Marie-Antoinette

In October 1793, Marie Antoinette was executed by the Jacobins. To mark the bi-centenary of this event, Ian Dunlop offers a portrait of the unfortunate queen. He aims to present her as contemporaries would have seen her, sharply characterized against a vivid background. Dunlop describes her wedding festivities, taking readers behind the scenes. He also describes her husband's coronation and the queen's feelings about the Diamond Necklace hoax. The reader shares ceaseless rounds of visits to Fontainebleau, Compiegne, Marly, Choisy-le-Roi, La Muette and Trianon, and accompanies Marie Antoinette on the road to Varennes and back. Dunlop finally gives an account of Marie Antoinette's suffering and humiliations in the Temple, and a last glimpse of her through the eyes of Rosalie Lamorliere, in the Conciergerie.