Brand-new period drama Marie Antoinette is now available in full in BBC iPlayer, and it provides a revisionist take on the long-maligned last queen of France before the French Revolution.
Antoinette has long been known most prominently as an out of touch and loathed royal, known for saying “let them eat cake” when told that the people had no bread.
However, this new series provides a feminist spin on events, telling the story from 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?
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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 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 Antoinette being forced to leave Vienna and to marry the French Dauphin.
What is the true story behind Marie Antoinette?
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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 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?
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While the Marie Antoinette series doesn’t reach this point in its first 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 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.
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.
Marie Antoinette is available in full on BBC iPlayer now. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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