A carnival of enthronement and abuse of kingship
1774, 10 In May, Louis XV died of smallpox, Louis XVI ascended the throne, and Marie Antoinette became the queen.
At this time, Marie Antoinette, who is just 19 years old, has too heavy responsibilities and pressures to face. To deal with the aristocratic ladies older than her, to know how to survive in the luxurious place of Versailles, to adapt to the intrigue between Austria and France, to correctly use the queen's rights, to know what to do and what not to do ... This is really a major test for her frankness and enthusiasm.
Of course, none of this is a problem for the young queen. She is straightforward by nature and doesn't bother to think about it at all. She doesn't want to give a good face to someone she doesn't like, even if the other person is more noble (for example, Louis XV's mistress, Madame Dubali, who has been in power for a while, is said to have had enough of Mary's indifference and contempt). She doesn't even ask or care about the intrigue between politicians. Doing what she shouldn't do has always been her hobby, and breaking the royal rules makes her enjoy it.
As for the queen's rights, she used them to satisfy her extravagant desires. Numerous expensive gems and fashions gathered in her palace, and the luxurious fashion atmosphere swept through the aristocratic life circle of France under her leadership. The Rococo artistic style advocated by Madame de Pompadour was also popular with the strong support of Queen Mary (for example, refer to the picture, this exaggerated satin skirt fully embodies the Rococo-style clothing art at that time and Mary's own luxury). She is happiest when she invites the nobles who hit it off with her to participate in all-night gambling, carnival and dancing.
Whenever there is any whimsical new idea, she acts like a child, crying and making trouble, forcing her husband to realize it for her. And it often works. The cowardly and soft Louis XVI could not rule this charming little queen at all. She turned a deaf ear to his advice and gently reminded her not to go too far. Moreover, he is not the kind of person who can show the majesty of the king and criticize each other with one expression.
As a result, amazing money was spent on her pleasure again and again. One of the most expensive projects may be the reconstruction of Little Trianon Palace, which was a gift from Louis XVI to the Queen, and the Queen made it more interesting with endless creativity. Later, according to statistics, the money spent on this palace is about 766 thousand francs! In France at that time, this was absolutely an amazing number.
While indulging in extravagance, she alienated those who really helped her, but got close to those young people who were keen on pleasure, and constantly used the power of the Queen to seek illegitimate interests for them. One of them, Mrs. pauline, benefited her family and even distant relatives and friends by tricking the Queen. The French Ministry of Finance spends as much as 500,000 yuan a year for the Paulina family!
Of course, among these people, there are also "real friends" who appreciate Mary's personality and are willing to associate with her. For example, the gentle and sentimental Mrs. Lambard, after the outbreak of the French Revolution, Mary was imprisoned as a prisoner. Regardless of her own safety, Mrs. Lambard stood firmly on Mary's side and tried to help her, so that she died suddenly.
Another person who played an important role in Marie Antoinette's life was Asid Fei Sen, a Swedish aristocrat. It is said that they met at a masquerade party when Mary 16 years old. At that time, Mary was still the crown prince. According to the regulations, she is not allowed to go out casually, but she happened to be there. Filson is handsome, humorous, witty and charming. At the same time, he is a political genius and can lead troops to fight. Filson, who is versatile and has leadership ability, deeply fascinated Mary and led her to have a relationship with him.
Marie Antoinette's extravagant and frivolous style gradually spread, which triggered the famous "necklace incident" in history. Although it was later proved that Queen Mary was innocent in the necklace incident, her reputation declined. At this time, an anti-royal atmosphere is brewing among the French people. Mary became the target of public criticism because she rashly ordered the "execution of the bishop".
Necklace incident: the epitome of Mary in others' hearts
This incident should have broken out around August 1785, when Marie Antoinette was 29 years old. The jeweler got an expensive ruby necklace from the supplier, which was clumsy and ugly. Hugo described it as worn only around the horse's neck (another said it was a diamond necklace with a very unique and exquisite design in Gu Zhuo). It is extremely expensive, inlaid with more than 3000 rubies of different sizes. The jeweler tried to sell it to the Queen of Spain and some other nobles, but all failed. He heard that Marie Antoinette was a luxurious woman, so he thought that she might be willing to pay for the necklace, and even offered her a sky-high price of 6,543.8+0.6 million francs. But Marie Antoinette was no fool. He knew it was not worth it, so he sent someone to drive him away.
At this time, I have to mention a key person: Jenny de Varol. She is a former British princess. Because her ancestors failed in the battle for the throne, she was demoted to a civilian and lived a miserable life. With the help of a marquise who was very sympathetic to her, she was trained and brought into the upper social circle. However, the princess has long lost her royal dignity. She often uses various means to defraud all kinds of people of their money, but she is really smart, and most of the deceived people don't know it.
