marie antoinette
Marie Antoinette

The execution of Marie Antoinette

Just after midnight on 16 October 1793, her defence council was finally allowed to do its job. Her two defence councillors, Chauveau-Lagarde and Tronçon-Ducoudray, quickly discussed their strategy, and it was decided that Chauveau-Lagarde would focus on her alleged conspiracy with the foreign powers while Tronçon-Ducoudray would focus on alleged conspiracy with enemies within France. [read more]

marie antoinette spinet
Marie Antoinette

Mozart comes to Schönbrunn

Marie Antoinette’s early life was centred around music, and the arrival of a musical prodigy would have been cause for much excitement. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was just six years old when he, his father and his sister, visited the imperial family at Schönbrunn. Marie Antoinette was just three months older than the prodigy. On 13 [read more]

marie antoinette beauty rouge
Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette’s beauty regime

Marie Antoinette’s beauty regime quickly became a source of public fascination. Madame Campan reported, “All wished instantly to have the same dress as the Queen and to wear the feathers and flowers to which her beauty, then in its brilliancy, lent an indescribable charm. The expenditure of the younger ladies was necessarily much increased; mothers [read more]