Editing Marie Antoinette (section)

===Motherhood, changes at court and intervention in politics (1778–1781)===
Amidst the atmosphere of a wave of ''[[libelles]]'', the Holy Roman Emperor [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] came to France incognito, using the name Comte de Falkenstein, for a six-week visit during which he toured Paris extensively and was a guest at Versailles. He visited the king and queen (his sister) on 18 April 1777 at the [[Château de la Muette]] and spoke frankly to Louis, curious as to why the royal marriage had not been consummated, arriving at the conclusion that no obstacle to the couple's conjugal relations existed save the queen's lack of interest and the king's unwillingness to exert himself.<ref>Lever, Evelyne, ''Louis XVI'', Fayard, Paris, 1985, pp. 289–91</ref>

In a letter to his brother [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany]], Joseph II described them as "a couple of complete blunderers."<ref>{{Harvnb|Cronin|1974|pp=158–59}}</ref> He disclosed to Leopold that the inexperienced Louis had confided in him the course of action he had been undertaking in their marital bed; saying Louis "introduces the member," but then "stays there without moving for about two minutes," withdraws without having completed the act and "bids goodnight."{{sfn|Fraser|2002b|p=156}} Suggestions that Louis suffered from [[phimosis]], which was relieved by [[circumcision]], have been discredited.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=80|title=Circumcision and phimosis in eighteenth century France|website=History of Circumcision|access-date=16 December 2016}}</ref> Nevertheless, following Joseph's intervention, the marriage was finally consummated in August 1777.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cronin|1974|p=159}}</ref> Eight months later, in April 1778, it was suspected that the queen was pregnant, which was officially announced on 16 May.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2001|pp=160–61}}</ref> Marie Antoinette's daughter, [[Marie Thérèse of France|Marie-Thérèse Charlotte]], ''Madame Royale'', was born at Versailles on 19 December 1778.<ref name="Fraser 2001 166–170" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Cronin|1974|p=161}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hibbert|2002|p=23}}</ref> The child's paternity was contested in the ''libelles'', as were all her children's.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2001|p=169}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Fraser |first=Antonia |title=Marie Antoinette: The Journey |publisher=Phoenix |year=2006 |isbn=9780753821404 |pages=182–193}}</ref>

In the middle of the queen's pregnancy, two events occurred which had a profound effect on her later life: the return of her friend, the Swedish diplomat Count [[Axel von Fersen the Younger]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12096119/Marie-Antoinettes-torrid-affair-with-Swedish-count-revealed-in-decoded-letters.html |title=Marie-Antoinette's torrid affair with Swedish count revealed in decoded letters |website=The Telegraph |last=Samuel |first=Henry |date=12 January 2016}}</ref> to Versailles for two years, and her brother's [[War of the Bavarian Succession|claim to the throne]] of [[Electorate of Bavaria|Bavaria]], contested by [[Saxony]] and Prussia.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cronin|1974|pp=162–64}}</ref> Marie Antoinette pleaded with her husband for the French to intercede on behalf of Austria. The [[Peace of Teschen]], signed on 13 May 1779, ended the brief conflict, with the queen imposing French mediation at her mother's insistence and Austria gaining the [[Innviertel]] territory of at least 100,000 inhabitants—a strong retreat from the early French position which was hostile towards Austria. This gave the impression, partially justified, that the queen had sided with Austria against France.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2001|pp=158–71}}</ref>{{sfn|d'Arneth|Geffroy|1874|pp=168–170, 180–182, 210–212}}

Meanwhile, the queen began to institute changes in court customs. Some of them met with the disapproval of the older generation, such as the abandonment of heavy makeup and the popular wide-hooped [[Pannier (clothing)|panniers]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style |last=Kindersley |first=Dorling |publisher=DK Publishing |year=2012 |location=New York |pages=146–49}}</ref> The new fashion called for a simpler feminine look, typified first by the rustic [[Polonaise (clothing)|''robe à la polonaise'']] style and later by the ''[[1775-95 in Western fashion#Women's fashion|gaulle]]'', a layered muslin dress Marie Antoinette wore in a 1783 [[Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun|Vigée-Le Brun]] portrait.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cronin|1974|pp=127–28}}</ref> In 1780 she began to participate in amateur plays and musicals in the [[Théâtre de la Reine]] built for her by [[Richard Mique]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2001|pp=174–79}}</ref>

