How did Marie Antoinette go to the bathroom?

Though she had what we would consider a 'bathroom', there was no permanent bath fixed into the room. Her bathtub would be rolled into her bathroom by her servants and filled, bucket by bucket, with hot water. Once the linen-lined bathtub was full, the queen would add perfumes to the water.

Did Marie Antoinette bathe with clothes on?

The Queen's bathing routine was different than what most people today would recognise. The bathtub was usually rolled into her bathroom by her servants and filled with water. Rather than being completely naked the Queen always wore a full-length linen gown.

Did Marie Antoinette have a toilet?

Marie Antoinette had a very early version of the flush toilet installed in her suite of rooms! You had to send someone upstairs to open a valve for the flush, though…

Why did people watch the King of France poop?

At the grand couvert, the king dined with his family - and nobles literally sat on stools to watch them. Visitors to Versailles often viewed the ceremony, as well. A young Mozart, for example, received the mark of royal favor when he was beckoned to stand next to the royal table.

What happened to Marie Antoinette's head?

Lamballe refused to take an oath against the monarchy, and on September 3, 1792, she was delivered to the hands of a Parisian mob; they cut off her head and paraded it on a pike outside Marie-Antoinette's windows.

Marie Antoinette Explained in 13 minutes

What was Marie Antoinette's last words?

Found guilty, she was condemned to death and was guillotined on 16 October 1793. Her last words, after accidentally stepping on the foot of her executioner, were "Pardon, monsieur. I did not do it on purpose" (Fraser, 440). The legacy of Marie Antoinette is of a tragic figure, a victim of her time and circumstance.

How smelly was Versailles?

Built on swampland, Versailles was described by a visitor in 1764 as an odiferous cesspool of dead cats, urine, excrement, slaughtered pigs, standing water, and mosquitoes. Inside the palace, things smelled different. Many royals in Louis XIV's day eschewed hot water baths, believing them bad for the health.

Did people poop in halls of Versailles?

Louis XV's toilette at the Palace of Versailles. But without a doubt, the most pressing health concern was caused by the dearth of waste disposal options in an era before reliable plumbing. “Feces and urine were everywhere,” Eleanor Herman, author of The Royal Art of Poison, says of royal palaces.

What was hygiene like in the Palace of Versailles?

Louis XIV (1638–1715) was known to have only bathed three times in his entire life. Although the palace of Versailles had running water and numerous baths, there was a common belief that water spread disease, so the less you bathed, the safer you were.

Did people urinate in Versailles?

No, people weren't just defecating & urinating in the halls of Versailles. Some of the ways people at Versailles could take care of business: closestools, bourdaloues (designed for women who needed to pee!); chamber pots; and a design for an 18th century latrine. There were also a few flushing toilets.

Why did Versailles not have toilets?

Versailles also had public toilets, but considering how many people were in need of those, it were far too few. Those public loos were installed below the public staircases in hopes that the ventilation caused by the passersby would keep the evil smells away. It did not work.

What were bathrooms like in Versailles?

There were no bathrooms as we would know them. Courtiers and royalty used decorative commodes in each room, while commoners simply relieved themselves in the hallways or stairwells. No one bothered to house-train the royal dogs, and servants did not consider cleaning up after them to be part of their job description.

Did Marie Antoinette brush her teeth?

She notes that Louis XV, the grandfather of Marie Antoinette's husband, was "appalled when he heard about her poor grooming while she was still a princess in Austria and insisted that French hairdressers and clothes be sent to her along with a French dentist to straighten her teeth and encourage her to brush them more ...

How often did French royals bathe?

King Louis XIV (1638-1715) was terrified of bathing; he's said to have taken only three baths in his life. That fear was shared by the noblility in the 17^th Century – it ws thought that was thought that water spread disease (so the less you bathed, the less vulnerable you were). Yet Versailles was seriously fragrant.

Did Marie Antoinette have a beauty spot?

Famous for her powdered hair, alabaster skin, rosy cheeks, rosebud lips and quintessential beauty spot, this Queen's look has stood the test of time.

Did Marie-Antoinette drink alcohol?

“[Marie-Antoinette] usually ate nothing but roast or boiled poultry and drank nothing but water. The only things of which she was particularly fond were her morning coffee and a sort of bread to which she had grown accustomed during her childhood in Vienna.”

Did Marie-Antoinette consummate her marriage?

It took seven years for the future king and queen to consummate their marriage.

Did King Louis only bathe twice?

King Louis XIV is said to have only bathed twice in lifetime. He found bathing a disturbing act, as did Queen Isabel I of Spain who also confessed to having only two baths; on the day of her birth and the day of her marriage.

What drugs were used at Versailles?

Tobacco, herbs and possibly opium in lauanum - snuff and coffee, though coffee was very expensive. Coca leaves didn't travel well and were not used. The sniffing of that white stuff was fantasy.

Did King Louis XIV only bathe twice?

Yes, it's true. Clean water was hard to get but even those, who had access to it, rarely bathed. It is believed that King Louis XIV bathed just twice in his lifetime. Not just him, Queen Isabella of Spain bathed once when she was born and once on her wedding day.

What did they do with the bodies from the guillotine?

Historians have long believed that the remains of nearly 500 people guillotined during the French Revolution—including Maximilien Robespierre, engineer of the Reign of Terror—are buried in Paris' catacombs.

How was Marie Antoinette's body identified?

Marie Antoinette's remains were identified by a garter and a jaw, which an eyewitness identified as being the queen's, based on having seen her smile over thirty years before. Louis XVIII also searched for the remains of his sister Élisabeth in the Errancis Cemetery, but to no avail.

How did Marie Antoinette do her hair?

During Marie Antoinette's time in the French court, powdered hair was considered somewhat mandatory. Nobody showed up at court without it. The powder applied to posh people's heads consisted of either potato or rice flower starch (or Cyprus powder, which is made from reindeer moss or another similar lichen).

How old was Louis XVI when he married Marie Antoinette?

On 16 May 1770, at the age of fifteen, Louis-Auguste married the fourteen-year-old Habsburg Archduchess Maria Antonia (better known by the French form of her name, Marie Antoinette), his second cousin once removed and the youngest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and his wife, the Empress Maria Theresa.