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I was born many, many years ago on November 2, 1755 the youngest daughter of Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen, Empress and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. The names I was given were Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna. I was the youngest of eight Habsburg princesses. As my mother, the Queen would say of all of us princesses,"They are born to obey and must learn to do so in good time" and so it was...that at the young age of 14, my mother, Queen Maria Theresa put me on a coach to send me to France to marry the Dauphin, Louis Auguste. I shall never forget how my mother hugged me again and again and her final words to me were, "Farewell, my dearest child, a great distance will separate us...Do so much good to the French people that they can say that I have sent them an angel." She then broke down and wept and I too could not control my sobs as I craned my neck out the window...trying to catch the last glimpses of my childhood home. Many things have wrongly been attributed to me over the years...but those who knew me knew that I was a sensitive, loving and compassionate woman. It was not easy leaving my home, going to a different country, but I tried my best to live up to the words my Mother last spoke to me. The first seven years were hard. Everyone expected me to produce a child, but it took those seven years before my husband would consummate our marriage. This was most distressing to me. I felt that I was letting my Mother down and the people of France as month after month in those first years, my mother would enquire of me if I was with child. I eventually had four children, but lost two of my beloved children. This was most heartbreaking to both Louis and I and we suffered as any parent would with the loss of two of our sweet children. I hope that those who have a great interest in history will search out the many good books that have been written about me. I was not the selfish, haughty woman that many have portrayed me as. May you all start your journey into the annals of history to search out the true story of my life and the circumstances surrounding my death. History is important...in that we learn lessons that keep us from repeating the same mistakes as our ancestors. May you learn something from my history...is my prayer. My husband, King Louis Auguste XVI. He does look most handsome in this picture.La Révolution Française - Procès du Roi The following comes from the journal of Axel von Fersen and his own letter from the archbishop following the death of my husband Louis XVI. Journal, January 21, 1793 On the 14th, sentence on the King was postponed to the 15th. The mood of the people is not is his favour. They put three questions: he is criminal, what punishment does he deserve, should the people themselves confirm the death sentence? The debates were prolonged.The Archbishop of Tours to Fersen, January 27, 1793 The date of Louis XVI Gullotine Escorted by four hundred cavalry and twelve hundred lights infantrymen, the King left the Temple at 9.30 in the morning of the 21st. In complete silence he was taken along the Boulevards du Temple, de Saint-Martin and de Saint-Honore to the scaffold which had been erected on the former Place Luis XV, now known as the Place de la Revolution--between the point where the statue used to stand and the beginning of the Champs-Elysees. In the carriage to the right of the King sat his Father Confessor, an Irish priest; in front sat two officers of the Gendarmerie. Upon arrival at the foot of the scaffold he allowed his hands to be tied with the greatest composure and climbed up courageously. He wanted to address the people but his voice was drowned by the drums. However, those standing near the scaffold heard him say the following words in a firm voice:"I forgive my enemies and I wish that my death will be to France's benefit." At 10:45 he breathed his last sigh; his severed head was shown to the people. At that moment, there were cries:"Vive la nation! Vive la republique francaise!" Some of the volunteers dipped their pikes into his blood, others their handkerchiefs. His body and head were taken to the Madeleine and buried there. The Archbishop of Tours has the honour, complying with the wishes of the Comte de Fersen, to inform him of the sad and terrible details of the cruel crime; it would dishonour the name of France for ever if it were not condemned by a large number of those who are still worthy of bearing this name. The letters from Paris maintain absolute silence about the Royal family. "Count Axel von Ferson, the dearest of friends. He did more for us than any other, and tried to help us escape from those who would harm us. I should like for him to ever be remembered down through history as my hero. I shall always cherish his memory and hold it close to my heart." Antoinette's DeathFersen to Sophie Countess Piper. Sophie is Fersen's sister whom he loved and shared all his feelings with "Pity me! Pity me! Only you can understand how I feel now. I have lost all I possessed. Now you are the only one I have. Do not forsake me! She who was my happiness