We would wager that when you think of Marie-Antoinette, simplicity is not the first word that comes to mind. But just how well do you know Antonia, the young Austrian archduchess who became Queen of France? Did you know that she abhorred the rigid etiquette of the French Court and that she preferred the simpler life she created for herself at Trianon, across the park from the Château of Versailles? She was so criticised and maligned in her day that she came to symbolise absolute luxury and frivolity, while that is in fact very far from the truth.

At Vendôme Circle we invite you to pull back the curtain and discover something of the real Marie-Antoinette.