Excerpt from In the Shadow of the Empress by Nancy Goldstone , plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Any middle school teacher will sympathize with the abbé's preicament. He wasn't there two days before he realized that his pupil, while undeniably charming and well-intentioned, was so far behind, and had so many other demands upon her time, that it was going to be impossible to get her to read anything on her own; whatever information she absorbed was going to have to be spoon-fed to her. "After devoting my first instructions to the object of acquainting myself with the turn of mind and the degree of H.R.H.'s [Marie Antoinette's] knowledge, I arranged ... the method of learning I considered most useful to Madame the Archduchess," he reported home in his initial communication of June 21, 1769, from Vienna. "In order to diminish the wearisome nature of the studies, I keep them as much as possible to the forms of conversation," he continued tactfully. "I cannot speak highly enough of the docility and goodwill of H.R.H., but her liveliness and the frequent distractions militate insensibly against her desire to learn."

Six weeks later he was still gamely pursuing the same strategy, albeit with slightly more desperation. "The Archduchess will say the most obliging things to everyone," he reassured his superiors. "She is cleverer than she was long thought to be. Unfortunately, that ability was subjected to no direction up to the age of twelve. A little idleness and much frivolity rendered my task more difficult ... I could not accustom her to get at the root of a subject, although I felt she was very capable of doing so. I fancied I could only get her to fix her attention by amusing her," he admitted. By October 14, 1769, two weeks before Marie Antoinette's fourteenth birthday, he was able to report with evident relief that at least her pronunciation had improved, so that she now "talks French with ease, and fairly well." His optimism in other areas, however, clearly had been worn down in the face of his student's fundamental inability to focus. "She would rarely make mistakes in spelling if she could only give her undivided attention," he burst out in a rare moment of candor. "What is most vexing is that partly through idleness and inattention ... she has acquired the habit of writing inconceivably slowly ... I often occupy myself with this ... but I own that on this point I have made the least progress," he lamented.

But of course the true victim in all this was the prospective bride herself. As yet, Marie Antoinette demonstrated no inclination to rebel against parental authority; her demeanor and temperament remained sweetly obedient; her sole desire was to please the adults surrounding her. It was just that (with the invention of Ritalin still being some 200 years in the future) the effort required was outside her capabilities. Granted, it was unlikely that even under the best of circumstances Marie Antoinette would have developed a taste for serious reading or critical contemplation, but if she had been allowed to continue to receive instruction at home until her later teens she might at least have learned not to shun these occupations so thoroughly. As it was, the principal lesson she came away with from this intensive, months-long course in academics was to regard any time spent on books and intellectual pursuits as a punishment.

While the bride was thus occupied with her studies, preparations for the marriage ceremony and the journey for France progressed diligently. On January 21, 1770, the bejeweled ring sent by the dauphin to formalize the engagement was ceremonially slipped onto Marie Antionette's finger; this milestone was followed three months later, on April 16, by the arrival of the embassy charged with representing the groom's interests at the upcoming festivities. The French ambassador's impressive retinue and equipage included a magnificent, elaborately ornamented carriage, boasting much glass on the outside and satin on the inside, that had been expressly constructed to convey the dauphine to her new home.

Excerpted from In the Shadow of the Empress by Nancy Goldstone . Copyright © 2021 by Nancy Goldstone . Excerpted by permission of Little Brown & Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.