by Carrie Eckles

Created on: June 21, 2009   Last Updated: June 22, 2009

Marie Antoinette is one of the most memorable and controversial figures in French history. Her name is easily recognizable and often misattributed to the phrase "Let them eat cake." And while she never said the words often most associated with her, she is remembered for her worldly extravagance and violent death.

Marie Antoinette began her wild ride of a life as Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen on the second day of November, 1755. She was the fifteenth child of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, and carried the title of archduchess through childhood.

As a child, she was known at court as "Madame Antoine", perhaps denoting an already regal streak embedded in her character. However, much of her childhood starkly contrasted a courtly life. In a private setting, the family acted as normal as possible. Young Maria Antonia was brought up playing with the children of commoners and wearing the typical children's clothing of the day - a far cry from the frippery that was to come. Being the fifteenth child, it was no wonder that young Antonia escaped her mother's attention for much of her childhood. Her education could be described as informal at best, and sources allege that she could barely read or write by the age of twelve.

In 1765, young Maria Antonia's father died of a stroke. Her mother became co-ruler of the empire with Maria's older brother, Emperor Joseph II. This event sparked the empress to make several politically tactical marriages for her elder daughters. Far from love matches, these marriages were artfully designed to cement alliances that Austria gained during the Seven Year's War (1756-1763).

The family was stricken with a smallpox outbreak in 1767. One of the elder daughters, Archduchess Maria Josepha (who was betrothed to King Ferdinand of Naples), was killed quickly by the sickness. Maria Elisabeth was afflicted severely; though she didn't die, she was decidedly unfit to marry after that. These losses necessitated a shift in arrangements on the empress's part; younger daughters Maria Carolina and Maria Amalia would marry the King of Naples and Don Ferdinand of Parma, respectively. The smallpox outbreak caused young Maria Antonia to be moved up in the marriage line. With two of her elder sisters out of the picture, she was now more important in the grand scheme of her mother's matrimonial architecture.

At the age of twelve, Marie Antoinette was married by proxy to her fourteen-year-old

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