Preparing a Future Queen

As Marie Antoinette's wedding day approached, her transformation from Austrian archduchess to French dauphine began in earnest. Maria Theresa, with characteristic thoroughness, orchestrated every detail of her daughter's preparation. French tutors were imported to perfect her accent, dancing masters to refine her steps, and a small army of dressmakers to create a wardrobe suitable for Versailles.

The empress also commissioned detailed reports about life at the French court. Her agents sent back intelligence about everything from court etiquette to the personalities Marie Antoinette would encounter. Count Mercy-Argenteau, who would become Austria's ambassador to France and Marie Antoinette's unofficial guardian, began sending detailed dispatches about the dauphin Louis-Auguste. These reports, preserved in the Austrian State Archives, painted a picture of a shy, awkward young man more interested in locksmithing than governance.

Marie Antoinette's ladies-in-waiting during this period left valuable accounts of her state of mind. Countess Charlotte von Schönborn wrote to her sister about the young archduchess's mixture of excitement and terror at her impending departure. She practiced French phrases endlessly, worried about her appearance, and clung to her Austrian attendants even as she knew she would have to leave them behind.

The ordinary Viennese who gathered to watch the wedding preparations had their own perspectives. Street vendor Anna Huber, whose diary was discovered in a Vienna archive, described selling flowers to decorate the palace and watching the endless parade of carriages bringing gifts and supplies. She wondered, with the practical wisdom of the working class, whether all this expense would truly bring the promised peace between Austria and France.