The Many Affairs of Marie
Marie Antoinette was often accused of having affairs with various men. Some of these include Arthur Dillon, the Duc de Lauzun, Axel von Fersen, the Baron be Besenval, the Prince de Ligne, the Comte de Vaudreuil (Nong para 4). It creates a lot of controversy as even now people still debate whether she was actually guilty of these accusations or not (Fraser 203 ). If she was the most likely would have been with Count Axel von Ferson. Ferson would have been attractive to Marie since he was an honored military man, had a foreign birth, and was close to Louis XVI (Fraser 206). They had a supposed correspondence and when investigated, a mysterious exchange was found between a Josephine and the count. Marie's baptismal name was a form of Josephine (Fraser 203). However there was also a maid with the same name who also appeared in letters (Fraser 203). Whether or not she actually had the affair had no effect on the restless French people. As word spread of this supposed affairs and as people came forward with a claim that they were her lovers, the people took this idea and ran with it. Pamphlets and comics emerged at a rapid pace depicting Marie as a sexual addict who was easy with men (Nong para 3-4). These gained her the nickname of the "Austrian Whore". Her popularity with the French people fell fast (Nong para 4).
The Picture was taken from http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2007/06/fersen-legend-part-1.html
