The Scandal That Ruined Marie Antoinette’s Reputation

Even though the royal family controlled the throne, it couldn’t control its image

Portrait of Marie Antoinette in 1778, by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun — Public Domain

We all know Marie Antoinette as the Queen during the French Revolution who was famously beheaded at the guillotine, a symbol for everything wrong with the out of touch, unsympathetic monarchy.