Pompei

The 18 th century is the time when Pompei is identifyied.  Searches and discoveries have been done in Herculanum.

lava tubes

Francis I, Holly emperor (Marie-Antoinette's father)

Francis I (1708 – 1765) . With his wife, Maria Theresa, he was the founder of the  Hasburg-Lorraine dynasty. 

Maria Theresa and Francis I had sixteen children, amongst them the last prerevolutionary queen consort of France, their youngest daughter, Marie-Antoinette  (1755–1793).

In 1736 or 1737, he and Marie-Thérèse (his wife) spent 3 months in the Grand Duchy Tuscany (Italy).
Marie-Antoinette’s father (Francis 1st) was a scientist. He imagined and registered patents. He was also surrounded by other scientists.
Marie-Antoinette was her favorite child.
Francis 1st was a freemason.

He died suddenly in his carriage while returning from the opera at Innsbruck on 18 August 1765. 

Francis I's library (Hofburg-Vienna)

Mme De Lamballe

Princess Marie Thérèse de Lamballe (1749-1792) was a faithful friend to the Marie-Antoinette and remained with her to the end. She was devout and never displayed the greedy nature of so many at the court. Nevertheless, she became a symbol of the rottenness of the Ancien Régime. She was killed by a mob during the September 1792 massacres. Her head was displayed on a pike under the queen’s windows.

Count of Artois

Artois was born October 9, 1757 at the Palace of Versailles. He was a member of the House of Bourbon and the grandson of King Louis XV. With his father and three older brothers ahead of him in line for the throne, no one expected Artois would ever be king. He received no formal education and led an idle and undisciplined life at court. When his grandfather died in 1774 (his father and eldest brother having already passed away), Artois’s brother became King Louis XVI.

The Don Juan of Versailles

The Count of Artois was said to be handsome, charming, generous and impulsive. He was a horseman, a gambler and a playboy – the “Don Juan” of Versailles. (1) Artois was a close friend of Louis XVI’s wife, Marie Antoinette. The two of them indulged in expensive frivolities, like the construction of the Château de Bagatelle. Their activities highlighted the gulf between the royal family and ordinary French people, and added to the unrest that sparked the French Revolution.

Zamor

Zamor (christened Louis-Benoit) (b. 1762? - d. 7 February 1820) was a French revolutionary of Bengali origin, who, as a boy of eleven, was taken from Chittagong, Bengal Subah, Mughul Empire (today's Bangladesh) by slave traders. 

Later he was educated by Countess du Barry and became her servant, but he betrayed her to the Committee of Public Safety. He participated in the French Revolution and was imprisoned by the Girondins. 

Early life and upbringing 

Zamor was born in the town of Chittagong in the state of Bengal (now Bangladesh). 

In 1773, when he was eleven years old, he was captured by British slave traders, who trafficked him into France via Madagascar and sold him to Louis XV of France. 

The King gave the young boy to his mistress, Countess du Barry, and he was christened Louis-Benoit. The Countess developed a liking for the boy and educated him. Zamor developed a taste for literature and was inspired by the works of Rousseau. Till her death, the Countess was under the wrong impression that Zamor was African. Records of the period suggest that Zamor may have been extremely mischievous as a child. She noted in her memoirs: The second object of my regard was Zamor, a young African boy, full of intelligence and mischief; simple and independent in his nature, yet wild as his country. 

Zamor fancied himself the equal of all he met, scarcely deigning to acknowledge the king himself as his superior.

Axel Von Fersen: Marie-Antoinette's friend

Historians and biographers debate whether Marie Antoinette and Axel von Fersen were platonic friends or lovers. Only Marie Antoinette and Axel von Ferson know the truth, but the strength of their affection for each other resonates in their letters and the way they impacted each other’s lives.

Marie Antoinette and Swedish soldier Hans Axel Von Fersen were both still teenagers when they met each other at a masquerade ball in Paris on January 30, 1771. She was still the Dauphine and not yet the queen and Fersen’s military career had just begun. Born in 1755, he was part of the Swedish nobility, but served in the Army of France.

At the ball, Marie Antoinette and Axel von Fersen took off their masks and talked to each other and that meeting began their friendship. She invited Axel von Fersen to Versailles and he quickly became one of her favorite guests. He traveled to Versailles as often as he could, but his military career soon transformed into a diplomatic post that took him to England for several years.

The Abbe de Vermont: Marie-Antoinette's Tutor

Abbe de Vermond was Marie-Antoinette former tutor in Austria.

He accompanied her to France as her reader, tried to make Marie follow the counsel sent by her mother.