[[File:MA-Lebrun.jpg|thumb|''[[Marie Antoinette with a Rose]]'', a 1783 portrait of Marie Antoinette that was criticised for showing what was described as improper and informal attire for a queen. In response to the criticism, it was repainted with the queen in a blue silk dress.<ref>[http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=art_journal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318103947/http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&context=art_journal|date=18 March 2015}} Kelly Hall: "Impropriety, Informality and Intimacy in Vigée Le Brun's Marie Antoinette en Chemise", pp. 21–28. Providence College Art Journal, 2014.</ref>]]
Repayment of the French debt remained a difficult problem, further exacerbated by Vergennes and also by Marie Antoinette prodding<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Larkin|first=T. Lawrence|date=2010|title=A "Gift" Strategically Solicited and Magnanimously Conferred|journal=Winterthur Portfolio|volume=44|issue=1|pages=31–76|doi=10.1086/651087|jstor=10.1086/651087|s2cid=142922208|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/651087 | issn = 0084-0416}}</ref> Louis to involve France in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. The primary motive for the queen's involvement in political affairs in this period may arguably have had more to do with court factionalism than any true interest on her part in politics,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Antoinette-queen-of-France|title=Marie-Antoinette {{!}} Biography & French Revolution|work=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=3 February 2018}}</ref> but she played an important role in aiding the [[American Revolution]] by securing Austrian and [[Russian Empire|Russian]] support for France, which resulted in the establishment of the [[First League of Armed Neutrality]] that stopped Britain's attack, and by weighing in decisively for the nomination of [[Philippe Henri, marquis de Ségur|Philippe Henri, Marquis de Ségur]], as Minister of War and [[Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix]] as Secretary of the Navy in 1780, who helped [[George Washington]] defeat the British in the American Revolutionary War, which ended in 1783.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2001|pp=152, 171, 194–95}}</ref>

Marie Antoinette's second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage early in July 1779, as confirmed by letters between the queen and her mother, although some historians believed that she may have experienced bleeding related to an irregular menstrual cycle, which she mistook for a lost pregnancy.<ref>[http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1965&context=theses Meagen Elizabeth Moreland: ''The Performance of Motherhood in the Correspondence of Madame de Sévigné, Marie-Thérèse of Austria and Joséphine Bonaparte to their Daughters''. Chapter I: Contextualizing the correspondence, p. 11] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202001555/http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1965&context=theses|date=2 February 2017}} (retrieved 1 October 2016).</ref> Her third pregnancy was affirmed in March 1781, and on 22 October she gave birth to [[Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France|Louis Joseph Xavier François]], Dauphin of France.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ntv.co.jp/marie/works/catalog_en.pdf|title=From Vienna to Versailles: from Imperial Princess to Crown Prince}}</ref>

Empress Maria Theresa died on 29 November 1780 in Vienna. Marie Antoinette feared that the death of her mother would jeopardise the Franco-Austrian alliance, as well as ultimately herself, but Joseph II wrote to her that he had no intention of breaking the alliance.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JD1AAQAAMAAJ |title=Marie Antoinette; Joseph II, und Leopold II |last=Arneth |first=Alfred |date=1866 |location=Leipzig / Paris / Vienna |publisher=K.F. Köhler / Ed. Jung-Treuttel / Wilhelm Braumüller |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JD1AAQAAMAAJ/page/n37 23] (footnote) |language=fr, de}}</ref> A second visit from Joseph II, which took place in July 1781 to reaffirm the Franco-Austrian alliance and also to see his sister, was tainted by false rumours{{Sfn|Fraser|2002|p=186}} that Marie Antoinette was sending money to him from the French treasury.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fraser|2001|pp=184–87}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Price|1995|pp=55–60}}</ref>