Marie Antoinette (pronounced /maʀi ɑ̃ntwanɛt/; ; ), Queen Consort of France and of Navarre, (Vienna, 2 November 1755 – Paris, 16 October 1793) was born an Archduchess of Austria and later became Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and second last child of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and of Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria. Her brothers were Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor.

At fourteen, on the day of her marriage to Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, she became Dauphine de France. At the death of King Louis XV, in May 1774, her husband ascended the French throne as Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette assumed the title of Queen of France and of Navarre. After seven years of marriage she gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte de France, the first of their four children.

During the Reign of Terror, at the height of the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette's husband was deposed and the royal family was imprisoned. Marie Antoinette was tried, convicted of treason and executed by guillotine on 16 October 1793, nine months after her husband.

In popular culture, the phrase "Let them eat cake" is often attributed to Marie Antoinette. However, there is no contemporary evidence to support that she ever uttered this phrase and it is now generally regarded as a "journalistic cliché."

Early Life

Born at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna in 1755, the Archduchess Maria Antonia was the youngest daughter of the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Maria Theresa of Austria, and the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I. Maria Antonia was described "a small, but completely healthy Archduchess." "

Countess Lerchenfeld was her governess.

She was fond of music and learned to play the harpsichord and played for many people at the court.

The laxity of court life was compounded by the "private" life which was developed by the Habsburgs, which was based within certain residences (mainly Schönbrunn Palace) that were almost entirely off-limits to the rest of the court. In their "private" life, the family dressed in bourgeois attire with no reproach, played games with "normal" (non-royal) children, had their schooling, and were treated to gardens and menageries. Maria Antonia later attempted to re-create this atmosphere through her renovation of the Petit Trianon in France.1

By many accounts, her childhood was somewhat complex. On the one hand, her parents had instituted several innovations in court life which made Austria one of the more progressive courts in Europe. While certain court functions remained formal by necessity, the Emperor and Empress nevertheless presided over many basic changes in court life. This included allowing relaxations in who could come to court (a change which allowed people of merit as well as birth to rise rapidly in the imperial favour), relatively lax dress etiquette, and the abolition of certain court protocols, including a ritual in which dozens of courtiers could be in the Empress' bedchamber, watching when she gave birth – the Empress disliked the ritual, and would eject courtiers from her rooms when she went into labour.Fraser, 3, 13–18. Later, when Marie Antoinette, as Queen of France, gave birth to her first child, she also abolished the practice in her court.Fraser, 166–170.