Marie Antoinette and the Decline of French Monarchy

Book excerpt: Of all the daughters of the formidable Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Archduchess Maria Antonia was the least prepared to become queen of France. Sweet and kind, she did not like school and showed no interest in politics. Nevertheless, at age fourteen she was sent to the opulent palace at Versailles, outside Paris, to marry the future King Louis XVI. Marie Antoinette's new husband, intelligent but shy and indecisive, was not a strong king. His days were filled with hunting, and hers with games and socializing. Neither seemed aware of the tension building in France because of high taxes, scarce food, and political injustice. The queen's spending habits and foreign birth caused the people of France to turn their anger on her. When the French Revolution erupted in 1789, Louis was unable to maintain control. He was arrested, imprisoned, then beheaded; Marie Antoinette followed him to the guillotine nine months later. Marie Antoinette and the Decline of French Monarchy brings to life the tragic story of the lovely but naive queen who paid with her life for the mistakes of the entire ruling class Book jacket.