Doomed from day one!
The French hated Austrians, and it had a similar feel to the climate between the United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war era. Imagine if during the cold war era if the President of the United States married someone from the Kremlin; that is how the French felt about their Dauphin marrying the Austrian.
If that is too cryptic, watch Blazing Saddles and pay attention to the town welcoming the sheriff. It might as well be Versailles welcoming Marie Antoinette. The French tolerated her at best, and then when the serious problems came in, fingers were pointed at her. She was the scapegoat.
Some basic facts about Marie Antoinette
Teenage Queen
Louis XV's son died, so the succession of the throne went to his grandson upon death -- making Louis and Marie 19 and 18 when they took the throne. They were expected to be much wiser and more mature than their young minds were capable of.
Life in a Fishbowl
From the time she woke up to the time she went to bed, she was always on display and had no privacy at all. Even dressing was a big show, and she hated it.
Court Gossip
Versailles was an endless buffet of gossip, and Marie Antoinette was an easy target because she often disregarded court etiquette. Tongues wagged and she dismissed rumor after rumor.
Marriage Bed
No one is entirely sure of whether it was a physical problem or a psychological one, but nothing was happening in the marriage bed for several years. In fact, Louis' younger brother, the Comte d'Artois had a son (Louis Antoine, le duc d'Angoulême) before his own marriage was ever consummated. The Comte et Comtesse d'Artois had another son (Charles Ferdinand, le duc de Berry) the year I was born. I was the eldest and was born more than 8 years after they were married, and although my birth was a celebration, I was not an heir.
Her Imprisonment and Execution
Marie Antoinette was imprisoned from 1789 until her execution in 1793. Although she was only 37 years old at the time of her death, it has been said that she looked far older and that she looked like an emaciated old woman. The stress of the previous 4 years took a toll on her body. She was very quiet on the way to the scaffold because she was just an empty shell of who she used to be. She accidentally stepped on the executioner's foot, and her final words were, "I'm sorry, I did not do that on purpose."
Her Relationship with Axel Fersen
Marie Antoinette had a close friendship with the Swedish Count, and the French court believed they were lovers. While many debate whether they were lovers, I am looking at the climate at Versailles. They hated Marie Antoinette, and when a gossip-hungry crowd hates someone, they gossip about them even more; that is 100% surveillance. In order for Marie Antoinette to be lovers with Axel Fersen, that meant that she would have had nerves of absolute steel to carry on an affair for that long and never once be caught by even one person in a very large crowd aching to catch her. Given how she looked at her execution, she did not have nerves of steel. Although it was possible they were lovers, I don't feel it was likely. It was just one more rumor she didn't take seriously.
"Let them eat cake."
These are the most infamous words never said, and it's hard to say how it originated. Nasty rumors spread like wildfire, and once spread, it's difficult to erase. It is my dream to have people in the future talk about how charitable and kind she was, and she was given a raw deal.
The Real Monsters
1) Louis Stanislas, Comte de Provence (Later crowned Louis XVIII): He wanted the throne for himself, openly criticized Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and used his printing press to manufacture and distribute pornographic depictions of Marie Antoinette around the streets of Paris. 2) Louis-Philippe, duc d’Orléans: He actively worked to abolish monarchy to create a constitutional one; he voted for the death of Louis XVI (his own cousin), and personally contributed to wheat shortages by dumping flour into the Seine and pointing the finger at Versailles, specifically Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette..