Queen Marie

**Queen Marie** is a minor character in the 1998 film *Ever After: A Cinderella Story*. She is the Queen of France through marriage to King Francis I of France. She herself is probably from Alsace, a real-life province on what is now the French-German border (see notes). She is portrayed by Judy Parfitt.

## Biography

### 1512

Queen Marie argues with her husband King Francis about how to deal with Prince Henry's refusal to marry Princess Gabriella of Spain. She is exasperated when it turns out that Henry has run away again.

Later, she sees Henry talking to Danielle in the courtyard. She is pleased to see him and tells him that his father wants to see him. After Francis scolds Henry, Marie walks with her son in the gardens and talks to him about the "Comtesse Nicole de Lancret". When Francis joins them in order to compromise with Henry about his marriage, Marie comments that Henry should be sure of his choice before he marries her, giving Francis a dirty look.

That Sunday after church, when Marie is about to leave in the royal carriage, she meets Marguerite, who "returns" a precious amulet that she claims Marie "dropped". Fooled into believing Marguerite, she invites her and Rodmilla to chat the next day. However, at that chat, Marie finds out that Marguerite is not a good match for her son after all. She also is tricked by Rodmilla into believing that "Nicole de Lancret", whom Henry is courting, is already engaged.

The next day, Marie tells Henry that "Nicole" is engaged to a Belgian, causing him to fly into a rage. She tries to comfort him. At the ball, Marie is excited to see "Nicole", and is horrified when Henry rejects Danielle. It does not bother her that "Nicole" is in fact a servant.

Later, in court, Marie coldly banishes Rodmilla and Marguerite to the America for lying to her. However, Danielle appears and calls off the exile. But instead, she requests her and the King to rearrange the different kind of punishment, which is the same courtesy they had given her. Therefore, they accept her advice. After the court's adjourned, the King and the Queen officially sentence them into doing laundry work as lowlife maids for the rest of their lives.

She also appears to have given Danielle her amulet; the same one that Marguerite had "returned". And, in the movie, she and Danielle are only two people who insult Marguerite.

## Notes

*Disclaimer: These are theories and not necessarily true.*

**Nationality**: Queen Marie was probably a princess of Alsace. The evidence is as follows. In the film, her coat of arms looks like the one on the right:

Her coat of arms is of course split. One half represents her home country, the other represents her husband's country, France. The coat of arms of France is a blue background with yellow lilies. Therefore, Marie's home country's heraldry must be something with a red background, a diagonal orange cross, and three golden crowns. Of course, this is a fictional film, so it could be a coincidence. However, the real-life coat of arms that matches this description the closest is the Haut-Rhin one:

Unfortunately, Haut-Rhin was not created as a province until the French Revolution. Therefore, we look at the Alsace coat of arms instead:

As Alsace was not French around the same time period that the film is set in, it is likely that in the film, Queen Marie married King Francis I of France in a marriage of convenience that was meant to annex Alsace to France. This seems plausible considering that in real-life, it was a known tactic for France to annex its surrounding, smaller provinces through royal marriages. However, it is again important to note that *Ever After: A Cinderella Story* is fictional and not necessarily historical accurate.

## Sources

1. ↑ "Haut Rhin". *Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia*, 8 Feb. 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haut-Rhin. Accessed 31 May 2018
2. ↑ "History of Alsace". *Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia*. 3 Apr. 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History\_of\_Alsace. Accessed 31 May 2018.