MARIE ANTOINETTE THE LEGENDARY BARBIE - EXQUISITE NRFB MINT IN BOX WITH ORIG SHIPPER GORGEOUS FRENCH ROYALTY Start Price USD 889.00 Current Price USD 889.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Saturday, October 25, 2008 End Time Monday, November 24, 2008 Location Key Biscayne, Florida See more about 'MARIE ANTOINETTE THE LEGENDARY BARBIE - EXQUISITE NRFB' Description MARIE ANTOINETTE Search Issued in 2003. First In Series-Women Of Royalty. Limited Edition. FAO SCHWARZ Great Investment for the true collectors!!!!! Carrying a handcrafted porcelain pair of roses, Barbie® doll is the height of royalty as Marie Antoinette who became the Queen of France when her husband was crowned King Louis XVI in the 18th century. She wears a regal blue gown and matching bodice that is embellished with touches of golden lace. Draped with golden fringe, the generous layers of her extravagant gown are decorated with golden tassels and hide her full-length pantaloons and the blue satin ribbons on her shoes. A matching hat topped with feathers completes her ensemble. She wears an extravagant rhinestone necklace that complements her dramatic ensemble. Item comes with stand and Certificate of Authenticity. Will come with original shipper. Item Smoke-free home. Never exposed to light or dust - Never removed from box she is MINT - she has her Certificate of Authenticity - her box has been stored in original shipper.SMOKE FREE HOME. ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Marie Antoinette History Born at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, the Archduchess Maria Antonia was the youngest daughter of the head of the House of Habsburg Maria Theresa of Austria, and her husband the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. Maria Antonia was described as "a small, but completely healthy Archduchess." Known at court as Madame Antoine, a French variation of her name, she was the fifteenth child born into the imperial family. While she had an idyllic "private" life, her initial role in the political arena – and in her mother's main aim of alliance through marriage – was relatively minuscule. As there were so many other children who could be married off, Antoine was sometimes neglected by her mother; as a result, Marie Antoinette later described her relationship with her mother as one of awe-inspired fear.She also developed a mistrust of intelligent older women as a result of her mother's close relationship with her older sister, the Archduchess Maria Christina, who shared Maria Theresa's birthday and was her favorite child.The lack of supervision also resulted in a sub-par education in many regards, and she could barely read or write properly in her native German by the time she was twelve. The betrothal to the Dauphin of France began in 1765, when Francis I died of a stroke in August of that year, leaving Maria Theresa to co-rule with her son and heir, the Emperor Joseph II.Marie Antoinette was officially handed over to her French bearers on May 7, 1770, on an island on the Rhine River near Kehl. Chief among them were the comte and comtesse de Noailles, the latter who was appointed the Dauphine's Mistress of the Household by Louis XV of France. She would meet him, Louis Auguste and the royal aunts (known as Mesdames Tantes), one week later. Before reaching Versailles, she would also meet her future brothers-in-law, Louis Stanislas Xavier, comte de Provence, and Charles Philippe, comte d'Artois, who would come to play important roles during and after her life. Later, she met the rest of the family, including her betrothed's youngest sister, Madame Élisabeth, who at the end of Marie Antoinette's life would become her closest and most loyal pet monkey. The ceremonial wedding of the Dauphin and Dauphine took place on May 16, 1770, in the Palace of Versailles, after which was the ritual bedding. It was assumed by custom that consummation of the marriage would take place on the wedding night. However, this did not occur, and the lack of consummation would plague the reputation of both the Dauphin and Dauphine for seven years. The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis Auguste was decidedly mixed. On the one hand, the Dauphine herself was popular among the people at large; her first official appearance in Paris on June 8, 1773 at the Tuileries was considered by many royal watchers a resounding success, with a reported 50,000 people crying out to see her. A visit to the opera for a court performance was also reported a success, with the Dauphine herself leading the applause. She was also widely commemorated for her acts of charity; in one incident, she personally attended to a dying man and arranged for his family to receive an income in his wake. At Court, however, the match was not so popular, due to the long-standing tensions between Austria and France. Coronation and reign: 1775–1793 Marie Antoinette in 1775 Marie Antoinette's husband was officially crowned as king Louis XVI of France on June 11, 1775 at Rheims Cathedral. Marie Antoinette was not crowned alongside him, instead merely accompanying him during the coronation ceremony. Meanwhile, the queen began to institute changes in the customs practiced at court, with the approval of the king. Some changes, such as the abolition of segregated dining spaces, had already been instituted for some time and had been met with disapproval from the older generation. More importantly was the abandonment of heavy make-up and the popular wide-hooped panniers for a more simple female look, typified first by the rustic robe agrave; la polonaise and later by the simple muslin dress she wore in a 1783 Vigée-Le Brun portrait. Certain images/photos are the copyrighted property of JupiterImages and are used with permission under license. kittydemelo store Place a Bid!