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<\/p>\n VERSAILLES, FRANCE \u2013 In today\u2019s Digital Age, the threat fake news is on the rise. But don\u2019t forget, this isn\u2019t the first time fake news has delivered real damage.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also a big reason the French didn\u2019t mind taking Marie Antoinette\u2019s head.<\/p>\n The scenic chateau of the famed French Queen Marie Antoinette is tucked away a mile behind the grand Palace of Versailles. The manor was restored by Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 19th<\/sup>\u00a0Century. Today, the small palace serves as a memorial to its most famous accompaniment, Marie Antoinette. Traces of Marie Antoinette and the gossip that tainted her reputation remain scattered throughout the chateau.<\/p>\n Marie Antoinette was born the Archduchess of Austria. At the age of 14, she was sent to France to meet and wed the soon-to-be King of France, Louis XVI. But Marie Antoinette didn\u2019t get the memo: the overtly ostentatious lifestyle of Austrian royalty was very much out of style with the French proletariat. \u201cShe made mistakes from the very beginning,\u201d said Bertrand Rondot, Chief Curator at the Palace of Versailles.<\/p>\n When Louis XVI gifted Marie Antoinette the chateau, she set about redecorating the place \u2013 with little mind to budget. The \u201cLL\u201d medallions of the king were replaced by her own initials \u201cMA\u201d and baby eagles, the Austrian symbol, were added to d\u00e9cor sporting France\u2019s symbol of the rooster.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The new Queen ordered countless ornate furnishings. There were so many that her new purchases had to be systematically registered and organized by numbers. The total sum spent was so large that one of her servants burned the furniture records out of fear for the Queen\u2019s life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bertrand Rondot, Chief Curator at the Palace of Versailles, holds up a parlor chair from Marie Antoinette\u2019s chateau. A number to locate its spot in the chateau is stamp on the underside of the cushion.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n To escape the ever-present public eye and pressure, Marie Antoinette installed moving windows in her light-blue painted private study. Rondot recalls, \u201cPeople were always watching.\u201d The invention was an intricate mechanism that slid the windows away and replaced them with walls. But this installation only sparked more rumors. The French masses claimed that \u201cthe Queen was having orgies and needed to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n While the Queen broke the budget on furnishing her new home, the rumors of her lavish spending went far beyond. A scandal broke in 1785 when a diamond necklace of more than 5,000 carats was falsely purchased in the name of Marie Antoinette \u2013 who never saw the diamonds, neither before nor after the \u201cpurchase.\u201d Despite her innocence, her reputation as a spoiled over-spender was set in stone. Rondot says, \u201cThat was a total disaster for Marie Antoinette.\u201d<\/p>\n The trail of the origins of the gossip that destroyed the reputation of Marie Antoinette can be tracked in her former home. One of the greatest struggle of Marie Antoinette was her fight against the vicious fake news of her time. Too bad, as Rondot says, \u201cthe monarchy lost that battle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Katherine Trout The private theatre of Marie Antoinette, one of the most luxurious renovations, in her chateau. VERSAILLES, FRANCE \u2013 In today\u2019s Digital Age, the threat fake news is on the rise. But don\u2019t forget, this isn\u2019t the first time fake news has delivered real damage. It\u2019s also a big reason the French … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2017\/03\/IMG_3772.JPG-595x446.jpeg\")
The private theatre of Marie Antoinette, one of the most luxurious renovations, in her chateau.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2017\/03\/IMG_3704.JPG-e1490393879623-595x793.jpeg\")
The initials of Marie Antoinette hidden in a metal medallion in her chateau.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/pariscasestudy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2017\/03\/IMG_3734.JPG-e1490394748166-595x793.jpeg\")
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