AS a queen Marie Antoinette was certainly more sinned against than sinning, and this life should go some way towards killing off the old view of her as selfish, frivolous and ultimately self-destructive. Her imperial and imperious mother, Maria Theresa, sent her from Vienna to the court in Paris at the age of 14, as a bride for the future Louis XVI, who could not consummate the marriage and was notably shy and gauche. Without friends or close guidance, she made many silly blunders and antagonised members of the French royal family; yet eventually Louis underwent the necessary operation and fathered children, while she gradually matured into a shrewd, capable wife and mother. She remained loyal to her husband during his troubled years of kingship and followed him to the scaffold, dying with dignity and courage. Not heavyweight history, but well told.