Antoinette has long been known most prominently as an out of touch and loathed royal, known for saying \u201clet them eat cake\u201d when told that the people had no bread.<\/p>\n
However, this new series provides a feminist spin on events, telling the story from Antoinette\u2019s perspective. But just what is the real history behind the series and what happened to the French queen?<\/p>\n
Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind Marie Antoinette.<\/p>\n
How much does the Marie Antoinette series stick to real life?<\/strong><\/h2>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Emilia Sch\u00fcle as Marie Antoinette in Marie Antoinette.<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC \/ Capa Drama \/ Banijay Studios France \/ Les Gens \/ Canal+ \/ Caroline Dubois<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nThe series comes from the writer of Olivia Colman\u2019s The Favourite, Deborah Davis, and therefore takes a similarly stylised and anachronistic approach to the source material.<\/p>\n
The series has been described as a \u201cfeminist\u201d<\/a> take on the story of the French Queen, with star Emilia Sch\u00fcle saying that previous dramatisations of Antoinette\u2019s life haven\u2019t explored \u201cthe trauma and feeling of abandonment that this person must have felt\u201d, adding that the queen was \u201cmodern, emancipated, and fought for equality and for her personal freedom\u201d.<\/p>\nIn 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.<\/p>\n
What is the true story behind Marie Antoinette?<\/strong><\/h2>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Marie Antoinette.<\/span><\/figcaption> Heritage Art\/Heritage Images via Getty Images<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nIn 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\u2019s eldest son, Louis the Dauphin of France.<\/p>\n
The young couple, and particularly Antoinette, came to be blamed by the populace of France for the country\u2019s ills due to their extravagant lifestyle.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s infidelity.<\/p>\n
She later gave birth to her daughter Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Charlotte in 1778, the Dauphin Louis in October 1781 (who died in 1789), and the future Louis XVII\u00a0in March 1785.<\/p>\n
What happened to Marie Antoinette?<\/strong><\/h2>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Emilia Sch\u00fcle as Marie Antoinette in Marie Antoinette.<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC \/ Capa Drama \/ Banijay Studios France \/ Les Gens \/ Canal+ \/ Caroline Dubois<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nWhile the Marie Antoinette series doesn\u2019t reach this point in its first season, what the French Queen is best known for is her death by guillotine and the pronouncement: \u201cLet them eat cake.\u201d<\/p>\n
In truth, while she did indeed die by guillotine, the attribution of the phrase \u201clet them eat cake\u201d to Antoinette is widely disputed by historians, who claim it dates back long before she was once thought to have said it.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s lavish lifestyle.<\/p>
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Marie Antoinette is available in full<\/strong> on BBC iPlayer<\/a> now.<\/strong> Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\nTry Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<\/strong>Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By James Hibbs Published: Tuesday, 03 January 2023 at 12:00 am 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":28115,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By James Hibbs Published: Tuesday, 03 January 2023 at 12:00 am 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…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/28114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/Marie-Antoinette-BBC-7-0c8c9cc.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The series comes from the writer of Olivia Colman\u2019s The Favourite, Deborah Davis, and therefore takes a similarly stylised and anachronistic approach to the source material.<\/p>\n
The series has been described as a \u201cfeminist\u201d<\/a> take on the story of the French Queen, with star Emilia Sch\u00fcle saying that previous dramatisations of Antoinette\u2019s life haven\u2019t explored \u201cthe trauma and feeling of abandonment that this person must have felt\u201d, adding that the queen was \u201cmodern, emancipated, and fought for equality and for her personal freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s eldest son, Louis the Dauphin of France.<\/p>\n The young couple, and particularly Antoinette, came to be blamed by the populace of France for the country\u2019s ills due to their extravagant lifestyle.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s infidelity.<\/p>\n She later gave birth to her daughter Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Charlotte in 1778, the Dauphin Louis in October 1781 (who died in 1789), and the future Louis XVII\u00a0in March 1785.<\/p>\n While the Marie Antoinette series doesn\u2019t reach this point in its first season, what the French Queen is best known for is her death by guillotine and the pronouncement: \u201cLet them eat cake.\u201d<\/p>\n In truth, while she did indeed die by guillotine, the attribution of the phrase \u201clet them eat cake\u201d to Antoinette is widely disputed by historians, who claim it dates back long before she was once thought to have said it.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s lavish lifestyle.<\/p> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Marie Antoinette is available in full<\/strong> on BBC iPlayer<\/a> now.<\/strong> Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<\/strong>Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n By James Hibbs Published: Tuesday, 03 January 2023 at 12:00 am 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":28115,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/01\/what-happened-to-marie-antoinette-true-story-behind-series-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By James Hibbs Published: Tuesday, 03 January 2023 at 12:00 am 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…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/28114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What is the true story behind Marie Antoinette?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/GettyImages-1309905783-a1aaf79.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>What happened to Marie Antoinette?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/408135-5d3b171.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"