Marie Antoinette’s Daughter – Her Tragic Life Story

almost everyone knows what happened to marie antoinette and her husband louis xvi how their lives were tragically and brutally ended during the french revolution of 1789. the story of their daughter marie therese has not been widely written about but it deserves to be known because she proved to be an interesting and inspiring character her tragic life story is about survival and sheer determination to fight till the very end born to her famous parents the monarchs of france on the 19th of december 1778 at the palace of versailles maritia lot of france was a long-awaited child of the royal couple seven years into their marriage her mother marie antoinette nicknamed her newborn daughter muslin but she was also known as madame ryan marie therese was brought up by two loving parents who adored her spoiled by louis xvi and taught by marie antoinette to be kind to those less fortunate than her madame rayal was growing up to become a young serious child by the time she was eight years old marie therese had already two more brothers and a sister louis joseph born in 1781 who died of tuberculosis when he was seven years old just before the revolution started louis charles born in 1785 and sophie helen born in 1786 who died in her infancy inexperience to deal with the social unrest and problems that france was facing in 1789 the 35 year old king louis the 16 and his wife marie antoinette who was 34 years old were just months away from attempting to flee france with a family in june 1791 their attempt failed and they were brought back to paris heavily guarded and unable to escape the funeral march of the monarchy was being witnessed by its own representatives the following summer marie therese was imprisoned together with her parents a four-year-old brother and her father's sister elizabeth in the temple in paris a month after their incarceration when the institution of the monarchy was abolished in september 1792 the royal family's future was looking bleak worried for his children's safety the king was trying to keep the spirit up by teaching his children geography and various stories uncertainty was obviously unbearable the prison guards would watch them closely monitoring their discussions and every gesture they would only have three more months living together on a cold day in january 1793 the king was taken away from his family and brutally killed by guillotine france would change profoundly as a country and so would marie's life when marie antoinette learned about her husband's death she knelt down before her son louis charles the king was dead long live the king he had become louis the seventeen after her father's death marie's life became almost unbearable one by one the remaining members of her family would be taken away and they would vanish from marie's life [Music] soon after the king died marie antoinette was also removed from the prison cell the royal family was sharing and was also executed in october 1793. marietheres would learn about her mother's death only in 1795. one can only imagine how difficult life in prison must have been for marie and her brother yet louis charles would not be spared either any viable and traceable link to the monarchy had to be severed louis charles was also separated from his family and detained in an insalubrious cell he was neglected by the gods and the ten-year-old boy king died alone and forgotten on the 8th of june 1795. after marie antoinette died marie therese had only her aunt elizabeth who was her father's sister to rely on but that was short-lived too because in may 1794 elizabeth was separated from marie and guillotined just because she was the late king's sister for the next one and a half years madame royal would spend her time alone in her prison room relying only on her inner strength and her religious beliefs as a devout catholic for her own survival there was the end of her time in confinement and with all her family dead the decision was made to allow marie therese some small liberties a visitor books ink and paper and short walks in the prison gardens a month before the end of 1795 the new french government negotiated the exchange of french prisoners held captive in austria and marie was released from prison and allowed to travel to her mother's country of origin a day after her release madame ryal turned 17 during the three and a half years that marietheres spent in prison her life changed forever her parents and her brother would only be living in her thoughts but her inner desire to take revenge would never die the memory of her family would guide marie therese for the rest of her life once in austria marie would spend three years at the court of france ii the holy roman emperor although she wanted to join her uncle louis the 18th the brother of her father in italy always wearing black morning dresses marie was a rather beautiful young princess although she was always looking sad the emperor tried to persuade her to marry into austrian royalty but she resisted france and the idea of french monarchy would always be in the back of her mind she was harboring the desire that one day her life would take her back to france and she would help restore the monarchy thus vindicated the family's memory in the spring of 1799 marie traveled to russia where her uncle was living in exile and she accepted the marriage proposal to marry her cousin louis antoine dugdan gillam he was the son of count of artwa who was the younger brother of marie's father louis xvi madame royale's path back to the french throne was beginning to take shape from that point forward marie therese and her husband lived in exile with a french court supporting their uncle king and traveling to prussia russia and england and back to russia according to different political alliances after napoleon's russian campaign his political future was looking unstable marie therese was beginning to realize how close she was to achieving her dream when in march 1814 the restoration of the bubon monarchy was proclaimed and louis the 18th became king of france in april 1814 napoleon was forced to abdicate and marie therese and her uncle king returned to france and regained the royal throne when marita rez arrived in france after two decades she was relieved and extremely happy to return to her homeland her fight had not been in vain and the memory of her parents was vindicated scheming to return to power napoleon escaped from elba in march 1815 and returned to paris to regain his throne once again the monarchy was overthrown and the royal court fled to england marie resisted and she remained in bordeaux but she gave in when napoleon's cause seemed to gain support his return was short-lived and after his lost battle at waterloo he was forced to abdicate for the last time and exiled by the british on the remote island of saint helena marie's prayers seemed to be listened to and the bubons were able to return to france for the next 15 years madame royal was able to reconnect with her country and to live a quiet life although not for long when louis the 18 died in september 1824 marie's father-in-law became charles the tenth who would rule for six years before the monarchy was again facing problems in 1830 [Music] charles was forced to abdicate that summer and the house of bobons would be forced to go into exile again madame royale left france for the last time and went to live in scotland for three years from there the royal family moved to a grand residence in prague and later to an italian villa where the king died in 1836 when her husband the duke of angulam died in 1844 marie moved to a castle near vienna where she lived quietly until her death on the 19th of october 1851 [Music] during her life of intense suffering marie therese never forgot her parents and she prayed constantly for the souls she lived a life dominated by uncertainty and changes a fortune but she was fearless proving she was able to withstand whatever life threw at her and the very fact that she survived is a testament to the courage of the last truly royal princess of france [Music] you

Channel: Lives & Histories

Views: 376,245

Rating: 4.9024267 out of 5

Keywords: Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI, French Revolution 1789, Marie Therese of France, Napoleon, How to survive, Paris, Napoleon’s abdication, Destiny, French monarchy, Madame Royale

Id: TK95H4xymuw

Length: 12min 25sec (745 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021