Bits and bobs

Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793), daughter of the emperor and empress of Austria was married to the king Louis XVI of France (1754-1793), both of them were executed by guillotine at the height of the French Revolution.

She became queen of France at the age of 19 and had a reputation for lavish and extravagant tastes

She has come into fashion thanks to a recent biography by the UK historian, Lady Antonia Frazer and the film by Sofia Coppola based on this biography.

Coppola details a decadent world in which the French aristocracy live to excess. Marie-Antoinette is a young Austrian girl in a foreign land who does not know how to behave and she turns to drink and gambling when her husband, the heir to the French Throne spurns her in the marital chamber.


Coppola said the film was not a political statement on current times about French Revolution, she was making a portrait of Marie-Antoinette and althought it is a drama, the film has a sense of modernity and it resembles pop videos and teen dramas. Since it was released this summer, visitors to the palace of Versailles have increased considerably.


Moreover, next 8 June will hold the symbolic heart re-burial at Saint Demis Basilica of ten year-old Louis XVII. The dauphin, son of Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI is going to rest in the family crypt after 200 years of controversy.

And finally, taking advantage of this fashion, The Palace of Versailles is going to launch a perfume just today based on the fragance once used by Marie-Antoinette.
A 25 ml bottle will cost 350 euros and it will be sold only to order. A limited prestige version of 1025cl crystal bottles will be sold by 8000 euros each, this "royal" perfume comes with an aristocratic price tag.
Profits will be used to buy a travel chest the queen once owned.