Anniversary of the Execution of Marie Antoinette

Yesterday marked the anniversary of Marie Antoinette’s execution.

On October 16th, 1793, Marie Antoinette of Austria, former Queen of France, left her prison cell at the Conciergerie in Paris, where she had been imprisoned since August of that year, for the last time.

Having been found guilty of treason by the Revolutionary Tribunal on October 14th, Marie Antoinette was condemned to death, her trial having been a complete farce. King Louis XVI, her husband, had been executed in January, after having been deposed in 1792 following the abolition of the Bourbon Monarchy.

Before she left her cell, Marie Antoinette composed her last letter to her sister-in-law, Princess Élisabeth of France, who was imprisoned at the Temple with Marie Antoinette’s daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte. The letter never made its way to Élisabeth. The former Queen of France left the Conciergerie dressed in a white cotton dress with a black petticoat and white hat, her hair having been cut earlier that morning.

With her hands bound, Marie Antoinette was taken to the Place de la Révolution in a open cart drawn by two white horses, a priest accompanied her. At noon, Marie Antoinette arrived and climbed the steps to the scaffold where the guillotine awaited her. Just two weeks shy of her 38th birthday, the most famous French Queen was beheaded at 12.15pm, her remains were then dumped in a common grave at the Madeleine Cemetery.

In 1815, following the Bourbon Restoration, King Louis XVIII ordered that the remains of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette be exhumed from the Madeleine Cemetery and be reburied at Saint Denis Basilica outside Paris, where they have remained ever since.

Filed under Austria-Hungary, France, Historical Royals
Tagged Anniversary, Death, Execution, House of Bourbon, Marie Antoinette of Austria.

2 Responses to Anniversary of the Execution of Marie Antoinette