On 17 April 1770, Marie Antoinette swore on a bible to renounce her rights to the Austrian hereditary lands through her mother and to Lorraine through her father. This was done to ensure that no claims were made through the female line should the male line fail.
That evening, her brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, threw a supper party for 1500 people at the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. Over 800 firemen stood guard as a party of this magnitude required over 4,000 candles. Even more surprising was the presence of several dentists in case of a sudden toothache.1 Dinner was served in stages of 100 people at the time while the drinks were free flowing. The party ended up lasting until seven in the morning, although the family had withdrawn at around 3 in the morning.
The following day, Marie Antoinette was received by the French Ambassador at the Liechtenstein Palace just outside Vienna. He would be forbidden to receive her once the proxy wedding had taken place, so it had to be done before the wedding. This time 850 guests were invited, but Count Khevenhüller, the Court Chamberlain, reported that the entertainment had not nearly been as good as the night before.2
On 19 April 1770, at six in the evening, it was finally time for the proxy wedding. This was done to ensure that the woman in question could travel with her new rank. Marie Antoinette’s own brother Ferdinand would stand in for Louis Auguste, and he took the Latin vow, “I am willing and thus make my promise.”3 He knelt beside his sister and had supper by her side that evening. The proxy wedding took place in the Augustinian Church in Vienna, and Marie Antoinette was led up the aisle by her mother, Maria Theresa. Her mother and brother Joseph sat on a special dais to the right of the altar, while Marie Antoinette and Ferdinand sat at a lower level.
For this proxy wedding, Marie Antoinette wore a gown of cloth-of-silver, and her train was carried by Countess Trautmannsdorf. The wedding was officiated by the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor Visconti, as the vows were said and the rings were blessed. As the ceremony concluded, salvoes were fired outside. At nine in the evening, the official marriage supper began. This was to last for several hours and would not even be the end of the festivities in Vienna. The following night another gala would take place, but this time Marie Antoinette was “Madame la Dauphine.”
Marie Antoinette also wrote to “her very dear grandfather”, King Louis XV (her husband’s grandfather), to say that thanks to the proxy wedding, she now “belongs to Your Majesty.”4 She signed the letter as “Antoine.”
Marie Antoinette was scheduled to leave for France on 21 April at 9 in the morning. Shortly before her departure, Maria Theresa held her daughter tight and told her, “Farewell, my dearest child, a great distance will separate us… Do so much good to the French people that they can say that I have sent them an angel.”5 Marie Antoinette reportedly continued to crane her neck as the carriage departed to see her home for the last time.
A procession of 57 carriages would bring the new Dauphine to France.
I’m looking forward to reading about Marie Josephine!