Marie Antoinette

by Antonia Fraser

  Louis XVIII, King of the French see Provence, Louis Xavier, Comte de

  Louis Auguste, Dauphin see Louis XVI, King of France

  Louis Charles (MA/Louis XVI’s son; Duc de Normandie; then Dauphin, later King Louis XVII): born; childhood; in group portrait; robust health; becomes Dauphin on death of brother; in line of succession; MA describes; Madame de Tourzel appointed governess to; in mob attack on Versailles; life in Tuileries; National Guard give dominoes from stone of Bastille; escape plans for; proposed education for; proposed Regent for; in escape attempt; nightmares; wins popular approval on return to Paris; and mob invasion of Tuileries; threats to remove from parents; leaves Tuileries for Assembly; detention in the Temple; given lessons in Temple; barred from seeing father; in father’s last will and testament; sees father before execution; reserved recognition as Louis XVII; sings lament; injures testicle; separated from MA in prison; MA interrogated about; retained as hostage; supposed sexual abuse by mother; invoked in MA’s interrogation; in MA’s final letter to Madame Elisabeth; death; posthumous claimants as “false Dauphins,”

  Louis Ferdinand, Dauphin of France (Louis XVI’s father): anti-Austrian feelings; death; wedding to Maria Josepha; and bread shortage

  Louis Joseph Xavier François, Dauphin of France (MA/Louis XVI’s son): birth and baptism; paternity questioned; delicate health,; appearance; inoculation against smallpox; childhood; in group portrait; at Meudon; death and obsequies; precocity and sweetness of character

  Louis Philippe, King of the French see Chartres, Louis Philippe, Duc de

  Louis, Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt

  Louis Xavier (Louis XVI’s brother) see Provence, Comte de

  Louise, Madame (Louis XV’s daughter) see Thérèse Augustine, Sister

  Louise, Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt: friendship with MA; and MA’s 1785 pregnancy; and death of sister Charlotte; MA descibes children to

  Luckner, General

  Ludwig, King of Bavaria

  Lully, Jean Baptiste

  Lyell, Catherine

  Mackau, Madame de

  Magnin, Charles, Abbé

  Mailhe, Jean Baptiste

  Maillé, Vicomte de

  Mailly, Louise Julie, Comtesse de

  Malden, Saint-Jean de

  Malesherbes, Chrétien de,

  Manchester, George Montagu, 4th Duke, and Duchess of

  Mandat, Marquis de

  Mannlich, Johann Christian von

  Manuel, Pierre

  Marat, Jean Paul

  Marchand (of Temple kitchen)

  Marchand, Sieur

  Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples (MA’s sister; “Charlotte”): marriage prospects; place in family; character; relations with MA; at brother Joseph’s wedding; marriage to Ferdinand of Naples; mother’s advice to on marriage; distressed on leaving Austria; marriage relations; pregnancies and children; official status; and Joseph’s love for MA; stands godmother to Louis Charles; and MA’s remaining with husband; on proposal to confine MA in convent; on MA’s separation from son; fears for MA’s life; reaction to MA’s death; on MA’s love of pleasure

  Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France (Louis XVI’s mother)

  Maria Lesczinska, Queen of Louis XV

  Maria Louisa (of Asturias), Princess

  Maria Louisa (of Parma), Princess (later Queen of Spain)

  Maria Teresa, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (MA’s mother): and birth of MA; children and motherhood; speaks French; marriage; succeeds father; accused of writing to Mme. de Pompadour; appearance; and ceremonial; and husband’s infidelities; improves Schönbrunn; entertains Mozart; insists on female obedience; dominance and strength of mind; favours Marie Christine; MA’s relations with; and husband’s death; preoccupation with children’s marriages; near-death from smallpox; on MA’s character; and MA’s educational deficiencies; cultivates Durfort for dynastic marriage with France; requests Louis XV’s indulgence for MA; takes communion with MA on separation; anxiety over MA’s religious state; instructions to MA on marriage; addresses Louis XV; instructs daughters in sex matters; gives up wearing rouge; dispute and Comtesse de Brionne; interest in MA’s menstrual cycles; Mercy d’Argenteau’s attachment to; correspondence with MA at Versailles; and MA’s marriage relations; and MA’s official visit to Paris; wrongly believed dying; reprimands MA for reference to husband; on MA’s “dissipation,”; and libelles against MA; and MA’s following fashions; and Joseph’s militarism over Bavaria; and MA’s pregnancy; and MA’s injury during childbirth; disapproves of MA’s breastfeeding; and Bavarian settlement; anxiety over MA’s producing a son; decline and death; banishes courtiers from presence at childbirth