and for whom I lived--yes, my dear Sophie, I never ceased loving her and I would have sacrificed everything for her. I feel it at this moment. She, whom I loved and for whom I would have gladly given a thousand lives, is no more! Dear God, why do you place such a burden upon me, what have I done to deserve your wrath? She is no longer among the living. My pain is indescribable! I do not know how I shall be able to live and bear my agony. Nothing will ever allay it. Her image will always be before me and within me. Her memory and what she meant to me will make me mourn her forever. Everything is over for me. Why was I not allowed to die by her side, to spill my blood for her--for both of them?"Journal, October 22nd, 1793 "The whole day passed in silence, without a word being spoken. All I was able to do was to think and to think; I made a thousand plans. If my health permitted it, I would join the war to revenge her or die. Oh, I felt so desperately unhappy and was unable to think of anything else. I swear eternal vengeance against her murderers, a vengeance that will never cease." Count Axel von Fersen loved Queen Marie Antoinette deeply and each year, the 16th of October-the date of her death..he mourned for his lost love till his own death, 17 years later. No one ever took her place in his heart.Young Count Axel Fersen The cell where I was incarcerated for months. I could think of nothing but my dear children.Marie Antoinette's last letter was to her sister-in-law Madame Elisabeth. The letter was written in Temple Prison, where she was kept before gullotine, on October 16, 1793 at 4:30am. Marie Antoinette wished Madame Elisabeth would pass the message to Fersen The last letter had never reached its destination. It was handed to the Public Prosecutor. He retained it. 16th October, 4.30 A.M.It is to you, my sister, that I write for the last time. I have just been condemned, not to a shameful death, for such is only for criminals, but to go and rejoin your brother. Innocent like him, I hope to show the same firmness in my last moments. I am calm, as one is when one's conscience reproaches one with nothing. I feel profound sorrow in leaving my poor children: you know that I only lived for them and for you, my good and tender sister. You who out of love have sacrificed everything to be with us, in what a position do I leave you! I have learned from the proceedings at my trial that my daughter was separated from you. Alas! poor child; I do not venture to write to her; she would not receive my letter. I do not even know whether this will reach you. Do you receive my blessing for both of them. I hope that one day when they are older they may be able to rejoin you, and to enjoy to the full your tender care. Let them both think of the lesson which I have never ceased to impress upon them, that the principles and the exact performance of their duties are the chief foundation of life; and then mutual affection and confidence in one another will constitute its happiness. Let my daughter feel that at her age she ought always to aid her brother by the advice which her greater experience and her affection may inspire her to give him. And let my son in his turn render to his sister all the care and all the services which affection can inspire. Let them, in short, both feel that, in whatever positions they may be placed, they will never be truly happy but through their union. Let them follow our example. In our own misfortunes how much comfort has our affection for one another afforded us! And, in times of happiness, we have enjoyed that doubly from being able to share it with a friend; and where can one find friends more tender and more united than in one's own family? Let my son never forget the last words of his father, which I repeat emphatically; let him never seek to avenge our deaths. I have to speak to you of one thing which is very painful to my heart, I know how much pain the child must have caused you. Forgive him, my dear sister; think of his age, and how easy it is to make a child say whatever one wishes, especially when he does not understand it. It will come to pass one day, I hope, that he will better feel the value of your kindness and of your tender affection for both of them. It remains to confide to you my last thoughts. I should have wished to write them at the beginning of my trial; but, besides that they did not leave me any means of writing, events have passed so rapidly that I really have not had time.I die in the Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion, that of my fathers, that in which I was brought up, and which I have always professed. Having no spiritual consolation to look for, not even knowing whether there are still in this place any priests of that religion (and indeed the place where I am would expose them to too much danger if they were to enter it but once), I sincerely implore pardon of God for all the faults which I may have committed during my life. I trust that, in His goodness, He will mercifully accept my last prayers, as well as those which I have for a long time addressed to Him, to receive my soul into His mercy. I beg pardon of all whom I know, and especially