Reading Antonia Fraser's bio of Marie Antoinette and having trouble wrapping my head around how things worked at Versailles.
It says that the Austrian ambassador tried to have Marie Antoinette crowned alongside Louis XVI in 1775 but was rebuffed and that "[t]he burgeoning pregnancy of the Comtesse d'Artois (Louis' younger brother's wife)... emphasized the tenuous nature of Marie Antoinette's claim." She already seems to be referred to as "the Queen" by contemporaries at this point and she was married to Louis XVI prior to his accession at the death of his grandfather, Louis XVI. She may get crowned later but that hadn't happened by the end of the chapter.
So, what's the significance of being married to the king but not crowned? Was she not actually Queen?
So, what's the significance of being married to the king but not crowned? Was she not actually Queen?
Yes, she was the queen, even though she was never crowned. As the wife of the dauphin, she became the queen the instant he became the king. Some French queens had been crowned in the past, but it was not considered a necessity (purely ceremonial) and her exclusion from Louis XVI's coronation was not considered unusual by contemporaries at that point. Ambassador Mercy fought for her inclusion because it would have been a PR move targeting her enemies at court with a symbolic show of her own position at court, since she hadn't yet had any children, much less male heirs.