On 17 April 1770, Marie Antoinette swore on a bible to renounce her rights to the Austrian hereditary lands through her mother and to Lorraine through her father. This was done to ensure that no claims were made through the female line should the male line fail.
That evening, her brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, threw a supper party for 1500 people at the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. Over 800 firemen stood guard as a party of this magnitude required over 4,000 candles. Even more surprising was the presence of several dentists in case of a sudden toothache.1 Dinner was served in stages of 100 people at the time while the drinks were free flowing. The party ended up lasting until seven in the morning, although the family had withdrawn at around 3 in the morning.
The following day, Marie Antoinette was received by the French Ambassador at the Liechtenstein Palace just outside Vienna. He would be forbidden to receive her once the proxy wedding had taken place, so it had to be done before the wedding. This time 850 guests were invited, but Count Khevenhüller, the Court Chamberlain, reported that the entertainment had not nearly been as good as the night before.2
On 19 April 1770, at six in the evening, it was finally time for the proxy wedding. This was done to ensure that the woman in question could travel with her new rank. Marie Antoinette’s own brother Ferdinand would stand in for Louis Auguste, and he took the Latin vow, “I am willing and thus make my promise.”3 He knelt beside his sister and had supper by her side that evening. The proxy wedding took place in the Augustinian Church in Vienna, and Marie Antoinette was led up the aisle by her mother, Maria Theresa. Her mother and brother Joseph sat on a special dais to the right of the altar, while Marie Antoinette and Ferdinand sat at a lower level.
For this proxy wedding, Marie Antoinette wore a gown of cloth-of-silver, and her train was carried by Countess Trautmannsdorf. The wedding was officiated by the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor Visconti, as the vows were said and the rings were blessed. As the ceremony concluded, salvoes were fired outside. At nine in the evening, the official marriage supper began. This was to last for several hours and would not even be the end of the festivities in Vienna. The following night another gala would take place, but this time Marie Antoinette was “Madame la Dauphine.”
Marie Antoinette also wrote to “her very dear grandfather”, King Louis XV (her husband’s grandfather), to say that thanks to the proxy wedding, she now “belongs to Your Majesty.”4 She signed the letter as “Antoine.”
Marie Antoinette was scheduled to leave for France on 21 April at 9 in the morning. Shortly before her departure, Maria Theresa held her daughter tight and told her, “Farewell, my dearest child, a great distance will separate us… Do so much good to the French people that they can say that I have sent them an angel.”5 Marie Antoinette reportedly continued to crane her neck as the carriage departed to see her home for the last time.
A procession of 57 carriages would bring the new Dauphine to France.
Most of the two-and-half-week journey was spent cooped up in the velvet and gold carriage. They usually travelled for nine hours during the day before stopping for the night. Her first overnight stop was at the monastery of Melk, where she was treated to an opera during the evening. She reached Munich on 26 April, where she was entertained by the Elector of Bavaria and where she was allowed to rest for a day. Then she travelled to Augsburg and Günzburg, where she spent time with her aunt Princess Charlotte of Lorraine. She then travelled to Ulm and reached Freiberg on 4 May.
On 6 May, she reached Schuttern Abbey and spent her last night on German soil. The following day the official handover took place on an island in the middle of the Rhine. Her late mother-in-law had been handed over on the island 23 years earlier as well. A wooden pavilion had been erected to look like a small château. It had five rooms: two antechambers on the French side, two on the Austrian side and a central drawing room. It had been furnished with loaned furniture.
Marie Antoinette said goodbye to most of her Austrian attendants before retiring to one of the Austrian rooms. Even her beloved dog, Mops, was not allowed to accompany her. She took off her Austrian travelling clothes and changed into a French ceremonial dress in gold fabric.6 She was then led to the central drawing room, where she sat in an armchair placed under a canopy. As the formalities were completed, Marie Antoinette saw the door to the French side being opened. As she looked back to the Austrians, they had all disappeared. Sobbing, Marie Antoinette threw herself into the arms of the Countess de Noailles.7
The Countess was known for her strict adherence to etiquette, and she shrugged the Dauphine off before dropping into a low curtsey. She coldly indicated that this behaviour was not suitable for a Dauphine. Marie Antoinette excused herself and said, “Pardon me, these are for the family and the fatherland I am leaving; for the future, I shall not forget that I am French.”8 After being introduced to the gentlemen and ladies of her household, Marie Antoinette travelled to Strasbourg.
She finally met her husband and his grandfather, King Louis XV, on 14 May, at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. King Louis XV had brought not only his grandson but also three of his four surviving daughters (known as the Mesdames). Marie Antoinette alighted her carriage onto a ceremonial carpet, and she was presented as “Madame la Dauphine.” Marie Antoinette sank into a deep curtsey before the man who would now be “papa” or “papa-roi.”9 Touched by this gesture of submission, King Louis XV raised her up. She was formally introduced to her husband, who later recorded in his diary, “Meeting with Madame la Dauphine.”10
Just two days after meeting him for the first time, Marie Antoinette married the future King Louis XVI of France in person.
On 16 May 1770, the ceremony took place at the Royal Chapel at the Palace of Versailles. Marie Antoinette arrived at Versailles from La Muette at 9.30 in the morning, not yet dressed in her wedding dress. She was taken to the ground-floor apartments that had belonged to her late mother-in-law to prepare for the wedding. She briefly met her husband’s young sisters, nine-year-old Clothilde and six-year-old Elisabeth. She also met his two brothers, the Counts of Artois and Provence, who were 12 and 14, respectively.
She was then presented with the jewels entitled to her as Dauphine of France. As there was no Queen, she also received a collar of pearls which had been bequeathed to the Queens of France by Anne of Austria, Queen of King Louis XIII of France. Anne was not only her husband’s ancestress but also her own.
Marie Antoinette was dressed in a “diamond-studded cloth-of-silver wedding gown”, which had an embarrassing gap at the back through which her underwear could be seen.11 Her “bearing of an archduchess” was commended during the long mass.12 By contrast, her new husband was considered to be sulking, and he trembled as he placed the wedding ring on her finger.13
The following celebrations were felt to be part of the “finest royal wedding anyone had ever seen.”14 After the wedding ceremony, a ballet and an opera were performed at the brand-new theatre. This was followed by a state dinner with a gold service.15
The ritual bedding ceremony was still to come. The Archbishop of Rheims blessed the nuptial bed, and King Louis XV handed his grandson his nightgown. Marie Antoinette received hers from the Duchess of Chartres. They were then formally put to bed before everyone with the Rights of Entry bowed or curtseyed and departed. And then… nothing happened. The marriage would remain famously unconsummated for many years to come.
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.60-61
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.61
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.62
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.63
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.64
- Marie Antoinette by Evelyne Lever p.19
- Marie Antoinette by Evelyne Lever p.19-20
- In the Shadow of the Empress by Nancy Goldstone p.246
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.64
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.66
- In the Shadows of the Empress by Nancy Goldstone p.253-254
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.82
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.83
- Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser p.83
- In the Shadows of the Empress by Nancy Goldstone p.254
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