Who Were Marie Antoinette’s Children?
Marie Antoinette’s Children
Marie Antoinette was a French queen whose fate was shattered into pieces during the French Revolution. As the wife of King Louis XVI of France, Marie Antoinette’s fall from grace to grass happened because the French had simply had enough of monarchy. Particularly, the French Revolutionists disliked her extravagant and indulgent lifestyle. She ended up being one of the numerous members from the French royal family to die at the hands of the revolutionists.
Brief Look at Marie Antoinette’s Tragic Life
As a 14-year-old teenager, she married the would-be King Louis XVI. When her husband took over the throne in 1774, Antoinette’s lavish spending and interference in government was met with disapproval. Eventually, when the French Revolution sparked in 1789, Antoinette and her husband Louis XVI’s residences were broken into and an order was issued for their arrest.The wrath of the revolution fell squarely on those that they perceived to be part of the Ancien Régime — an elite class that comprised the monarchy and Catholic Church.
In their daring attempt to escape from the Revolutionary hostilities, the royal family were caught and rounded up at Varannes. Antoinette and Louis XVI were sent back to the French capital Paris to be tried on the charges of high treason. The royal couple were found guilty and sentenced to death.
Facing an irate crowd of French Revolutionists, King Louis was executed with the guillotine machine on January 21, 1793; thus, his head was cut off. As for Marie Antoinette, her gruesome execution came on October 16, 1793. The former Queen consort of France was survived by two children.
Marie Antoinette’s Children
Antoinette and Dauphin Louis got married to each other in 1770, but it took 7 years before the couple consummated their marriage. Having waited patiently for the right time, Antoinette and Louis welcomed their first child Marie Thérèse in 1778. After that, she became a mother to three other children; Louis Joseph, Louis Charles, and Sophie Hélène. Here are the brief profiles Marie Antoinette’s children.
Marie Thérèse
Marie Antoinette’s first child – Madame Royale Marie Thérèse
Marie Antoinette was 23 when she gave birth to her first child, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France. Thus, Thérèse was born on December 19, 1778 at the royal Palace of Versailles. Being the elder daughter of her parents, Thérèse was given the title Madame Royale. Her mother also nicknamed her Mousseline. Little Thérèse enjoyed deep love from her parents until the 1789 Revolution disrupted everything, taking away her parents, siblings and loved ones within the coming few years. However, Thérèse survived the Revolution as the only member of her immediate family.
Thérèse would go on to spend several years in exile; marry her first cousin Louis Antoine Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême; and then pass away at the age of 72 on October 19, 1852. Her final resting place is at a crypt of the Church of Castagnavizza in Görz, Nova Gorica, Slovenia.
Louis Joseph
Marie Antoinette’s Children – Louis Joseph
He was born at the palace on October 22, 1781. As a little boy, Louis was the much-awaited Dauphin (inheritor of the French throne). In his childhood, Louis was a brilliant little guy who stayed close to his parents. As the years went by, it emerged that Louis Joseph wasn’t that healthy enough. High fevers signaling tuberculosis caught Louis and jeopardized his future.
At 7-years-old, Louis passed away on June 4, 1789. His death hurt his parents, but they had little time to mourn him. Few weeks after the young Dauphin’s death, the French Revolution exploded. Both of his parents were beheaded in the revolutionary events.
Louis Charles
Louis Charles | Marie Antoinette’s third child
After her husband’s execution, Marie Antoinette was held hostage together with her children. But later on, the mother and her children were separated. Her second son Louis Charles, who was born on March 27, 1785, was locked up in a dark jail and given little food. Visitors could not see him. Louis Charles was physically abused by his jailers and was also forced to falsely accuse his mother of sexual molestation. This accusation was also used to pass a death sentence to his mother.
Following his prison maltreatment, Louis Charles likely died of tuberculosis in June 1795; he was 10 years-old.
Sophie Hélène
Marie Antoinette’s Children | Sophie Hélène, Marie Antoinette’s youngest child, died at a tender age of 11 months
Sophie Hélène was the last and the least-surviving child of her doomed parents. Born in July 1786, Sophie died of tuberculosis when she was just 11 months-old.
