Marie Antoinette, the French Catherine

Hmm, you would need some significant changes in European politics. As far as i am aware, the French were not that keen on Marie, partly because she was Austrian. You would need Austria to be a ally of France, or at least netural.
 
Have the American revolution fail early or not happen? So France doesn't go bankrupt, call the estates general and have their own? Then at least things are stable enough that she "could" do it.

This of course presupposes she has the will and ability, and some reason to do it. Possibly Louis dies youngish and she siezes the regency for her son?
 
Have her be more well-liked. Avoid the scandals, maybe have her survive an assassination attempt (that always works).
Then, if the revolution happens, she and Louis could guide the terror against the aristocracy rather than the Monarchy. Keep the constitution that gave the King broad powers but ruling alongside a democratic national assembly.

Then, maybe have Louis XVI die in like 1793-95. But of natural causes or maybe a radical assassin. Since he'd, along with Marie, taken up the position of "L'Revolution, c'est moi!", he'd die well-beloved. Her son becomes King, but she reigns as regent. In the span of time between her becoming regent and the child coming of age, she could do things.
If she just had the willpower and the know-how for the politics game.
 
This sounds quite intriguing! To begin with, Marie Antoinette actually had several advantages over Catherine. First of all, since French was already spoken in the Imperial Court of Vienna in Hofburg Palace, she didn't have to learn a new language (complete with a different alphabet). Secondly, since she was already Catholic, she didn't have renounce her faith when she married Louis. Moreover, she didn't have to change her given name unlike Catherine and virtually every other Tsarist consort after Peter the Great's time!
However, there are a few impediments that Marie Antoinette had that may not have been so easy to overcome.
First of all, there's that pesky Salic Law in which not only was any woman forbidden to reign as monarch in those nations that adhered to it but also forbade even royal men maternally descended from monarchs to succeed to the throne. Inasmuch as Louis had younger brothers and male cousins, the Capet Dynasty was not in danger of dying out if this law wasn't overturned-unlike in Marie Antoinette's homeland of Austria a generation earlier when her grandfather Charles VI, the last male Hapsburg died in 1740 and in order for his very capable heiress (MA's mother) Maria Theresa to succeed, they had to create an entirely newdynasty [Hapsburg-Lorraine] and have Maria Theresa's husband Francis, Duke of Lorraine become the technical Emperor of Austria with Maria Theresa being the Empress Consort. Francis was a rather dim fellow who had no interest whatsover in governing his legal empire- preferring to spend as much time possible cardplaying and chasing women. Luckily for Austria, Maria Theresa had great interest in ruling and was the de facto ruler of her father's empire that she was the consort of the technical ruler of! Not only did Maria Theresa consider it her duty to rule and replenish the dynasty with as many archdukes/archduchesses as possible (she'd bear 16 children!), but so dedicated was she to the business of ruling that she actually delayed having a bad tooth pulled until she knew she was in labor with her 15th child (MA herself) so she'd be able to combine the recouperation time from both infirmaties- conducting business until the labor pains became too intense. Despite being raised by a mother who clearly represented what a strong female monarch was capable of, Marie Antoinette proved not to have inheritted that dedication to governing.
Russia had no Salic Law but the Tsarist throne had been succeeded by a primogeniture until 1682 when Tsar Feodor died and it was decided that he would be succeeded by two CO-Tsars- his frail brother Ivan V and their hearty ten-year-old half-brother Peter! From that point onwards, it went from co-tsars to Peter alone to his wife to her stepgrandson to his half- first cousin once-removed to her great-nephew to his half-first cousin twice removed to her nephew to his wife- Catherine the Great.
This leads to the second impediment Marie Antoinette would have had to have overcome. While universally praised for her beauty when she arrived as a bride at age 14 (having taken after Francis's side), that alone did not win over the French subjects to her side because, in spite of her mother's many entreaties and pleas, MA proved to have also inheritted her father's dull and frivilous brain. Maria Theresa even forecast MA's gloomy end but to no avail to her daughter. MA was happy to dominate her easily placated husband Louis but refused to consider that they both needed a power base amongst the populace to keep their power until far too late.
Third impimendent may sound odd but it bears noting that while Catherine never viewed her husband Peter III with anything more than disdain (and vice versa), MA always seemed to have affection for Louis and it became increasingly clear that he was to be her staunchest (if not only) ally in the French court. Even when her marriage (and therefore the union between France and Austria) was at risk of being annulled due to Louis's infertility for the first six years (the cause being a rather painful growth in a sensitive spot- which MA spelled out to her anxious mother in correspondense), despite MA's teasing her foes at courts with flirtations, it doesn't appear that MA actually considered having offspring from another man to bear a Dauphin to keep her position. This is something it seems probable Catherine DID do[possibly at Empress Elizabeth's behest/engineering'!.
Also, in spite of being raised by a mother who took great pride in her nation and subjects, MA didn't seem to ever develop any liking or empathy towards her own nor did she try to cultivate any support amongst the government or military for herself (which Catherine DID do- and this proved vital for the successful overthrow and keeping the throne). It also should be noted that even after Louis's execution and forced separation from their son (nominally called Louis XVII), Marie never attempted to pretend she had ever been monarch in her own right- just the widow and mother of monarchs. When Catherine overthrew Peter III, she made no attempt to even pretend she was going to rule as her son's Regent but solely in her own right!
So, in a nutshell, for MA to become the French Catherine, she'd have had to a.) have the Salic Law abolished. b.)have her mother's instead of her father's dedication to ruling c.) had little if any affection for her husband to the point of having no regard for overtaking his position d.) been willing to ingratiate herself to governmental and military supporters.
That's a LOT for her to have had to overcome! LOL
 
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