Explanation

Hour after hour it was one ritual after another and always the same, including dressing upon waking, lever – which included the “toilette” carried out with the help of a party of ladies-in-waiting – and the undressing, coucher. The "privilege of entering" these "functions" was a much-aspired-to sign of prestige.

Explanation

Having arrived at the square where the guillotine was set up, with her "gliding" step that in the rooms of Versailles the courtiers had observed with great enthusiasm, she climbed the steps to the guillotine, stopping only to apologize to the executioner for having stepped on his foot: " Pardon me, Sir, I meant not to do it”.

Explanation

It was Marie Thérèse, Queen of Austria, who pushed for her daughter to be wed to the heir to the French throne. This in turn led to her being crowned. The most solid pillar supporting the monarchies were marriages between royal families, and in this case Marie's mother was trying to protect their alliance with France which until that time had not been seen as a good deal for the residents of Versailles.

Explanation

Louis XIV, absolute sovereign, was nicknamed the Sun King for his "aspirations" to become as powerful as the Sun. One day he even dressed up to look like the Sun for a party!

Explanation

The king loved hunting and mechanical works, and he had a small laboratory where he built locks.

Explanation

On 10 June 1791, during the night, the hopeful and bold flight from Paris of the royal family began. Unfortunately, a series of complications, delays, changes of the horses and the wrong road taken caused the director of a station along the way in a small town in Northern France to recognize the queen, and assume that the man next to her was the king. He sounded the alarm and called the soldiers, who did not manage to block the fugitives, however. But it was just a matter of time: in a nearby town they were stopped and arrested.

Explanation

Jeanne de Saint-Rémy, Comtesse de la Motte, who was gifted with inventiveness and diabolical cunning, had convinced the unwitting and naïve Cardinal de Rohan to purchase a very expensive necklace at the queen's request, a request that did not actually exist. The dishonest and complex plot was hard to explain and caused a stir, contributing to ruining Marie Antoinette's reputation and the monarchy’s prestige.

Explanation

These words are traditionally attributed to Marie Antoinette, who is said to have pronounced them in referring to her malnourished people during a revolt unleashed by a lack of bread. The truth is that she never said them; instead, it is likely that her critics attributed the phrase to her to delegitimize the queen in the eyes of the public. Today, we'd call this fake news!