The Marriage of Marie Antoinette
Marriage by proxy is more common in royal history than you might think. Marriages that were arranged between two people who lived hundreds of miles away from each other were often performed with a stand-in. Travel took much longer than it does now, and oftentimes it was risky for a ruling king or queen to travel abroad and risk being attacked or falling ill. This is what happened with King Louis XVI’s marriage to Marie Antoinette.
The marriage between 15-year-old Louis and 14-year-old Marie was arranged to take place in Marie’s home in Vienna. The thing is, Louis wasn’t even there! His brother stood at the altar while the ceremony was performed. We can’t imagine how strange it must have felt for Marie to be married to someone she didn’t even get to meet on her wedding day. The two didn’t meet until two years later, in 1770 when she was sent to France.