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"I think that my days of privacy are numbered. I have many odd thoughts about this marriage. It is hard to explain. It is not that I don't want it. I want to meet, and I am sure that I shall love, the Dauphin, but there is so much more. The Court of Versailles I think is quite different from our Imperial Court in Vienna. Versailles is a very complicated place."
Marie Antoinette[2]

Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles is the fourth book in The Royal Diaries. It was the second book in the series to be written by Kathryn Lasky after Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor. The book was released by Scholastic in April 2000 and republished in November 2013 with new cover art. It was also released in Mon Histoire and My Royal Story.

A young Marie Antoinette prepares to leave Vienna to marry Lousis Auguste, the Dauphin of France.

Book description[]

"June 13, 1769
It has come at last—the marriage proposal! King Louis XV's personal envoys arrived this morning. I was called immediately to Mama's summer house, The Gloriette, where she works on the hottest days. I did not know what I was being called for. Indeed, I thought maybe Luisa had told Mama about our picnic and I was to be reprimanded for hill rolling! But as soon as I set foot in the cool marble receiving room, Mama was out of her chair behind the desk and running toward me. She crushed me to her bosom and whispered, "Antonia, you are to be married! You are to be the Queen of France!" Her cheeks were wet with tears and soon mine were, too!
"

""I am to be Queen of France."
To forge an incredibly powerful alliance, thirteen-year-old Maria Antonia of Austria, who will one day be known as Marie Antoinette, is betrothed to Dauphin Louis Auguste, the future King of France. In order to prepare her for this awesome responsibility, she must be trained to write, read, speak French, dress, act... even breathe. Things become more difficult for her when she is separated from her family and sent to the court of Versailles to meet her future husband. Opinionated and headstrong Maria must find a way to fit in at the royal court and get along with her fiancé. The futures of Austria and France depend on it. But as she lives a luxurious life inside the palace gates, out on the streets the people of France face hunger and poverty. Through the pages of her diary, Maria captures the isolation, the lavish parties and gowns, her struggle to find her place, and the years leading up her ascendance of the throne... and a revolution.
"

"It's 1769. Austrian Archduchess Maria Antonia is preparing to leave her childhood home and travel alone to France. There she will be at the centre of the suffocating French court where etiquette and gossip reign. Where her every move will be watched and commented on. And where must transform herself into Marie Antoinette–the future Queen of France..."

"Partage le journal intime de Marie-Antoinette, et vis avec elle le fascinant destin d'une jeune princesse à Versailles.
⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻
13 Juin 1769. Oh mon Dieu, ça y est! Elle est enfin là—la demande en mariage! Les émissaires du roi Louis XV sont arrivés ce matin. J'ai tout de suite été appelée dans la maison d'été où maman travaille. Je pensais que j'allais me faire gronder parce que j'avais joué à peine posé le pied dans la salle de réception en marbre que maman s'est précipitée vers moi. Elle m'a écrasée sur sa poitrine et m'a murmuré: "Antonia, tu vas te marier! Tu vas devenir reine de France!" Ses joues étaient toutes mouillées de larmes, et les miennes n'ont pas tardé à l'être aussi!
"

"Le fascinant destin d'une adolescente qui doit conquérir la cour de France. En fin d'ouvrage, un supplément historique sur Marie-Antoinette et la vie à Versailles aux à côtés de Louis XVI.
«13 juin 1769. Oh mon Dieu, ça y est! Elle est enfin là—la demande en mariage! Les émissaires du roi Louis XV sont arrivés ce matin. J'ai tout de suite été appelée dans la maison d'été où maman travaille. J'ai à peine posé le pied dans la salle de réception en marbre que maman s'est précipitée vers moi. Elle m'a écrasée sur sa poitrine et m'a murmuré:
"Antonia, tu vas te marier! Tu vas devenir reine de France!" Ses joues étaient toutes mouillées de larmes, et les miennes n'ont pas tardé à l'être aussi!»"

