The actual care was, however, given by the sub governesses, notably Baroness Marie Angélique de Mackau. Marie-Thérèse's household was headed by her governess, Princess Victoire of Rohan-Guéméné, who later had to resign due to her husband's bankruptcy and was replaced by one of the queen's closest friends, Yolande de Polastron, Duchesse de Polignac. Her second name, Charlotte, was for her mother's favourite sister, Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen consort of Naples and Sicily, who was known as Charlotte in the family. She was named after her maternal grandmother, the reigning Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Marie-Thérèse was baptised on the day of her birth. Poor little one, you are not desired, but you will be none the less dear to me! A son would have belonged to the state-you will belong to me. When she was revived, the queen greeted her daughter (whom she later nicknamed Mousseline with delight: As a result of the horrible experience, Louis XVI banned public viewing, allowing only close family members and a handful of trusted courtiers to witness the birth of the next royal children. Marie Antoinette almost died of suffocation during the birth process due to a crowded and unventilated room, but the windows were finally opened to let fresh air in the room in an attempt to revive her.

As the daughter of the King of France, she was a fille de France, and as the eldest daughter of the king, she was styled Madame Royale at birth. Marie-Thérèse Charlotte was born at the Palace of Versailles on 19 December 1778, the first child (after eight years of her parents' marriage) and eldest daughter of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.

Marie-Thérèse Charlotte with her mother, Marie Antoinette, and her brother Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, in the Petit Trianon's gardens (by Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, 1785) Technically she was queen for twenty minutes, on 2 August 1830, between the time her father-in-law signed the instrument of abdication and the time her husband, reluctantly, signed the same document. She became Dauphine of France upon the accession of her uncle and father-in-law, Charles X, to the French throne in 1824. Marie-Thérése was the only child of her parents to reach adulthood. She was briefly disputed Queen of France in 1830. In 1799 she married her cousin Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, the eldest son of Charles, Count of Artois, henceforth becoming the Duchess of Angoulême. Marie-Thérèse Charlotte (19 December 1778 – 19 October 1851) was the eldest child of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France.

Marie Antoinette by André Castelot