  Marianna, Archduchess of Austria (Marie Teresa’s sister)

  Marianne, Archduchess of Austria (MA’s sister): stands as proxy godmother to MA; disablement; birth; and mother’s favouring Marie Christine; remains unmarried; on mother’s decline

  Mariazell, northern Styria

  Marie Adélaïde of Savoy (Louis XV’s mother)

  Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France: and “Let them eat cake” story; birth; baptism, ; ancestry and genealogy; marriage prospects; childhood and upbringing; meets Pitt and Wilberforce; appreciation of gardens; musical interests; appearance and character; bearing and carriage; dancing; called Antoine in youth; place in family; relations with mother; at brother Joseph’s wedding; and father’s death; and death of sister Josepha; educational deficiencies; learns and speaks French; hairstyle; portraits and drawings of; betrothal; religious piety and observance; bridal progress to Paris; commemorative medals for; dowry; trousseau; marriage contract; good relations with servants; love of children; enters puberty; nicknamed l’Autrichienne; mother’s instructions to on marriage; ceremonies and entertainments on departure to Paris; renounces hereditary rights to Austria and Lorraine; addresses Louis XV; proxy marriage to Ferdinand; departure from Austria; handed over at Strasbourg; first meeting with husband; Louis XV meets; relations with French “royal aunts,”; arrives at Versailles; wedding ceremony; presented with jewels; marriage relations; life at Versailles; correspondence with mother; compassion and humanitarianism; riding; coolness towards Mme. Du Barry; relations with Princesse de Lamballe; irregular menstrual cycle; early childlessness; relations with Josephine, Comtesse de Provence; and diplomatic problems over Poland; reading and libraries; pet dogs; growing political awareness and activism; first official visit to Paris; visits to opera and theatre; husband consummates marriage with; homesickness for Vienna; meets Fersen; supports Gluck; becomes queen; and husband’s rule; role and status as queen; Versailles apartments linked to husband’s by staircase; lacks interest in political intrigue; household; accused of lesbian practices; attitude to sex; popularity; and husband’s coronation; adopts village boy (Jacques); and birth of Artois’ son; gambling; attitude to admirers; mocking manner; attacked and slandered in libelles (pamphlets) and plays; watches dawn break; dress and fashions; extravagance and love of pleasure; gardening at Petit Trianon and Choisy; and brother Joseph’s visit; first pregnancy; and Bavarian crisis (1777–9); hair problems; and birth of daughter (Marie Thérèse); attempts breastfeeding; charitable acts; contracts measles; improved relations with husband after birth of daughter; stays at Petit Trianon; and daughter’s upbringing; introduces new manners at Versailles; amateur theatricals; social set (Société Particulier de la Reine); political indifference; birth of son (Louis Joseph); and mother’s death; entertains Grand Duke Paul; Joseph requests influence with husband in foreign affairs; and Princesse de Guéméné’s resignation; grants royal favours; pregnancy and miscarriage (1783); developing relations with Fersen; builds model village at Petit Trianon; accused of collecting pornography; on Duke of Dorset; acquires Saint Cloud; Fersen gives dog to; further pregnancy and birth of third child (Louis Charles); enthusiasm for interior decoration and furniture; limited travelling; taste in painting; and Diamond Necklace Affair; growing unpopularity; puts on weight; thirtieth birthday; 1785 pregnancy and birth
of Sophie; rumoured affair with Cardinal Rohan; effect of Rohan verdict on; health problems; scruple over influencing appointment of French ministers; and international affairs; accused of drunkenness and orgies; welcomes Brienne’s appointment; blamed for financial crisis; and death of daughter Sophie; and Necker’s return as Finance Controller; melancholy and pessimism; and Third Estate; on weakening Franco-Austrian alliance; at meeting of Estates General; and son Louis Joseph’s death; plea to King to stand firm; supports Lambesc; dislikes tricolour; proposed immurement in convent; remains at Versailles (1789); devotion to children in Revolution; maintains court routine; threatened by mob at Versailles; taken from Versailles to Paris; life in Tuileries; believes in compromise; insists on staying with husband; rejects Augeard’s plan to escape to Vienna; escape plans; resumes political role; and Mercy’s departure; praised by Burke; and flight of Mesdames Tantes; on attempted flight; denied Regency; hopes for help from Austria; takes Easter Communion; arrested at Varennes and returned to Paris; demonized on return to Paris; interrogated about flight; physical deterioration and ageing; and Louis XVI’s acceptance of new Constitution; view of new Constitution; pleads for armed congress against Revolutionary France; later escape plans; on French war with Austria; hostility to as “enemy alien”; threatened by mob in Tuileries; at commemoration of fall of Bastille; hopes of foreign rescue; leaves Tuileries for Assembly; detention in the Temple; learns of Allied military successes; horror at death of Princesse de Lamballe; jewellery; teaches daughter in Temple; separated from husband; in Louis XVI’s last will and testament; and husband’s execution; mourning; hopes for release in prisoner exchange; prospective fate considered; Robespierre demands trial of; ill-health in prison; Louis Charles separated from; transferred to and detained in Conciergerie; possessions sold; interrogated before Revolutionary Tribunal; fate decided by Committee of Public Safety; accused of sexual abuse of Louis Charles; rumoured final Communion; sentenced to death; executed; burial; effects distributed; exhumed and reburied (1815); memorial sculptures and paintings ghost seen; posthumous reputation; life assessed; supposed lovers; blamed for French Revolution; as scapegoat

