Maria Antonia Josepha (Josephina) Johanna; What a Name!

Maria Antoinette, Queen of France and
 Navarre, by Louise Èlisabeth Vigée Le
Brun, c. 1779.

Famously tragic. I think that's the best and shortest way to describe Marie Antoinette. Though her fate cannot be blamed entirely on her, or any one person in my opinion.

To start off, Marie Antoinette was not always know by such a grand name. As a child she was Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, so as of the moment I'm not entire sure where the name Marie Antoinette even came from. I'll have to do more digging to find out.

Antonia, as she was known, was born on November 2nd, in the year 1755 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna Austria. She was the 8th living daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg dominions, and Emperor Francis I. It was the day after her birth that she was baptised with her long name, also know as Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna.

Turns out Antonia was not to be the last child of Empress Maria. Most people have a few kids, like three, or maybe four. But she ended up having a total of sixteen children, including Antonia. Unfortunately four of her children didn't make it through their childhood. One of them died shortly after birth sadly.

Because of all the children she had, and the duties of ruling the Holy Roman Empire, Empress Maria did not have much time for her children. I read once that Antonia grew up with an 'awe-inspired fear' of her mother. But of course, back in those days the royals were all about marriage and alliances. The Empress was able to marry off her daughters and sons in order to create great alliances.

A gorgeous view of  the Hofburg Palace in Vienna Austria,
taken by  Peter Talke c. 2011

To the left is a modern day photo of the palace that Antonia and her siblings grew up in. I can only wonder what it must have looked like, or been like, back in the day.

Interestingly enough, life for Antonia was quite relaxed compared to other royal courts, especially the French court she was going to marry into. Deviating from protocol was more common during Antonia's childhood. The Habsburgs lived a more private life than many royals, and the royal children played with non-royals, and were even encouraged to do so by their parents. Not exactly something you'd have thought to happen, don't you think?

Though her life was more private from the outside world Antonia was rarely, if ever, alone. She shared a special friendship with her sister Maria Carolina. They were the youngest girls, and even shared the same governess for a time.

Even though the Empress planned to marry off her daughters to the sons of kings, and other nobles or royals their education lacked greatly. While Antonia learned the protocols of manners, dance, appearance, and music she lacked the knowledge that a future ruler should obtain. She knew nothing of statecraft or running a county, and this is partly to blame as to her rather drastic fate. Her handwriting was careless, and it's said that her tutors would sometimes finish her work for her, so that they would not lose their position.

Marie Antoinette's signature

During the period in which Antonia lived German and French were considered the 'universal languages' that basically everyone knew. But Antonia, at age ten, had trouble reading and writing German. She spoke little French, and when she did it was rather difficult for her; and Italian she barely spoke at all. The Empress fired Mme de Brandeis after deeming her responsible for the princess' lack of education. She then appointed Mme de Lerchenfeld, also known as Gluck, who helped Antonia excel in her musical endeavors. Antonia drew often, and drew a good chalk likeness of her father around the age of ten.

Some of the instruments that Antonia grew to play quite well included the harpsichord, spinet, clavichord, and harp. She was said to have sung French songs and Italian arias during the family's musical evenings. Antonia was a wonderful dancer, and Horace Walpole once quoted Virgil as to her gait, saying, "vera incessu patuit dea" (she was in truth revealed to be a goddess with her step). As shown in a family portrait, Antonia loved dolls; in the portrait she is excitedly holding up a doll. When Marie Antoinette turned thirteen numerous dolls turned up at Hofburg Palace, all wearing miniature versions of evening gowns, evening dresses, and gold-trimmed gowns.

Of course it's hard to say if all of these words are true. You can only know so much about the past, before it all becomes a big hypothesis, or guessing game. I mean think about it, there are paintings of Marie Antoinette, but we don't know what she looked like for real. The paintings are good, but not lifelike like some of today's. So that leads me to wonder what Antonia actually looked like.