Jenny's husband is De Ramo, the head of the King's Guard. With Jeanne's efforts, De Moura won the title of Earl and Jeanne became the Countess. With a decent identity, Jenny began to show off her hands and feet in society. I don't know whether it is because of her own boasting or misunderstanding, she is gradually regarded as "Queen Marie Antoinette's best friend" by social circles-although it is not the case.
Later, this rumor reached the ears of Cardinal Teresa. Rouen is the French ambassador to Austria. Because he insisted on wrong opinions in the Austrian court, he offended Mother Teresa and was sent back to France. At the same time, Teresa wrote to her daughter, asking her to use the queen's privilege to persuade her husband Louis XVI not to promote him. Ron's political future in France was ruined. He felt remorse and wanted to ask Queen Marie Antoinette to spare his life. But Marie Antoinette listened to his mother, not only refused to face to face, but even gave Ron a bad look for fifteen years in a row.
When the cardinal heard of Jeanne's special status, he immediately believed it and asked Jeanne to put in a good word for him in front of the queen. Joan lied to him that the queen wanted him to apologize to her in the form of a written report, so he wrote it. The queen's answer began with a cold apology, and then her tone finally softened several times. The cardinal was very happy. He kept in touch with the Queen by letter for three years, and constantly provided money to "good-hearted" Jenny to express his gratitude.
During these three years, Jenny didn't idle away her time. She seduced Leto, the cardinal's confidant and former dragoon captain, and made him an insider. Later, in order to save time, Jenny asked Leto to pretend to be the queen and write back to the cardinal. Such a long-term scam will inevitably go wrong, and the cardinal began to doubt it, because although the queen was very kind in her letter, she was still cold to him in public. He asked Jeanne anxiously, and Jeanne lied to him that the queen could not show her true attitude in front of her former enemies for political reasons. The cardinal begged her to let the queen see him to prove that she was not lying.
Jenny decided to find someone to act in a play. She tricked/Kloc-Miss Eleanor, a prostitute of 0/5 years old, into wearing a headscarf and veil, wearing clothes copied from the portrait of the Queen and pretending to be the Queen. Accompanied by Leto pretending to be a servant, he met the cardinal on a dark night and gave him a letter and a rose. Jenny also taught her to say a line, showing the queen's anger and arrogance. "Now you should know."
Miss Eleanor found it interesting to fool an adult and be a high official, so she readily agreed. But when improvising, she was really nervous. Trembling, she gave something to the bishop. She stammered in fear, "Let's forget the past."
At this moment, Count Deramaux took the Countess of Joan onto the stage in time, kissed the hand of the "Queen", and then the four of them walked off the stage. This move is not only to save the scene and prevent leaks, but also to show that the Queen is really close to herself. Objectively speaking, the performance was really a failure, but the cardinal believed it and did not express any doubts for a long time. Although he was always surprised that Leto's handwriting on official documents was similar to the reply of the queen he kissed many times, he almost recognized Leto as an attendant pretending to be the "queen" that day.
What happened next went well. Joan lied to the cardinal that the queen wanted to buy a necklace of 1.6 million francs, but the king refused. She wants to buy it with her own money, but she is short of money and afraid of being blamed by the king. Therefore, the Queen hopes that the Cardinal will act as a middleman and conclude an installment agreement.
The cardinal finally found the opportunity to be loyal to the queen, and of course he wouldn't let it go. The jeweler, Jenny and the cardinal met and reached an agreement that 6,543.8+6,000 francs would be paid in four installments. The necklace was taken to the Queen by Joan of Arc-of course, the result was that it went directly into Joan's own pocket, and then it was dismantled and sold on the black market of jewelry.
The first payment date of this necklace is 1785 August 1. At that time, the cardinal failed to raise this huge sum in time because of his luxurious life and heavy debts. Jewelers who can't get the money go directly to Queen Marie Antoinette to complain. As a result, it is conceivable that the queen was furious and this shocking scam was uncovered.
It is said that Louis XVI originally wanted to hide this matter and deal with it privately. But the queen refused, and her resentment against the bishop blinded her, thinking that the bishop was the culprit, in order to frame her with this scam. She used the privilege of the Queen to persuade Louis XVI to order the bishop to be brutally arrested and sent to the Supreme Court for public trial, and constantly urged the court to execute the bishop.
3 1, 65438, in may, 786, the bishop was acquitted, but he was also dismissed and exiled. Jenny, a female liar, was flogged, branded and imprisoned for life. But then she miraculously escaped from prison and went to England, and wrote a memoir. It's not hard to imagine how she denigrated the Queen in her book.
To be fair, the queen is a complete victim in this matter, and she knows nothing about it. However, we also have to say that Marie Antoinette, as the queen, did have some indiscretions. If everyone knows that she is extravagant and consumes the national treasury, who will believe that a country will buy jewelry by installment? How could the Bishop believe that if she was not frivolous and did not observe royal etiquette, she could receive him secretly that night?