  Marie Antonia, Electress of Bavaria

  Marie Christine, Archduchess (MA’s sister; “Mimi”): paintings; place in family; favoured by mother; qualities marriage to Albert; Canova monument to; suspected of tale-bearing on MA; and Bavarian crisis; and mother’s final illness; visits Versailles; in Belgium; exile in Bonn; and MA’s escape plan; believes MA better not to have married1; flees from French

  Marie de’ Medici, Regent of France

  Marie Louise, Empress of Napoleon I

  Marie Thérèse Charlotte (MA’s daughter; later Duchesse d’Angoulême and Dauphine): birth and baptism; childhood and upbringing; marriage prospects; appearance and character; coldness towards mother; bastardy charge against; in group portrait; and death of sister Sophie; illness; sees Tippoo Sultan’s envoys; and death of elder brother; Madame de Tourzel acts as governess to; praises MA’s courage in mob attack on Versailles; first communion; not subject to personal threats; escape attempt; on arrest at Varennes; threatened by mob in Tuileries; life in Tuileries; makes no mention of departure from Tuileries; in Assembly; kept in the Temple; and mother’s reaction to death of Princesse de Lamballe; MA teaches in Temple; separated from father; sees father before execution; and mother’s reaction to father’s execution; reaches puberty; death threats against; and mother’s transfer from Tower; denies Louis Charles’s claims of sexual abuse; in MA’s final letter to Madame Elisabeth; freed (1795); ignorance of MA’s death; marriage to Angoulàme and childlessness; on mother’s affection for Maria Carolina; exile and death; visits parents’ graves

  Marie Thérèse, Queen of Louis XIV

  Marly

  Marmontel, Jean François; Histoire des Incas

  Marsan, Marie Louise, Comtesse de

  Mary II, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland

  Mary Queen of Scots

  Matignon, Caroline, Comtesse de

  Maubourg (deputy)

  Mauconseil resolution (1792)

  Maurepas, Jean Frédéric, Comte de: as Louis XVI’s chief minister; and Louis XVI’s coronation; MA interviews on Bavarian crisis; and Necker’s resignation; death

  Maximilian, Archduke of Austria (MA’s brother; “Max”): childhood; birth; place in family; portrait miniature sent to MA; corpulence; visits Versailles; as Elector of Cologne

  Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria

  Maza, Sarah: “The Diamond Necklace Affair Revisited” Mémoire des Princes

  Menchikov, Princess “Ketty” Mercier, Abbé

  Mercy d’Argenteau, Florimond Claude, Comte de: chooses MA’s trousseau; reports to Maria Teresa on MA’s menstrual condition; arranges transfer of MA’s dog to France; and Versailles etiquette; background and career; as MA’s advisor; reports on MA to Maria Teresa; deplores influence of royal aunts on MA; and MA’s plea for Duchesse de Gramont; warns MA of proposed marriage of Princesse de Lamballe; and MA’s attitude to Du Barry; and Franco-Austrian alliance; letters from Maria Teresa; and MA’s consummation of marriage; on Louis Auguste’s subservience; disparages Comtesse d’Artois; on MA’s early childlessness; on Louis XVI’s rule; and linking of MA’s apartments to husband’s; designs role for MA as queen; on Comtesse de Polignac; mishandles Max’s visit to Versailles; on MA’s financial position; approves MA acquiring Petit Trianon; and MA’s jewellery; and Joseph’s visit to France; on MA’s feelings for brother Joseph; suffers from haemorrhoids; attempts to influence Louis XVI through MA; sends message to Vienna on birth of MA’s daughter; and MA’s stay at Petit Trianon; and MA’s reforms at Versailles; on MA’s amateur theatricals; counsels MA against Polignac connection; and Maria Teresa’s death; relations with Joseph II; on birth of MA’s son; on MA’s political innocence; influence on MA on Joseph II’s behalf; on appointment of Yolande de Polignac as royal governess; and MA’s preoccupation with daughter’s education; and Diamond Necklace Affair; and MA’s 1785 pregnancy; and trial of Rohan; on Marie Christine’s visit to MA; and appointment of successor to Vergennes; on Louis XVI’s low morale; and Necker’s recall; on popular blame for MA; on Louis XVI before revolution; on Yolande de Polignac’s rise to favour; house searched for arms; on outbreak of French Revolution; and MA’s position in Paris (1789); and MA’s removal to Paris; on MA’s poor relations with brother Leopold, advises MA to resume political role; departs Paris; MA writes to in Brussels4; offers no Austrian help to MA; and MA’s attempted flight; Fersen delivers message to in Brussels; on Provence’s hopes for Regency; MA proposes return to France; MA writes to on Austrian interference in French affairs; MA gives details of conduct of war to; MA tells of mob in Tuileries; flees from Belgium; on MA’s right to Regency on death of husband; hopes for exchange of MA as prisoner; opposes Fersen’s plan to liberate MA; and execution of MA

  Mericourt, Théroigne de

  Merklein (German cabinet-maker)

  Mesmer, Franz Anton

  Metastasio, Pietro Bonaventura (Trapassi) Metz

  Meudon, château de

  Michonis (prison administrator)

  Michu, Louis

  Milliot, Reine

  Mique, Richard

  Mirabeau, Honoré, Comte de

  Mirepoix, Maréchale Anne-Marguerite de Beauvau-Craon de

  Miromesnil, Armand de

  Mitford, Nancy

  Moberly, Charlotte Anne and Eleanor Jourdain: An Adventure

  Moëlle, Claude Antoine

  Molière, Jean Baptiste Poquelin: L’école des Femmes

  Moll, Antoine-Assieu

  Molleville, Bertrand de

  Moniteur, Le (newspaper)

  Montbazon, Duc de

  Montespan, Françoise Athénaïs de Rochechouart-Mortemar, Marquise de

  Montgolfier, Joseph

  Montmédy

  Montmorin, Armand Marc, Comte de

  Montpensier, Antoine, Duc de

  Montreuil

  Moore, Dr. John


  Morel, Bernard

  Morning Post (newspaper)

  Morris, Gouverneur

  Mossiker, Frances: The Queen’s Necklace

  Mouchy, Maréchal Philippe Noailles, Duc de

  “Mountain, the” (Convention party)

  Mousseaux

  Moustier, Melchior de

  Mozart, Leopold

  Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

  Mytens, Martin

  Nancy

  Nancy, Bishop of

  Napoleon I (Bonaparte), Emperor of France: marriage to Marie Louise; demolishes the Temple

  Narbonne, Comte de

  National Assembly: formed from Third Estate; and mob rule; Louis XVI visits; and “Great Fear”; recruitment to; discusses King’s powers; promises to control riots; guards royal family; grants allowance to Louis XVI; members join Corpus Christi procession; Louis XVI addresses; debates departure of Mesdames Tantes; and flight of royals; emissaries reach Varennes to detain royals; deputies interrogate royals about attempted flight; replaced by Legislative Assembly; grants inviolability to Louis XVI

  National Convention

  National Guard: under La Fayette; recruitment to; guard Louis XVI and MA; at Fête de la Fédération; block Louis XVI’s escape; at Varennes; anti-royalist sentiments