INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Question 1:

Tell us a little bit about yourself

Well I was born on August 23, 1754 in the Palace of Versailles – which is where I have always lived, it’s a beautiful big building that holds many of my memories. I have four children; three both died at very young ages of 1, 7 & 10. This was very sad for me and my wife because it had taken Marie 8 years to fall pregnant and knowing that my children could have had long great lives makes me feel lonely and depressed. I became king after my father and grandfathers death on May 10, 1774. I was definitely not prepared to become king I was only 20 years old and immature.

 

Question 2:

Tell us about your family

I was brought up with 8 siblings; 4 brother & 4 sisters. My grandfather (King Louis XV) was a very hard man who thought of all my siblings above me; he believed I was “ungainly” and “dim-witted”. My parents didn’t pay any attention to me which made me feel like I was a disappointment - living in the shadow of my older, more attractive brother who was lined up for the thrown but since he died quite young, of course I was next. No one had high expectations of me but I don’t blame them I was shy, immature kid that had no self-confidence so no one had any thoughts of me being a King or even The King of the French in the future.

 

Question 3:

What are you interested in?

Well I am interested in academics, every day I got tutored by a French nobleman. I loved learning, filling, my brain with knowledge especially Latin, history, geography, and astronomy. Also I studied religion, morality, humanities, English and was eventually fluent in Italian. In my spare time I enjoyed sports such as hunting and wrestling and I learnt lock smithing which I continued to practice from an early age. Because I am such a quiet and shy person I either do these activities to escape from the palace or to have some alone time which I enjoyed so much.

 

Question 4:

Now, you married very young to a woman you didn’t even know, how do you feel about that?

Well, I was only 15 when I married Marie Antoinette, we were barely into our teen years when we married. Marie is the daughter of the emperor and empress of Austria so she had a very social upbringing surrounded by close family and friends because of how loved she was. With this upbringing Marie was involved with musical events and loved the arts. Since I was such a shy teenager, getting to know Marie Antoinette was hard and a slow process.

 

Question 5:

How was the wedding? Was it enjoyable?

I had a specific order in how I had to react and act in the official wedding ceremony which made the experience very nerve-racking and having 2,000 people watch you didn’t help either. The end of the ceremony there was a fireworks show which was seen by 200,000 and of course since there was so many people hundreds got trampled making it quite distressing for me and my wife. Overall though, the wedding was beautiful but I definitely didn’t feel like there was any connection between Marie and me. I guess governments were more interested in building alliances with other countries than whether two teenagers loved each other. 

 

Question 6:

Why did you decide to help out America?

After England’s win in the French & Indian war in 1763 I was hungry for revenge. I demanded for a bigger, better and stronger army to one day defeat England which of course was expensive but worth it.  So once I had heard about the American’s going to war against the English, I knew this was a perfect time for payback. So I generously sent around 12,000 soldiers and 32,000 sailors to the American war. I was glad when they won, sending them even more financial support to congratulate them and their efforts.

 

Question 7:

What was your reaction to the revolution?

The Revolution started at a depressing stage in my life; when my ill son, Louis Joseph died on June the 4th 1789 at only 7 years old. This was very distracting so I made no attempt to lay out a plan that might have attracted any support for the revolution. I continued to do my own things, things I enjoyed such as hunting and doing masonry. My slack role as king became quite evident and since I lacked political insight I was unaware of what to do. I privately continued to think to myself that the revolution would just burn out. To the public I appeared prepared to accept any new roles and gestures such as my visit to Paris after the storming of Bastille.

 

Question 8:

Tell us about your attempt to escape

I was failing as king; continuously making mistakes and refusing to follow advice or given plans for France. So I planned my escape because I felt as if I was letting down everyone. My family succeeded to get to Varennes but we were then were sadly caught and brought back to Paris where I lost credibility as a constitutional monarch. In November, proof of my secret dealings with Mirabeau and of his opposes of the revolution was found in my secret cupboard in the Tuileries. I felt ashamed and guilty that I had kept this secret from everyone; even my own family. On December 3 it was decided that my family and I who had been imprisoned since August, should be brought to trial for treason.

 

Question 9:

Did you have plans for France?

I did have big plans for France, I had ambition, I wanted to see France recover her place of greatness in the world and had a few things gone differently there is no reason to believe that France could not have done so. I wish that I could have been the ‘bigger’ man and stood up for my country, especially being the King. I feel as if I have disappointed my citizens and my family.

 

Question 10:

How and why were you killed?

Because of the bankruptcy I selfishly caused prices of food began to soar and most crops failed as well. This made most citizens shun on me as a king which lead to the National Conventions vote for me to be sentenced to death. I was then guillotined at Place de la Concorde in Paris on the 21st of January 1793. I spent my last evening saying goodbye to my wife and beautiful family. The morning of my guillotine was slow and sad. I went on a carriage for a two hour journey to Paris by horse and by 8 am I was headless.