Marie Antoinette of
Habsbourg-Lorraine was born on 2nd, November 1755 to
Austrian Empress Maria-Theresa and her husband, Consort Emperor
Francis I of Lorraine. She's the little sister of many big brothers and
sisters (more than 10) already: indeed, the marriage between her parents was a
marriage of love, and Empress Maria-Theresa saw her generous offspring
as incredible political tools. Why so? Because it is a way to furnish
many potential wives to other European crowns and assure her power and strength outside her own empire. That way, her children
assured the extension of her influence.
(Marie Antoinette is the smallest one, in the craddle)
However, this “hunger”
for control and power will lead the poor Marie Antoinette-future
French queen- to an inexorable tragic destiny.
Since her birth, the
little archduchess with big blue eyes (“à fleur de tête”) had seemed to be overshadowed by pessimistic signs.
2nd,
November: two days after All Souls' Day.
The day before her
birth: a terrible earthquake ravaged Lisbon, capitol of Portugal, and
its queen and king became Marie Antoinette's godmother and godfather.
What's more, her
education was highly neglected, throughout her childhood and even a
few years before her marriage to Dauphin Louis-Auguste! At 12
years-old, MA could barely read and write!
This neglect can be seen,
today, as one of Marie Antoinette's downfall causes (I'll be back
about it later). She never learnt to concentrate, neither making an
effort.
Her mother grew
superstitious some time before her last daughter go to France. Some
medium/fortune-teller or religious man (can't really remember) said:
“there's a cross for everybody” when the Empress asked him about
her daughter's future in France.
(Marie Antoinette as a baby. Her features are already quite noticeable: big blue eyes, strong nose)
Nevertheless, when the
healthy baby girl was born, all those dark thoughts were not hovering
over the family yet. Indeed, the people respected Marie-Theresa, her
relationship was to her husband excellent (even though he often
cheated on her) and her numerous children assured her power.
Similarly to her most of her siblings, Marie-Antoinette would serve a political goal, in order to maintain her mother's (and Austria's) influence.
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