of you, my sister, for all the vexations which, without intending it, I may have caused you. I pardon all my enemies the evils that they have done me. I bid farewell to my aunts and to all my brothers and sisters. I had friends. The idea of being forever separated from them and from all their troubles is one of the greatest sorrows that I suffer in dying. Let them at least know that to my latest moment I thought of them.Farewell, my good and tender sister. May this letter reach you. Think always of me; I embrace you with all my heart, as I do my poor dear children. My God, how heart-rending it is to leave them forever! Farewell! farewell! I must now occupy myself with my spiritual duties, as I am not free in my actions. Perhaps they will bring me a priest; but I here protest that I will not say a word to him, but that I will treat him as a total stranger. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette with their Children at Versailles October 6, 1789 by Gyula Benczur The Storming of the Tuileries On the morning of 14th July 1789 a huge crowd gathered on the parade ground of Les Invalides..... undeterred by the presence of 5000 of the Kings troops. The orderly crowd soon became a mob ..... swarmed into the armoury ...........and seized 30,000 muskets.. Thus the mob were quickly supplied with arms, but...alas.... they had no gunpowder ! There were rumors that 250 barrels of gunpowder were just sitting in the Bastille ...that ancient ediface across the river Seine.. In no time at all the mob gathered outside the Bastille demanding gunpowder and shot for their muskets. The Governor..De Launey refused to hand over any munitions without prior authorization from the King, At this impasse the mob turned angry. A group of men managed to climb the huge gates of the Bastille and cut the ropes on the outer drawbridge.. The drawbridge duly fell and the crowd surged into the inner courtyard. Alarmed at this developement De Launey gave orders to open fire with the result that 83 of the mob were killed. However there were renegade soldiers amongst the seething crowd who rolled two heavy canon into position to fire at the inner drawbridge.. Faced with this serious situation and further loss of life .... De Launey capitulated to the mob and lowered the drawbridge allowing them to enter the Bastille.. The Govenor was badly beaten by the insurgents and then paraded through the streets to the Hotel de Ville...(the People's HQ. ) where he was hacked to death and decapitated. Despite all the lurid pamphlets about the Bastille and the suffering of its prisoners only 7 prisoners were found inside. These seven petty criminals were being kept in a humane way in relatively comfortable conditions...they were even allowed alcohol.. Two days after the storming of the Bastille the people began to tear it down, stone by stone. By the end of 1789 the ancient structure had been flattened and a statue of the" Goddess of Nature " erected on the site.MONUMENT TO THE SWISS GUARD The Swiss have a long tradition of supplying mercenaries to foreign governments. Because the Swiss have been politically neutral for centuries and have long enjoyed a reputation for honoring their agreements, a pope or emperor could be confident that his Swiss Guards wouldn't turn on him when the political winds shifted direction.The Swiss Guards' honor was put to the test in 1792, when--after trying to escape the French Revolution--King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and their children were hauled back to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. A mob of working-class Parisians stormed the palace in search of aristocratic blood. More than 700 Swiss officers and soldiers died while defending the palace, without knowing that their royal employers--like Elvis--had left the building.In the early 1800s, the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen was hired to sculpt a monument to the fallen Swiss Guards. The sculpture was carved in a sandstone cliff above the city center, near Lucerne's Glacier Garden and the Panorama, and it has attracted countless visitors since its dedication in 1821. Marie Antoinette is depicted in the year of her marriage at the age of 15. As wife of the French dauphin the later queen carried the traditional title dauphine. This marble bust was commissioned by Marie Antoinette’s father-in-law King Louis XV as a present to her mother Empress Maria Theresa. Lemoyne, Court sculptor to the King, worked at the bust for over a year before he was able to present it in Versailles on September 15th, 1771. Louis XV and the art critics of the day celebrated the bust as the most important work of the aged artist. The graceful, elegant fluidity of the lines and the vivid physical likeness achieved inspite of intended idealisation make this sculpture a perfect example of the aristocratic taste of that period.Archduchess Marie Antoinette, Dauphine de France Jean Baptiste Lemoyne II (Paris 1704 -1778 Paris) Paris, 1771 Marble; H 76.5 cm KK Inv. No. 5478 The Palais de justice where the trials were held. Clip from the movie "Jefferson in Paris" with french actress Charlotte de Turckeim playing Marie Antoinette.