Maria Elisabeth Josepha of Austria, the sixth child of Maria Theresa and elder sister to Marie Antoinette, by Joseph Ducreux. 1769.

(C) RMN (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

‘Marie Antoinette’s village’ by southernbets

A portrait of the imprisoned Marie Antoinette in widow’s garb by Alexandre Kucharski.

‘La Conciergerie’ by y.caradec on Flickr

Embroidery design for the bedroom of Marie Antoinette in her Grand Chamber at Versailles.

(C) RMN (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

Louis the Last, they called him. And then, after, Louis the Shortened.

In his will he asked me to help our children regard the grandeur of this world, “should they be fated to encounter it,” as a dangerous and transitory advantage. Help them fix their eyes instead on the lasting glory of Eternity, he implored. The grandeur of this world. The glory of Eternity. As if the Widow Capet had any choice in the matter.

—Versailles: a novel by Kathryn Davis

image: Marie Antoinette (1938), screencap source

Ambassador Mercy to Maria Theresa, 17 December 1770

When Mme la dauphine accompanies the king to the hunt … [she] usually brings in her carriage all sorts of cold meats and refreshments, which she enjoys distributing to the courtiers who follow the hunt.

This [is only due to] her natural kindness and would not be a problem anywhere else, but unfortunately it causes problems in this country, because it so happens that … all the young people in the King’s suite gather around Mme la dauphine’s carriage, and because there are so many, there are always some thoughtless enough not to show [the respect] which is owed to the young princess.

… I took the liberty of warning Mme la dauphine that she must guard against the familiarity and ease which they have sometimes dared to adopt with her, and this has led me to insist that the comtesse de Noailles always accompanies her, especially to the hunt.

image source