10. Maria Antoinette: The French Queen made a Scapegoat by the French Revolution.
The French may have branded Isabeau de Bavaria, a traitor. However, she was never tried. Another French Queen did not so easily escape the charge of treason- even though, in reality, she had done little to justify the accusation except to live the pampered, privileged lifestyle enjoyed by all French aristocrats. In August 1793, just under a year after the new revolutionary government abolished the monarchy and seven months after her husband’s execution, Marie Antoinette was taken from her children. Her new home was a dank cell in the Conciergerie in the Temple prison, Paris. Only a flimsy screen separated her from her guards. Here she was to wait for her trial for the next two and a half months.
On October 14, the trial began. The queen sat for 15 hours, then a further 24 hours the next day while the prosecution built their case for treason. They accused Marie Antoinette of incest and adultery based on the fact that she had allowed her young son, Louis Charles to share her bed. She was also charged with depleting the treasury of France of millions to fund her extravagant lifestyle and sending money to Austria. The critical charge, however, was that Marie Antoinette and Louis had planned a counter-revolution in 1792 that would have declared her son the new king of France.
Most of the evidence was fabricated and flimsy. However, early on October 16, Marie Antoinette was found guilty of High Treason. The court decreed that she had acted as an enemy agent against France, depleted the national treasury and threatened the internal and external security of the state. At 4.30 am, the former Queen was told she would die that day by guillotine. She did not say a word. She knew that the events were a foregone conclusion and that whatever her faults as a monarch, the charge of treason was just a pretext for her execution.