Marie Antoinette Book Report

Marie Antoinette: The Player Queen
John Garber Palache
© 1929 Longman’s, Green & Co.

Marie Antoinette, born Maria Antonia in Vienna, Austria, was the youngest and favorite daughter of Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa. They were the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. Marie was brought up in the hope that she might one day be queen of France. She married the French dauphin in 1770. Four years later, he became King Louis XVI, and Marie became queen. The young queen was lively and extravagant. The stiff formalities of court life bored her, so she amused herself with such pleasures as fancy balls, theatricals, and gambling. Marie lacked a good education and cared very little for serious affairs. She did not hesitate to urge the dismissal of the able ministers of France whose efforts to reduce royal spending threatened her pleasures. Louis XVI gave her the chateau called the Petit Trianon, where the queen and her friends amused themselves. Tragedy struck Marie twice in 178...