The Shadow of Succession

As months turned to years without a pregnancy, the pressure on Marie Antoinette intensified. The lack of an heir was not just a personal failure but a potential dynastic catastrophe. The king's brothers, the Comte de Provence and the Comte d'Artois, both married and potentially capable of producing heirs, represented alternative successions that would sideline Marie Antoinette completely.

The medical consultations were humiliating affairs. Court physicians examined both the dauphin and dauphine, their findings becoming public knowledge within hours. The consensus that the problem lay with Louis-Auguste did little to stop gossip about Marie Antoinette's supposed failings. Some whispered about secret lovers, others about physical defects, and still others suggested divine punishment for the unnatural Austrian alliance.

Marie Antoinette's mother bombarded her with advice, remedies, and increasingly frantic letters. Maria Theresa sent her own physician, Van Swieten, to examine the couple. His report, preserved in the Austrian archives, confirms the physical issue but also notes the couple's mutual embarrassment and inability to discuss the matter frankly. He recommended patience and possibly surgery for the dauphin, advice that went unheeded for years.

The psychological toll was considerable. Marie Antoinette threw herself into amusements—gambling, dancing, theatrical performances—partly to distract herself from the constant scrutiny. This increased activity, intended as escape, was interpreted by critics as frivolity and neglect of duty. The Comte de Provence's wife, Marie-Joséphine, made pointed comments about spending less time dancing and more time in the marriage bed.

Within her private correspondence, we see a different Marie Antoinette. Her letters to her sister Maria Carolina reveal deep unhappiness and fear. She worried about being sent back to Austria in disgrace, about Louis-Auguste taking a mistress who might provide illegitimate but recognized children, about growing old at Versailles as a barren, powerless figure. These fears drove many of her subsequent actions and alliances.