the year of Marie Antoinette

Read part seven here. King Charles X had begun making decisions, which even worried Marie Thérèse. Soon, the situation spiralled out of control. Crowds of angry men and women refused to work, and police fired into the crowd, costing several lives. This turned into a full-out insurrection at the end of July 1830. King Charles [read more]

Read part six here. Despite her deep unhappiness, Marie Thérèse continued to present herself as the perfect princess. To ease her suffering, her husband took her on a month-long tour of central France, where they were well-received all around. She later wrote to her uncle, “I have concluded that the Bourbons really are affirmed on [read more]

Read part five here. Marie Thérèse still longed for one thing: a child. There were rumours that her husband was homosexual or that he had some kind of medical condition. Another rumour mentioned that Marie Thérèse had possibly been given a poison while in the Temple, which made her sterile.  She was also deeply troubled [read more]

Read part four here. Every morning, Marie Thérèse swept her cell and quietly ate her breakfast. She read the books she had over and over again and spoke very little. She wrote, “My greatest unhappiness was that I could not obtain from them any news of my mother and aunt; I dared not ask about [read more]

Read part three here. Marie Thérèse’s father was executed the following day without seeing his family again to spare them the agony. “Shouts of joy” reached the ears of Marie Antoinette and Madame Elisabeth, the latter of whom exclaimed, “The monsters! They are satisfied now!” Marie Antoinette was unable to speak, but she, Elisabeth and [read more]

Read part two here. Marie Thérèse was deeply affected by the scene at the Tuileries, and the situation only became worse. In the following weeks, the quality of their life at the Tuileries went down considerably. The family no longer walked in the gardens as the insults were so terrible. Calls for the end of [read more]