5 Things You Might Not Know About Marie Antoinette
On the anniversary of her death, we look at the oft misunderstood queen.
Marie Antoinette is famous for her decadence. Or her supposed decadence, anyway.
By the time she was executed at the guillotine on October 16, 1793 (nine months after her husband, King Louis XVI, was killed the same way), she had been disparaged as a frivolous, selfish, and immoral woman whose lavish lifestyle had increased economic inequality.
To be clear, Marine Antoinette was no saint. She believed that the French Bourbon monarchy had been ordained by God, and so she didn’t accept the idea that royals like her were equal to their subjects. She also wore flour on her wigs while many French people went without bread.
Yet not all of the criticisms of the queen were warranted, or even true. And in some
