Perhaps the six-year-old boy, a musical prodigy, was nervous about visiting the palace. That may be why he slipped and fell in the corridor. Or maybe he was just running in the halls, being reckless on purpose—that would seem more in keeping with his character. At any rate, the archduchess, herself only seven years old, walked over to help him up. The boy, touched, looked up at her and declared, “I’ll marry you when I’m grown up!”

The boy’s name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the archduchess, Marie-Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa, empress of Austria.