Portrait of Marie Antoinette by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
“Over what people wouldst thou like to reign?” Maria Theresa asked Marie Antoinette one day. “Over the French,” the child replied gayly, “because it was over them that Henri IV and Louis XIV reigned, ⸺ the Good and the Great.” The expression was happy; and the empress was so delighted with it that she begged the French ambassador to communicate it immediately to the king, his master. The wishes of the daughter were in harmony with the policy of the mother in favouring a union which the king of France also desired no less than they.
The Life of Marie Antoinette, Volume 1 By Maxime de La Rocheterie, Chapter 1, pg 7.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 772
