to abdicate his responsibilities as king of France, agreeing to a disastrous attempt to escape to the eastern frontier in June 1791. He and his family were brought back to Paris, and he lost all credibility as a mona...
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed for treason. Louis had failed to address France's financial problems, instigating the French Revolution that eventually descended upon him. He made matters worse by often escaping to more pleasurable activities like hunting and locksmithing. Modern historians attribute this behavior to a clinical depress...
At age 15 (in May 1770), Louis married the 14 year-old Habsburg Archduchess Maria Antonia (Marie Antoinette), his second cousin once removed, in an arranged marriage. She was the youngest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa. The marriage was met with some skepticism by members of the French court, as they remembered a...
In the early years of his reign, Louis XVI focused on religious uniformity and foreign policy. On the homefront, he invoked an edict that granted French non-Catholics legal status and the right to openly practice their faith. Louis XVI's early foreign policy success was supporting the American colonies' fight for independence from France's archenem...
Queen of France 1755-1793. Described by her brother, Emperor Joseph II, as “honest and lovable,” Marie Antoinette was an Austrian princess and the wife of King Louis XVI. She remains one of the most iconic characters in Versailles’ rich history.
Oct 14, 2020 · The Human Side of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Get an intimate look at the king and his wife — the good, the bad and the naughty. The reign of Louis XVI, the final Bourbon king of...
4 days ago · Marie-Antoinette was the youngest daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa and was married to Louis XVI. Though the first seven years of her marriage were childless, she then bore a daughter, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte; two sons, Louis-Joseph and Louis-Charles (both of whom died young); and another daughter (who died in ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Why is Marie-Antoinette so famous?Marie-Antoinette was queen of France from 1774 to 1793 and is associated with the decline of the French monarchy. Her alleged remark “Let them eat...
- What was Marie-Antoinette’s reign like?As queen, Marie-Antoinette was always unpopular. She spent lavishly, but her extravagance was only a minor cause of France’s growing debt in the 17...
- How did Marie-Antoinette die?Marie-Antoinette was guillotined in 1793 after the Revolutionary Tribunal found her guilty of crimes against the state. The royal family had been c...
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Apr 16, 2024 · His wife, Marie-Antoinette, was guillotined nine months later, and their son Louis (XVII) died at the age of 10 while imprisoned by the Revolutionary government. Louis XVI (born August 23, 1754, Versailles, France—died January 21, 1793, Paris) was the last king of France (1774–92) in the line of Bourbon monarchs preceding the French ...
Nov 9, 2009 · Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1755, Marie Antoinette married the future French king Louis XVI when she was just 15 years old. The young couple soon came to symbolize all of the excesses of the...
