The Execution of Marie Antoinette
October 14, 1793: Prisoner #280
On October 14, 1793, I traveled to the Conciergerie to witness the trial of Marie Antoinette. There have been drastically conflicting accounts of what type of person she was. I wanted to know whether the former archduchess of Austria was a selfish monster who callously let her people starve while she gambled and threw constant parties, or if she was a tragically misunderstood victim of the Reign of Terror. I wondered how the French public had gone from admiring the beautiful, teenage princess to villainizing her as the most hated person in France by the end of her eighteen-year reign.
I fought my way through the dense crowd to witness the trial at the Conciergerie. When I first saw her, she did not look as I expected. No extravagant hairdo or jewels. She looked sickly and thin and wore a black mourning dress to reflect her status as a widow. Months in prison, her son’s death, the shock of seeing her best friend’s head on a spike just outside her prison window, and separation from her remaining two children had also aged and humbled her.
I squeezed my way to the front of the crowd so that I could hear. The trial began when Antoine Quentin Fouquier, public accuser, said sternly, “…Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis Capet, has been brought before the revolutionary tribunal, as accused of conspiring against France… She has, since her abode in France, been the scourge and blood sucker of the French.”
I spent two days in the merciless courtroom to find out more. They accused her of sending the king of Bohemia and Hungary millions of dollars and using up all the money in the national treasury. They also made many other allegations, including causing a famine on purpose, dominating her husband, distributing lewd images, having many affairs and even abusing her own son. In addition, she was said to have sent millions of livres of treasury money to Austria, plotted to kill the Duke of Orléans, declared her son to be the new king of France, and was responsible for the murder of hundreds of Swiss Guards.
“The widow of Capet,” as they called her, did not look hopeful. During these accusations, she was mostly quiet or gave minimal answers, except when the subject of abusing her son was spoken. She was unable to remain composed and said, "I remain, sir, silent on that subject, because nature holds all such crimes in abhorrence. I appeal to all mothers who are present in this auditory—is such a crime possible?" Her protests were ignored. The stern-looking jury, judges, prosecutors, and numerous witnesses showed no hint of compassion for her.
On the third day I was there, October 16, news spread that she had been found guilty. At noon, I joined the unruly crowd to watch her arrival in a cart to the Place de la Révolution. She was dressed in a plain, white dress. Her hair was cut off, and her hands were tied behind her back. Some people in the crowd stared quietly at her, not recognizing her in her simplicity. Others laughed, screamed, and taunted her. Some yelled, “Bravo!” Alongside her priest, she walked steadily, held up her head, and did not speak or beg for her life. I only heard her utter a few words when walking up to the scaffold after she accidentally tread upon the executioner’s foot. She said humbly, "Pardon me, sir. I meant not to do it." Shortly after her head was separated from her body, the crowd chanted "Vive la République," which means “Long live the Republic!” Three depraved spectators dipped their handkerchiefs in her blood as morbid souvenirs and were arrested.
As I stared at her severed head, I considered that Marie Antoinette may have once been a self-centered spendthrift who got lost in her own world of parties and fashion. However, it is obvious that some of the accusations against her were exaggerated and fabricated. It seems to me that the executions of her and her husband were based less on evidence against them than on a determination to villainize the monarchs and unify the people into wholly supporting the Revolution.
Bibliography:
“French Execution Ballads: Crimes de Marie-Antoinette.” Omeka RSS. University of Melbourne. omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/execution-ballads/items/show/985.
Fuson, Olivia. “Marie Antoinette’s Sacrifice and the Fragmentation of French Femininity.” University of Minnesota. AISThesis. 2018. pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/aisthesis/article/view/1205/1152.
“Marie Antoinette: Château de Versailles.” Marie Antoinette | Château de Versailles. Château de Versailles. February 2023. en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/marie-antoinette.
Nitschke, Lauren. “Death of Marie Antoinette: How & Why.” The Collector. The Collector. 2025. www.thecollector.com/marie-antoinette-death/.
“The Trial of Louis XVI. Late King of France, and Marie Antoinette, His Queen.” University of Michigan Digital Collections, Lansingburgh. quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N36069.0001.001/1:6?rgn=div1;view=fulltext.