The Eve of Revolution

The year 1788 brought unprecedented challenges. Poor harvests led to bread shortages and rising prices. The parlements defied royal authority. Pamphleteers grew ever bolder in their attacks on the monarchy, with Marie Antoinette bearing the brunt of increasingly pornographic and violent libels. The queen found herself blamed for everything from France's financial woes to bad weather.

In this crisis, Marie Antoinette showed unexpected steel. When Louis XVI wavered between different advisors and policies, she pushed for consistency. She supported Jacques Necker's return as finance minister, despite personal reservations, because she recognized his popularity. She also began building her own political networks, corresponding with ambassadors and provincial governors.

The decision to call the Estates-General for the first time since 1614 was made without Marie Antoinette's input, but she understood its significance. She threw herself into preparations, studying precedents and consulting historians. Her notes from this period, preserved in archives, show a woman trying desperately to understand forces beyond her experience or control.

The opening of the Estates-General on May 5, 1789, was Marie Antoinette's last great ceremonial triumph. Dressed in purple and silver, wearing spectacular diamonds, she presided with perfect dignity over the elaborate ceremonies. But observers noted troubling signs. Some delegates refused to bow, and murmurs of "Down with the Austrian" could be heard.

The queen's household during these final months before revolution lived in a strange twilight. Normal routines continued—the lever, the grand couvert, the evening card parties—but with underlying tension. Madame Campan recalled finding the queen in tears after reading particularly vicious pamphlets, then watching her compose herself to preside over a court ceremony minutes later.