Antoinette la Bien-Aimée?

So, Marie-Antoinette was regarded as something akin to a 'moloch' by the French by the time of her death. And yet, on her original arrival in Paris, someone said to her "today, a thousand people have fallen in love with you".

Could Antoinette secure a longer-lasting affection of the French people?
 
So, Marie-Antoinette was regarded as something akin to a 'moloch' by the French by the time of her death. And yet, on her original arrival in Paris, someone said to her "today, a thousand people have fallen in love with you".
Erm...Maybe it was what said to her, but she was hugely distrusted by the court since she first came and it clearly had some consequences on popular affection (that wasn't too much forced to do so, due to the traditional animosity towards Habsburg).

She basically fell into each trap Versaille's court could set up for her (a wasp nest would be a good definition) while still being under pressure from Autrichian's and its interests.

While its charachter seems pretty bland and superficial (more knowledgable than actually skilled and with a very limited political deepness), she served as the focus of animosity and scandals in court, even when she tried to avoid it.

Getting rid of court intrigues seems hard, and having them discovering she had a spine earlier than 1780's would be even more.

Better get rid of some incidents that clearly made her hated by popular classes.

- Having Du Barry never being mistress of Louis XV would help greatly : not only the clashes between Marie-Antoinette and her clearly didn't helped, but she was directly responsible of Du Choiseul fall, the only true supporter of Marie-Antoinette as token of the new alliance with Austria.

- No "Affaire du Collier". I won't go into details, but it both weakened its position and revealed how much it was weak in first place (basically, the court ruled that the queen setting up a secret rendez-vous to an admirer by night was something totally plausible)

-During the Revolution, she should stand bland rather than being suddenly active. I don't know, make Louis XVIII dying as well in order to make her depressive or something. Just make her don't move. Or talk. Or anything (breath can be tolerated).

I would think however, that seeing how much Austrians were focus of a real animosity, how superficial was the queen, and how the urban movement distrust court (not that willing to make a distinction between different factions and the queen as well), a great love isn't that much doable in the first years. Maybe it could change eventually.

If Louis XVI manage to go his way trough Revolution without being harmed, his wife would be safe and can be well seen at the end.
If not, what she can hope for is banishment.
 
Would a longer-lived La Pompadour help protect Choiseul? Or maybe du Barry's pet monkey bites her a la Alexander of Greece:D

And as to the Revolution, would a less apathetic/more decisive Louis XVI help to keep her away from all the hurly-burly politicking? IIRC part of the reason she became as active in politics as she did, was due to the king's depression following the death of his son.
 
Would a longer-lived La Pompadour help protect Choiseul? Or maybe du Barry's pet monkey bites her a la Alexander of Greece:D
Ahah, no. Definitely not.
Marie-Antoinette was basically the XVIII equivalent of a high school girl, having a too important sense of self-dignity and intelligence to be a "dumb blonde" stereotype, not enough to be a grand queen.
I would think she was more fitted for a secondary role, a lesser marriage. She was simply not skilled enough for being a queen, furthermore a queen in french court (that was, again, a crab nest, the kind of crab nest that is insulting to crabs), without talking of the Revolutionnary Era french court.
Du Barry, however, was skilled, clever and having huge support or power on court nobility.

It is possible, though, that La Pompadour could have supported Choiseul. After all she "created" him in large parts. But she didn't lived enouh to pay for his influence on the switching of alliances on the other hand : would she have lived on, maybe her political role would have be reduced.
Nevertheless, you had a good idea there. Louis XV kept really good relations with his ex-mistress and Du Barry political role (that was OTL considerably reduced compared to Pompadour) would be probably even lesser.

And as to the Revolution, would a less apathetic/more decisive Louis XVI help to keep her away from all the hurly-burly politicking? IIRC part of the reason she became as active in politics as she did, was due to the king's depression following the death of his son.
I would think, on the contrary, that a less helpless Louis XVI would be more reactionnary : every time he showed some decision, he was at best on the "right-side" of revolutionnary movement, barely moderate. He would certainly found in his wife a support for such policy.
Admittedly, he could moderate her as well, but I won't see much change in her or his policy at this point.
 
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