Marie Antoinette was a queen.
The royal Flight to Varennes ( Fuite à Varennes ) during the night of 20 -- 21 June 1791 was a significant episode in the French Revolution in which King Louis XVI of France , his queen Marie Antoinette , and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution at the head of loyal troops under royalist officers concentrated at Montmédy near the frontier . Louis XVI of France . Discontent among the members of France 's middle and lower classes resulted in strengthened opposition to the French aristocracy and to the absolute monarchy , of which Louis and his wife , Queen Marie Antoinette , were viewed as representatives . Marie Antoinette ( [ ˈmæriˌæntwəˈnɛt ] , [ ˌɑ̃ːntwə - ] , [ ˌɑ̃ːtwə - ] , [ məˈriː - ] [ maʁi ɑ̃twanɛt ] ; born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna ( 2 November 1755 -- 16 October 1793 ) was the last Queen of France and Navarre before the French Revolution . On 10 May 1774 , when her husband ascended the throne as Louis XVI , she became Queen of France and Navarre , a title she held until September 1791 , when , as the French Revolution proceeded , she became Queen of the French , a title she held until 21 September 1792 .