From this perspective, Marie Antoinette is not completely innocent.
It can be said that the success of the necklace incident is because Marie Antoinette has become the spokesman of "luxury", "luxury" and "absurdity" in people's minds.
The death penalty: the national flower falls.
During the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette's fate took a tragic turn. In this irresistible wave of anti-royalty, the king and queen became the primary targets of the attack-especially the queen. A gentle and kind king is not so harmful to the people, but a profligate queen is unbearable. According to statistics, during the twelve years of Louis XVI's reign, France's debt was as high as1250 million! The king himself is diligent and thrifty, and the answer is self-evident. At that time, people described her as an evil witch and a shameless prostitute, and people's anger was almost entirely concentrated on her. On the other hand, Louis XVI was described as a kind and loving monarch, but she was very tired (although it was true).
On July 1789, 1 1 day, the French Revolution officially began. Subsequently, on 14, the Bastille was captured. Louis XVI understood the significance of revolution, but he couldn't handle it. Queen Mary, on the other hand, decided that "revolution is rebellion" and resolutely refused to bow to revolutionaries. When the whole French aristocracy fled in succession, and even some people voluntarily gave up their aristocratic status to join the revolutionary ranks, Marie Antoinette still defended the throne with his meager strength. This woman who only knew pleasure at first finally broke out with amazing willpower. As the French politician Mirabeau said, "She was the only man in Versailles at that time".
However, even if the queen is so strong, on the one hand, the nobles do not cooperate, on the other hand, the revolutionary wave is irresistible, and the king and his wife will still be defeated. 1789, 10 year 10 5 October, Versailles was captured by women (and men dressed as women) revolutionaries. On the 6th, Louis XVI, the queen, the prince and the princess were taken to Paris and lived in the Tuileries Palace.
Here, all the actions of the king's family are monitored to prevent them from escaping at any time, and all communication and information transmission are strictly monitored. But Antoinette never gave up. She used all her intelligence to contact with the outside world and ask for help from foreign countries and exiled nobles. It's a pity that everyone wants to be independent and even want to profit from it. No one really cares about their lives.
Only loyal Fei Sen stood up bravely at this moment. He designed a precise escape plan for Antoinette, but ultimately failed because of the king's lack of contingency knowledge and other accidental factors. They were found in the border city of Wallen and escorted back to Paris.
After returning to Paris, Louis XVI accepted the constitution formulated by the revolutionary masses and established the National Assembly. Marie Antoinette agreed on the surface, but still refused to give in at heart. She supported the king's refusal to hold a three-level meeting, which only made the public's anger higher.
1792, Flantz, nephew of Austrian emperor Antoinette, ascended the throne. In the same year, Austria and France formally declared war.
The war gave Marie Antoinette new hope. She constantly used domestic advantages to transmit information to the Austrian military with various passwords. There is no doubt that she expects her nephew's army to enter Paris, rescue his aunt and help them regain the prestige of the royal family.
Although Mary destroyed all the letters and hid all the actions very well, the story was finally revealed. In addition, at that time, the commander-in-chief of the Puo-Austrian Coalition forces, Brunswick, issued a declaration asking the French revolutionary masses to respect the royal family, in which his words were fierce and his attitude was arrogant, which greatly angered the revolutionaries. In August 1792, 10, angry Parisians poured into Tuileries Palace and threatened to kill the king's family. The frightened king and queen had no choice but to take the prince and princess to the National Assembly for protection.
After1August 792 13, the king's family was moved to Fort Dimpley and lived as a prisoner. On September 2 1, the Legislative Assembly announced the abolition of the monarchy. The next day, the first Republic of France was founded. The kingship that Antoinette tried to maintain finally disappeared. The death penalty of Louis XVI
With the progress of the revolution, a large number of documents hidden in Tuileries Palace were discovered. These documents colluded with foreign enemies and plotted to suppress the revolution. Louis XVI was sentenced to death by the National Association for treason. 1793 65438+1October 20th, the last time he saw Marie Antoinette, he was sent to the guillotine the next day (see figure, the guillotine used in France at that time was this kind of gironde guillotine. Extremely efficient). Antoinette became a widow. Legend has it that she still refused to give up and ran away several times, all of which ended in failure.
12 June 12, Mary was taken to the trial bench. She was accused of many charges, some of which were absurd, such as having an incestuous relationship with her son Louis XVII of France. This trial lasted several days, and by 15, Mary was formally sentenced to death.
179365438+1October 16 At about 1 1 point, Marie Antoinette was publicly executed in the Revolution Square (that is, Concorde Square) and then hastily buried. It can be said that until her final death, she never really bowed her head and always maintained the dignity of the queen.