marie antoinette the portrait of an average woman stefan zweig

It’s a most heart-rending letter that tells also of Marie Antoinette’s deep regret that she is forced to leave all her friends in this time of trouble. She goes on to ask her sister to pass on her last words to her children, begging them in most heartfelt terms to love and take care of each other and expressly repeating their father’s last request to his son: « qu’il ne cherche jamais à venger notre mort » (That he never seeks to avenge our death.) You know that I lived only for them and for you, my dear and tender sister.’ ‘ It’s my deep regret that I’m abandoning my children. If she were a selfish woman her last words would all have been about herself, but Marie Antoinette’s letter is only concerned with her love and fears for the people she is leaving behind.

Like him, I am innocent, and I hope to show the same firmness as he did in these last moments. Here’s my translation: It’s to you, my sister, that I write for the last time: I have just been condemned, not to a shameful death – that is only for criminals – but to rejoin your brother.

Here are the opening lines:Ĭ’est à vous, ma soeur, que j’écris pour la dernière fois : je viens d’être condamnée non pas à une mort honteuse, elle ne l’est que pour les criminels, mais à aller rejoindre votre frère, comme lui, innocente, j’espère montrer la même fermeté que lui dans ces derniers moments. It’s a moving, courageous and thoughtful letter. 4h30 du matin.īefore reading this letter I didn’t know much about Marie Antoinette except the stories that have been passed down: that she was a shallow spendthrift with no thought for her people, and of course the famous story that when told her subjects had no bread to eat, she is supposed to have replied, ‘ Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.’ (‘Let them eat cake.’)Īfter reading her letter I was astonished and moved to find a very different woman altogether from the one that history has painted.

Marie Antoinette wrote the letter to her sister-in-law, Madame Elisabeth, a few hours before her execution. At the moment they have a special exhibition, where the last letter written by Marie Antoinette is held in a glass case. It’s owned by the Earl and Countess of Harewood, and the state rooms and gardens are open to the public. Harewood House is a stately home on the outskirts of Leeds in the north of England.

Marie antoinette the portrait of an average woman stefan zweig