I wholeheartedly agree - It is my view that Louis was the root cause of the tragedy the Royal family suffered. Even his contemporaries were stumped at his inability to make decisions and take charge. We can discuss this in more detail under the Louis XVI topic.

To go back to the discussion about MA saying she was not aware of the kingdom's disastrous financial situation -she most certainly did state that, presumably during her pre-interrogation, or during the trial, I do not know. The exact quote goes like "How could I have known, since when I asked for a given sum, I was granted twice more". Obvisouly, this was a tactical backdown, for she was well aware of the state of the public finances, and did take some steps -be it on a limited extent- to curb the court's spending.

According to Bertière indeed, Calonne always made a point to honour the Queen's demands. I wonder if he did not even condone the Saint-Cloud purchase.

It was a hint at Calonne's notorious generousity towards her. I like the little lampoon about that :

"Ce n'est pas Calonne que j'aime,
Mais c'est l'or qu'il n'épargne pas,
Quand je suis dans quelques embarras,
Alors je m'adresse à lui-même.
Ma favorite en fait de même,
Et nous rions tout bas, tout bas".


Not that I like the content of the lampoon, but it does sound very pleasant to the hear in French, very cute.

What went wrong with her uprbinging ? A lot of things really ! But had she been meek and perfect, I would not be so hooked on her. I think Bertière is right on the mark when she says she was a spoilt kid. One could not possibly define her better than that. She reallly thought she was the cat's whisker. That way everybody had to adapt to her way, and never the other way round. All her misfortunes stem from that.

It was not her fault, or even specific to her. All the Habsburg girls were like that, before and after her -they were convinced they were the purest dynasty in Europe. Anna of Austria for instance behaved the same upon her arrival to court, but she was put back to her place quickly and firmly both by her mother in law and her husband, who despised her. MA would have needed some firm educators instead of the ageing aunts and debauched Louis XV, and she would have learned how to eat the humble pie before the revolutionnaries forced her to.

I remember a exerpt of Castelot bio where, as she is told how the previous Queen fulfilled her duties, she snapped that Marie Leczinska did so because she was a Polish nobody !

Not that I want to judge her. It is extremely difficult to overcome the shortcomings of one's upbringing -and everybody has. There is no denying she was a fundamentally good and well-intentioned person.

I agree in some ways i think she must have had an awful character! This is indeed why she interests us and we are endeared to her, this mixture of the good and the bad. If she had been perfect and eclipsed herself like so many other Queens before her, we would have forgotten her. The ittle of Bertière's biography is "Marie antoinette, l'insoumise" which is perfect for her...the rebel or undaunted one.

And this sums it all! Well done!

Yes, maybe she wouldn't have died the way she did so wouldn't be interesting to you.