Marie Antoinette: The Journey

At the Tuileries Palace, the royal family was guarded by the National Guard instead of their personal bodyguards. The palace was in a state of neglect and disrepair. However, the family was allowed to send for personal items and furniture from Versailles. Count Fersen moved to Paris to support the queen. Over time, life at the Tuileries “approached a kind of weird normality” (304). The new dauphin, Louis Charles, came to love life at the Tuileries Palace because he saw his parents more frequently.

Louis XVI continued to negotiate with the Revolutionaries. He sought a compromise: a constitutional monarchy like that of the United Kingdom, in which the National Assembly and the king would share power. The royal family began to plan an escape. Count Fersen was a prominent proponent of the plan. Marie Antoinette was adamant that she would not leave unless they could all escape together.

On February 20, 1790, Marie Antoinette’s brother, Emperor Joseph II, died. His successor was Leopold II, with whom she did not have a close relationship. Austria was now reluctant to intervene to rescue Marie Antoinette.