On the 16th October 1793 at the Place de la
Revolution in Paris, the former Queen of France Marie Antoinette made her slow way to the
guillotine. In the months before her husband the King Louis XVI had been executed on the
same device at the same place, and many did not know what to do with the Queen following
her husband’s execution. Some were in favour of exiling her, and others would have preferred
to see her left to rot in prison as she was a staunch and strong symbol of hatred across
the nation. She was hated massively and had little remorse for the French people who were
starving. But following the Queen’s execution, what happened to her head and also her body? Marie Antoinette was tried by the Revolutionary
Tribunal on the 14th October 1793. It is believed that she was already condemned to death when
she was brought to trial, and her lawyers were given not long to sort out her defence.
She was accused with a huge amounts of charges including sending millions of lives to Austria,
planning a massacre, incest and declaring her son to be the new French King. But Marie
Antoinette was on the 16th October declared guilty of the three main charges, depleting
the national treasury, conspiracy against the security of the state and high treason.
Her lawyers were shocked as they thought she would just have a prison sentence, but the
court sentenced her to death. In preparation for her execution, Marie was
forced to change clothes in front of her guards and she was ordered to wear a plain white
dress. Her hair had been cut by guards in preparation for the guillotine, and it was
cut short and her hands were then tied behind her back and she was put on a rope lead before
she was taken from her prison to the execution scaffold on an open cart. It was an undignified
end for the former Queen of France and the people of Paris jeered at her as she passed
in the cart, and it took an hour for the convoy to get to the Place de la Revolution where
the guillotine sat. Whilst this was happening she was noted to have been rather calm as
the court screamed obscenities and hatred at her, and her priest sat next to Marie in
the cart but she ignored him throughout her final journey. She arrived at the guillotine on the 16th
October 1793 at 12:15pm, and as she was led up the steps of the scaffold, the former Queen
stood on the foot of the executioner and her final words were recorded as ‘pardon me
sir, I did not do it on purpose.’ The executioner then fastened her to the wooden board and
then quickly slid Marie under the guillotine, before he released the blade and her head
was taken clean off in one go by the device. But what happened to her body after this?
Her head would have been grabbed from the basket where it fell and it was then displayed
to the crowd. One painting of this event shows the Queen’s head on a pike, but it is known
for certain that following her execution that the Queen’s body and also her head was taken
to the Madeleine cemetery nearby, and then it was thrown in an unmarked grave. At the
time, Marie Tussaud would whilst the gravediggers were on a lunch break sneak into the cemetery
and would take a cast of Marie Antoinette’s head following her beheading. But this would not be the end of the story
of the Queen’s body and head, as in 1814 at the orders of King Louis XVIII, an inquiry
was launched to locate the body of Marie Antoinette. Her husband King Louis XVI’s body was located,
and the exhumations took place in the presence of many ministers and court officials on the
18th January 1815. The Queen’s remains were found on this day, and the King’s would
be found on the following day. Marie’s grave was found rather easily, and a layer of quicklime
had solidified over the coffin, and this allowed her remains to be preserved. Many of her bones
were found including her skull which was said to have been intact. Workers also found a
woman’s stocking similar to the ones that the Queen was given in her imprisonment, and
many people were moved by the location of Marie Antoinette’s remains. Some prayed
by the gravesite, and one official even fainted. The workers placed the bones and personal
items inside of a couple of chests and they were then moved to a chapel where they were
then surrounded by lit candles. It’s never been established completely that these were
the correct bodies that were found and some historians are skeptics as they believed that
the cemetery was very full, but the preservation of Marie’s remains would have happened if
the quicklime did solidify. The location of Marie’s body it’s believed could have
been marked with a cross on the wall near to it, and it was clear that the coffin she
had been placed in was still in tact. The hair also belonged to a woman that was found
along with the clothes as mentioned which were similar to what Marie was executed in. Following this they were then prepared to
be buried inside of the royal vault in the Basilica of St Denis. (Pronounced Denny) The
interring of there royal remains took place on the 21st January, and one eyewitness described
the procession and the proceedings. He said, ‘ A detachment of artillery joined the procession
at the barrier Saint Denis, and followed it, firing minute guns. A regiment of the king's
chasseurs lined the road from Paris to Saint Denis. The drums and musical instruments were
covered with black serge, and the arms and colours of the troops were ornamented with
crape. A deep and solemn silence prevailed among the multitudes who thronged the streets
and road by which the procession passed. Upon reaching the church of Saint-Denis, the
bodies were taken from the car by the guards de la Manche, and carried into the church,
where they were received by the clergy, and presented by the bishop of Carcassone to the
bishop of Aire. They were then placed upon a lofty tomb of state in the midst of the
choir. MONSIEUR, after retiring for a few minutes, entered the church, and was ' followed
by the duke of Angoulême, the duke of Berry, the duke of Orleans, and the prince de Condé,
who occupied the stalls on the right nearest the altar. The duchess of Orleans, the duchess
of Bourbon, and mademoiselle of Orleans, entered the opposite stalls. Next to the princes
sat the duke of Dalmatia, the duke de Reggio, count Barthelemy, and M. Lainé, whom the
king had appointed to support the pall when the coffins were carried to the vault. The
other stalls were occupied by deputations from the Court of Cassation, the Court of
Accompts, the Council of the University, the Cour Royale, the Municipality, and the Tribunal de Première Instance. The
choir was filled by the great officers of the king's household, the officers of the
princes' households, his majesty's ministers, the high personages appointed to form part
of the procession, the marshals and peers of France, the deputies of the departments,
the grand crosses of the order ofthe major-general and staff of the national guards, the governor
of the first military division and his staff, and a great number of generals and other military
officers. The governess of the royal children, the ladies in waiting upon her late majesty,
and the ladies in waiting upon the duchesse of Angoulême, sat upon benches near the
coffins. Four hundred young ladies of the maison royale de Saint Denis were seated in
front of the altar. When all these attendants had taken their
places, the service commenced. The princes and princesses, followed by the grand master
and master of the ceremonies, and their assistants, approached the altar to present their offerings,
after which a funeral oration was delivered by the bishop of Troyes. The absolution having
been pronounced, the bodies were lowered into the royal vault, into which MONSIEUR and the
two princes, his sons, descended, and prostrated themselves upon the coffins of their royal
relatives. Salutes of artillery were fired at the moment when the procession set out
from Paris, during the service at Saint Denis, and when the bodies were lowered into the
vault. To perpetuate the memory of these august victims,
the king has ordained that solemn funeral services shall be performed annually, in all
the churches of the kingdom, on the 21st of January, for the repose of the soul of Louis
XVI.; and on the 16th of October, for that of his royal consort; and that on those days
the court shall wear mourning, and the public offices, courts of justice, exchange, and
theatres be closed.’ It was a huge moment in History as the remains
of the executed French King and Queen a couple of decades after their execution were exhumed
and they were then given a burial befitting of their status. Still at this time Marie
Antoinette was considered a controversial figure and she is remembered in history as
a woman who was very frivolous and who had very little sympathy for her subjects. Thanks for watching To support please subscribe