Plot[]

Thirteen-year-old, Maria Antonia prepares for her upcoming marriage to the Dauphin of France, Louis Auguste. He will one day be King, when his grandfather Louis XV dies. The marriage is advantageous for Antonia's mother, Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria and Hungary, who seeks an unbreakable alliance with France. However, Theresa becomes anxious, when the official proposal fails to arrive from France.

The royal family are spending the summer in Schönbrunn Palace, when the proposal finally arrives. She spent the following months learning the etiquette of the French court as well as practicing French dancing and horse riding. A few months before marrying, Antonia's beloved governess and niece passed away. On April 19, 1770, Antonia was married by proxy with her brother standing in as Louis Auguste.

Antonia, now Marie Antoinette, makes her way to the Austrian border, where her new head Lady-in-Waiting, Countess de Noailles greets her. They perform a ceremony in which, Antoinette leaves Austria forever and enters into France. A few days later, she meets her husband for the first time in Compiègne and they stage another wedding ceremony in Versailles later.

Antoinette initially dislikes her new husband, but slowly becomes his friend over the following months. This spells trouble for Madame du Barry, the King's mistress, who schemes against Antoinette. Meanwhile, Antoinette refuses to speak to du Barry, despite her advisers urging her to. Eventually on New Year's Day, Antoinette gives in to the King's wishes and says a simple sentence to du Barry.

Epilogue[]

Historical Note[]

Characters[]

Main article: List of Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles characters

Author[]

Main article: Kathryn Lasky

Kathryn Lasky is an American children's author whom sometimes writes for adults under pen names. She is best known for her Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. Lasky is the author of five books in The Royal Diaries, including Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, Jahanara, and Kazunomiya. She also wrote four books in Dear America, three in My America, and one in My Name Is America. In the "About the Author" section, Lasky wrote fascination with princesses, especially Marie Antoinette, who she felt "personified all the best and the worst things about being a princess." Like Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, Lasky spent a lot of time researching and "that all of what she wrote is based on actual facts."

Editions[]

Awards[]

  • NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People (2001) - recommended[14]
  • IRA Young Adults' Choices Reading List (2002)

Notes[]

  • The portrait on the cover of the original The Royal Diaries edition was illustrated by Tim O'Brien.
  • The cover of the 2013 reprint was illustrated by Mélanie Delon.
  • Richard Jones illustrated Marie Antoinette on the cover of the My Royal Story edition.

References[]

See also[]



My Story
Original

The Hunger | Voyage on the Great Titanic | The Crystal Palace | Blitz | My Tudor Queen | Twentieth-Century Girl
The Great Plague | The '45 Rising | Civil War | Trafalgar | The Trenches | Battle of Britain | Mill Girl | Transported
Armada | Crimea | Bloody Tower | Indian Mutiny | Zulu War | Mayflower | Agincourt | Suffragette | Waterloo | Slave Girl
Flying Ace | Anne Boleyn and Me | D-Day | Victorian Workhouse | Spy Smuggler | Desert Danger | War Nurse
U-Boat Hunter | The Queen's Spies

1st relaunch

Princess of Egypt | Pompeii | Road to War | Roman Invasion | Viking Blood | Highway Girl | Sophie's Secret War
The Storm to Come | The Sweep's Boy | The Fall of the Blade | Pyramid of Secrets | Factory Girl | Dodger!
No Way Back | Wartime Princess | London Stories | Berlin Olympics | Lady Jane Grey | Nowhere to Run

2nd relaunch

Codename Céline

3rd relaunch

Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan | Ignatius Sancho | Princess Sophia Duleep Singh | Mary Prince

My Royal Story

Victoria | Anastasia | Cleopatra | Marie Antoinette | Elizabeth | Mary, Queen of Scots | Henry VIII's Wives

My True Story

What If They Find Us? | Hero at Dunkirk | Standing Alone | Give Us the Vote!

External links[]

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