She became Dauphine of France upon the accession of her uncle and father-in-law, Charles X , to the French throne in On 2 August , after the July Revolution , both Charles X and her husband signed an instrument of abdication twenty minutes apart. Some popular sources identify her to be a short-reigning Queen of France in the twenty minute interval between the signatures, but scholarly sources generally consider this to be a myth.
Marie Antoinette almost died of suffocation during the birth process due to a crowded and unventilated room, but the windows were finally opened to let fresh air in the room in an attempt to revive her. When she was revived, the queen greeted her daughter whom she later nicknamed Mousseline with delight: [ 5 ]. Poor little one, you are not what was desired, but you are none the less dear to me! A son would have belonged to the state, but you will belong to me. Her second name, Charlotte, was for her mother's favourite sister, Maria Carolina of Austria , Queen consort of Naples and Sicily , who was known as Charlotte in the family.
Louis XVI was an affectionate father, who delighted in spoiling his daughter, while her mother was stricter. Marie Antoinette was determined that her daughter should not grow up to be as haughty as her husband's unmarried aunts. In contrast to her image as a materialistic queen who ignored the plight of the poor, Marie Antoinette attempted to teach her daughter about the sufferings of others. I should have liked to have given you all these as New Year's gifts, but the winter is very hard, there is a crowd of unhappy people who have no bread to eat, no clothes to wear, no wood to make a fire.
I have given them all my money; I have none left to buy you presents, so there will be none this year. Out of all her siblings, she was closest to Louis Joseph, and after his death, Louis Charles. Social discontent mixed with a crippling budget deficit provoked an outburst of anti-absolutist sentiment. By , France was hurtling toward revolution as the result of bankruptcy brought on by the country's support of the American Revolution and high food prices due to drought, all of which was exacerbated by propagandists whose central object of scorn and ridicule was the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette.
As the attacks upon the queen grew ever more vicious, the popularity of the monarchy plummeted. Inside the court at Versailles , jealousies and xenophobia were the principal causes of resentment and anger toward Marie Antoinette.
