2-705-698 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Marie Antoinette, Reine de France', (19th century). Portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. The daughter of Francis I and Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) married the French Dauphin (the future King Louis XVI) in 1770. Louis became king in 1774, but Marie-Antoinette's unpopularity due to her perceived extravagance, indifference to the plight of ordinary people and opposition to reform, contributed to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 and the overthrow of the monarchy. She was tried and executed by the guillotine in 1793 after a year's imprisonment.