Marie Antoinette: The Journey

The Austrian court was relatively informal except on special occasions like holidays. Marie Antoinette was raised in a number of palaces and stately homes; her favorite was the rural Schönbrunn, which had extensive gardens and places for her to play. It is thought that the Petit Trianon—the small palace Marie Antoinette had built at the French court of Versailles— was inspired by her childhood memories of Schönbrunn.

From an early age, music was an important part of Marie Antoinette’s life. She loved to sing and dance ballet. Marie Antoinette was 15 years younger than her eldest brother, Archduke Joseph; they were distant. She was close with her sister Charlotte, who was only three years older, and clashed with her intelligent, domineering older sister Marie Christine. Fraser argues that this later resulted in Marie avoiding “the company of intellectual, brilliantly self-possessed older women […] who by tradition dominated French society” (23).

Maria Theresa sent her daughters contradictory messages about proper female behavior: Maria Theresa was a strong, dominating leader, but she exhorted Marie Antoinette to be obedient. Marie Antoinette was frightened of her mother and sought to please her.

On August 18, 1765, Marie Antoinette’s father died. Her brother Joseph became emperor.

Maria Theresa attempted to arrange marriages for all of her daughters to fortify the family’s wealth and power. However, in 1767, after a smallpox outbreak, Marie Christine and Josepha died; Elizabeth developed lasting facial difference, making her a less desirable match. Charlotte was married to Don Ferdinand of Parma. By the end of that year, 12-year-old Marie Antoinette was being considered for marriage to Dauphin Louis Auguste, the heir to the French throne.

Marie Antoinette was pretty and graceful despite having one shoulder higher than the other. However, her education had been neglected; she struggled to read and write. Her tutor, Countess Brandeis, was sent away and a more strict educator was brought in to try and rectify the situation.

Louis Auguste, the grandson King Louis XV, became the dauphin in 1761, when his older brother died. Despite being intelligent and well-read, and loving to hunt, he was considered ill-equipped to be the future king because he was heavyset, clumsy, and insecure.

King Louis XV’s minister Choiseul encouraged the marriage and the alliance it would cement. French Ambassador Marquis de Durfort went to Vienna to finalize the engagement in 1769.

In August 1769, Marie Antoinette and her mother made a Christian pilgrimage to Mariazell, Syria, to symbolize their connection to one another and to the Virgin Mary, although Marie Antoinette was not particularly religious.

In 1770, Marie Antoinette got her first period, referred to by her family as the “Générale Krottendorf.” Maria Theresa tracked her daughter’s periods, as Marie Antoinette’s most important role would be to produce heirs for the Bourbon line. Marie Antoinette was also expected to be an ambassador for Austria in the French court.

As Marie Antoinette prepared to leave home, her mother wrote her instructions on how to act, whom to write to, and what to read. In April 1770, a proxy wedding was held to formally transfer onto Marie Antoinette her new title, dauphine. After an enormous feast, on April 21, 1770, Marie Antoinette’s cortège set off from Vienna to Versailles.