On the 16th October 1793 inside of Paris,
Marie Antoinette the Queen of France was executed on the guillotine. Months before her husband King Louis XVI had
also met the same fate and he had been executed on the same device of death. But to many across France, Marie Antoinette
was a figure of loathing and she was a woman who would whilst people were suffering rub
their poverty in their faces but living a very indulgent lifestyle. But the death of Marie Antoinette was a shocking
one, but what happened to her head following the execution? Inside of the Conciergerie, Marie Antoinette’s
fall from grace was huge. He was held inside of a prison, and the final
11 weeks of her life were sent inside of this cell. She was a woman who was Austrian, and an Austrian
Princess and but in the years before her death she embraced great frivolity of the French
royal court. She would become Queen four years after coming
to France, and she was 18 and was frustrated by the face her husband had opposite tastes. But Marie would at court spend her time gambling,
partying and buying lavish gifts and items, and she became known as ‘Madame Deficit.’ But she did have a good heart, and she would
adopt some poor children, but despite having a soft heart she was considered a scapegoat
for the problems across the nation. Millions of people were suffering and the
Diamond Necklace Affair made things worse. A countess tricked a cardinal into buying
a hugely expensive necklace on the Queens’ behalf, and many believed Marie tried to get
her hands on the necklace without paying for it, and this ruined her reputation. But the the French revolution would come,
and the French rose up storming the Bastille and taking up arms and they would riot inside
of many major cities over the price of bread, and they would march to the gates of Versailles. The royal couple wouldn’t be officially
arrested until June 1791 when they tried to flee to Austria controlled Netherlands. The royal family were held in the Temple and
France declared a republic. This was an end to the monarchy which had
ruled for almost 1000 years in the country, but in January 1793 King Louis XVI was sentenced
to death for treason against the state and the French people. HE was allowed to spend some time with his
family before he was executed in front of a huge crowd in Paris. But Marie Antoinette following her husband’s
death was left in prison, and she would be transferred to the Conciergerie months before
her death which became known as ‘the antechamber to the guillotine,’ and she would held for
2 months before she was placed on trial. He was 37 years old, and her hair was white
and her skin was pale. She was subjected to a 36 hour trial, with
18 hour days. But huge accusations including incest were
levelled against the Queen, and Marie would deny these however these accusations shocked
the court room. She was graceful in court, but it did not
save her from the executioner’s block. In the hours of the 16th October 1793 she
was found guilty of high treason, depletion of the national treasury and conspiracy against
the security of the state. Shortly before her execution at the Place
de la Revolution, most of the Queen’s white hair was cut off. At 12:15pm she walked onto the scaffold to
greet Charles Henri Samson, her executioner who had also took the life and head of her
husband the King months before. He was in a black mask, and he probably never
believed that he would have executed the Queen of France who was his former employer. Marie was dressed in white, and she accidentally
stepped on the executioner’s foot, and she whispered to him ‘Pardon me sir I did not
mean to,’ and this was her final words. Quickly Sandom strapped her to the wooden
board, and slid Marie under the blade before he released it. Her head was taken off in one quick blow. Sanson then held up her head and declared
‘Viva la Republique.’ But following her execution, Marie Antoinette’s
remains were taken around half a mile north and they were taken to the graveyard behind
the Church of Madeleine. However at the time the gravediggers who had
been burying many victims of the guillotine were taking a lunch break, and whilst the
Queen’s remains were about to be interred this allowed Madame Tussaud to then sneak
in and take a plaster death mask and cast of her head. Following this her body was then thrown into
an unmarked grave, and this particular cemetery would be filled the following year by enemies
of the revolution. Marie Antoinette then had her head it’s
believed also thrown inside of the unmarked grave. But we know that Marie’s body was exhumed
on the 18th January 1815, and then they were given Christian burials of the royal remains
in the necropolis of the French Kings at the Basilica of St Denis. But from her death mask, Marie Antoinette
would be brought back to life by Madame Tussaud who utilised the plaster cast to make a model
of her head and it would show the French Queen with short hair and with her eyes closed,
with her lips also pursed together with marks on her face. This is the closest we have of the Queen of
Frances’ head and what it looked like following execution. Marie Antoinette to many people was a symbol
of what was wrong with the old regime and with the monarch of France. It was a royal family that placed further
financial problems onto the nation, and Marie was used as a scapegoat for this. She was a woman who had a taste for dine things,a
nd she spent huge amounts of money on renovating royal palaces with the best furniture from
across Europe. But she would brutally lose her head on the
guillotine like thousands of other people and her husband would during the French Revolution. Those who witnessed her execution would not
forget the moment they saw the French Queen lose her head. Thanks for watching To support please subscribe.
