Marriage of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI
1770
May 16: Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste are married at Versailles.
1771
Rumor-mongers blame Marie Antoinette for the royal couple’s childlessness. Some suggest having the marriage annulled and shipping the Queen back to Austria.
Marie Antoinette snubs Louis XV's mistress, Madame du Barry. Du Barry responds by speaking ill of her to the King.
1777 portrait of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette despises being dressed by her ladies-in-waiting and eating meals in front of the public.
1772
Maria Theresa's ambassador to the Court of Versailles, Mercy-Argenteau, reports that Marie Antoinette is doing nothing to improve Austria’s standing with France.
Marie Antoinette makes friends with the kind-natured Princesse de Lamballe and the Comtesse de Polignac, as well as her brother-in-law, the Comte d’Artois.
1774
May 10: King Louis XV dies of smallpox.
Coronation of Louis XVI
1775
June 11: 20-year old Louis-Auguste is crowned King Louis XVI at the cathedral in Rheims.
Autumn: Rioters in Paris demand cheap bread after a disastrous harvest.
1776
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI live separate lives, his filled with hunting, eating, and introspection, hers with dancing, nightlife, gambling, and fashion.
Louis XVI in hunting attire
1777
Spring: Marie Antoinette’s older brother Joseph II of Austria counsels the still-childless royal couple on their marital relations.
August 30: Marie Antoinette writes to her mother that she and Louis have consummated their marriage.
1778
Marie Antoinette and Louis give birth to their first child, Marie Thérèse Charlotte.
1780
November 29: Marie’s mother, the Empress of Austria, dies.
