Marie Antoinette and her Children Painting by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
“In all that concerns morality, there has never been in the conduct of the queen the slightest act which has not borne the imprint of a soul virtuous, upright, inflexible in all the principles which make for honesty of character… No one is more entirely convinced of this fact than the king.” Such is the testimony which Mercy gives in the beginning of the reign of Louis XVI, and which all his later correspondence confirmed; and such is the opinion expressed later by a brother, Joseph II, who was severe and ill-disposed toward the queen, after having, observed her closely and with a rigour that was almost malevolent.”
The Life of Marie Antoinette; Translated from the French By Maxime de La Rocheterie · 1893, Chapter XII, Pg. 147
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 829
