HBICs of history » M a r i e A n t o in e t t e
Antoinette was queen of France and Navarre; she was of Austrian origin and by marrying Louis XVI of France she formed an alliance between the houses of Bourbon and Habsburg. Initially charmed by her personality and beauty, the French people generally came to dislike her, accusing “L’Autre-chienne” (a pun in French playing with the words Autrichienne meaning Austrian (woman) and Autre-chienne meaning other bitch) of being profligate and promiscuous,and of harboring sympathies for France’s enemies, particularly Austria, her country of origin. She was called Madame Deficit and the line ‘Let them eat cake’ is still attributed to her, even though there is no evidence she said that. After Louis XVI was deposed in 1792, the royal family was imprisoned; her husband was killed in January and Antoinette was tried in October. She was found guilty of treason and executed by guillotine on October 16, 1793.
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