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Early in Louis XV's widowhood there was talks of further cementing the Habsburg-Bourbon alliance by marrying the king to the Archduchess Maria Elisabeth - reportedly the most beautiful of the Queen of Hungary's daughters. This was designed to keep him out of sex-scandals. Unfortunately, Elisabeth contracted smallpox which reportedly left her horribly scarred and since she was now "unfit" for the marriage market, her mother (probably relieved since Elisabeth had a reputation as a "coquette" at the Viennese court, as well as a rather sharp tongue) hustled her into an abbey at Innsbruck. There she lived out the remainder of her long spinster life, growing terribly fat.

What if Elisabeth had not contracted smallpox, or it had not left her visibly scarred, and instead of an Imperial Abbess she had become the queen of France for a time, what effects would it have on when Antoinette arrived at Versailles? Another reason for considering Elisabeth as a second wife was to further underline the Franco-Austrian alliance by having two Austrian queens of France in succession.
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