News Chemistry

Ink analysis reveals Marie Antoinette’s letters’ hidden words and who censored them

The analysis reveals whether the doomed French queen spilled state secrets or bon mots

image of a letter written by Marie Antoinette with a blacked out section next to an image of the same letter where the blacked out section is visible

A redacted passage (at left) in a letter written by Marie Antoinette, dated January 4, 1792 is unveiled (at right) with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy.

@CRC

By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

Read another version of this article at Science News Explores

In a world torn apart by the French Revolution, doomed Queen Marie Antoinette exchanged secret letters with a rumored lover.