What happened to Marie Antoinette? True story behind series

Season 2 sees Marie Antoinette and Louis at the height of their power, but facing an unprecedented financial crisis.

The synopsis for the new season says: "The incessant attacks of Provence and Chartres against the royal couple stir up the hatred of the nobles while disastrous consequences are looming with the infamous Affair of the Diamond Necklace incident. From Versailles to the Palais-Royal, the revolt rumbles…"

The series gives a feminist spin on the life of Marie Antoinette, who is known most prominently as an out of touch and loathed royal, known for (allegedly) saying "let them eat cake" when told that the people had no bread.

This show tells the story from Marie Antoinette's perspective, but just what is the real history behind the series and what happened to the French queen?

Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind Marie Antoinette.

How much does the Marie Antoinette series stick to real life?

The series comes from the writer of Olivia Colman's The Favourite, Deborah Davis, and therefore takes a similarly stylised and anachronistic approach to the source material.

The series has been described as a "feminist" take on the story of the French Queen, with star Emilia Schüle saying that previous dramatisations of Marie Antoinette's life haven't explored "the trauma and feeling of abandonment that this person must have felt", adding that the queen was "modern, emancipated, and fought for equality and for her personal freedom".

In spite of this specific take on the material, the series is very much based on real events, including Marie Antoinette being forced to leave Vienna and to marry the French Dauphin.

What is the true story behind Marie Antoinette?

In reality, Antoinette was born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna in 1755 in Vienna, and in 1770 at the age of just 15 she was married to Louis XV's eldest son, Louis the Dauphin of France.

The young couple, and particularly Marie Antoinette, came to be blamed by the populace of France for the country's ills due to their extravagant lifestyle.

Her marriage was considered to be an unhappy and difficult one, as Louis was an inattentive husband. The couple struggled to consummate their marriage, as it was believed that Louis XVI was impotent, leading rivals to the throne to spread rumours about the queen's infidelity.

She later gave birth to her daughter Marie-Thérèse Charlotte in 1778, the Dauphin Louis in October 1781 (who died in 1789), and the future Louis XVII in March 1785.

What happened to Marie Antoinette?

While the Marie Antoinette series doesn't reach this point in its first or second season, what the French Queen is best known for is her death by guillotine and the pronouncement: "Let them eat cake."

In truth, while she did indeed die by guillotine, the attribution of the phrase "let them eat cake" to Marie Antoinette is widely disputed by historians, who claim it dates back long before she was once thought to have said it.

Her death came as a result of the French Revolution, which saw ordinary people turn on the monarchy in part due to years of high taxes and the royal family’s lavish lifestyle.

When the King and Queen attempted to flee Paris in 1791, they were apprehended by the revolutionaries and brought back to the city. The monarchy was overthrown entirely in 1792, with the family locked in a tower. Louis XVI was put on trial in December, before being executed in January 1793.

Marie Antoinette was killed by guillotine in October 1793, following a trial in which, alongside other accusations, her youngest son was forced to accuse her of sexual abuse and incest. She was convicted of treason and sentenced to death at the age of 37.

What happened to Marie Antoinette's children?

Marie Antoinette and King Louis had four children - Marie Thérèse, Louis Joseph, Louis Charles and Sophie.

Sophie, the youngest, tragically died less than a year after she was born, after suffering from convulsions, believed to have been caused by tuberculosis.

Just two years later, their second child, Louis Joseph, died at the age of seven, again likely from tuberculosis. This took place just weeks before the storming of the Bastille.

After the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette was kept separate from her two remaining children, Marie Thérèse and Louis Charles, who were held captive.

In June 1795, two years after his mother's death, Louis Charles died at the age of 10, likely from tuberculosis.

After his death, his heart was smuggled out of the prison by a physician, and was eventually passed to royal relations across the continent. It eventually came to rest alongside the graves of his parents in Paris in the 20th century.

Louis Charles's death also brought about rumours that he had miraculously escaped and had become the new king, King Louis XVII. Dozens of people claimed to be him, and the rumour of his escape was only firmly debunked in the year 2000.

Marie Thérèse remained in prison until just before her 17th birthday in 1795. She was released and sent to Austria, where she married her first cousin Louis, Duke of Angoulême.

After living in exile in Great Britain, the couple returned to France in 1814 when another Louis, Louis XVIII, became king, following the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Following Louis XVIII’s death, her husband became heir to the throne, and six years later, when his father abdicated, he himself became King Louis XIX - briefly.

He abdicated less than 30 minutes later in favour of his nephew, Charles X, and Marie Thérèse spent the rest of her life in exile with her husband, bound in a loveless marriage.

Marie Antoinette seasons 1 and 2 are available in full on BBC iPlayer now.

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