Author Description

From her grand arrival in France in the spring of 1770 to her macabre journey to the guillotine in 1793, Marie Antoinette spent her life in Paris and Versailles. As a young Austrian archduchess her future was arranged for her and, aged 19, she was despatched to France to wed the French Dauphin, the awkward Louis, in a ceremony of pomp and splendour. Showered with jewels, fine clothes and admiration, she indulged in all the riches Versailles had to offer. Marie Antoinette's world was played out among the French royal palaces and gardens in and around Paris. All was to change, however, when revolution turned that world upside-down and the mob vented its fury on the Austrian archduchess. Arrested and tried by her enemies, she was executed at what is now the Place de la Concorde in Paris in October 1793. In this stylish book Diana Reid Haig walks us through modern Paris and the palaces which surround it, pointing out all the key places connected to Marie Antoinette. The author takes us on a guided tour in the elegant pages of this book, giving us the history, telling us the anecdotes, and showing us where Marie Antoinette spent good times as well as bad. We go from the palace and gardens of Versailles, where the queen of France played at shepherdess, to central Paris and the churches, theatres, shops and boutiques, and the prisons and courts, touched by the history of Marie Antoinette. Walks through Marie Antoinette's Paris presents the reader with four guided tours. Each walk explores scenes from Marie Antoinette's life; we see the famous sites, and less well-known landmarks are revealed, as we are taken on a journey through the life and times of France's most famous queen. Lavishly illustrated in colour, and including colour maps, this elegant pocket-sized book will delight travellers and lovers of history.