"[3] Born in the medieval town of Pamiers in southwestern France, he was the son of Alexis Autié and Catherine Fournier, who were domestic servants.

[5] His unusual hairstyles immediately attracted attention, and he was soon styling the hair of women of the nobility, including Madame du Barry, Louis XV's mistress[6] and the Marquise de Langeac, a lady-in-waiting to the Dauphine Marie-Antoinette.

[7] In January 1774, at the request of Marie Antoinette, Autié and Rose Bertin (her dressmaker) resuscitated the French fashion magazine, the Journal des Dames.

The princess funded the venture, and the financially desperate Baroness de Prinzen agreed to lend her name to the project as the "managing editor".

He was still called Coiffeur de la Reine (Hairdresser to the Queen) and dressed Marie Antoinette's hair on commission for special occasions, such as galas and balls.

His youngest brother, Jean-François, was responsible for dressing her hair on a daily basis and also took over as the head of the Académie de coiffure.

[16] The responsibility of being a royal patron of theatre traditionally fell to the elder of the reigning king's younger brothers, who was referred to as Monsieur.

The Count of Provence (the future Louis XVIII) was not particularly interested in opera and did not fund the new theatre or participate in any direct way, but he did allow his name to be used.

Expenses seemed always to exceed the receipts, and soon Léonard was in even more financial difficulty, but it was other events beyond his control that were to prove more critical to his eventual withdrawal from the project.

[20] In June 1791, his brother Jean-François Autié accompanied the Duke de Choiseul during the royal family's flight to Varennes.

As the Revolution progressed and the situation for those associated with Marie Antoinette deteriorated, Léonard-Alexis left France again (probably in late June 1792) and eventually went to Russia.

[22] Léonard-Alexis Autié married in Paris around 1779, and on 13 September 1781 his daughter Marie Anne Elisabeth was baptized at the Church of Saint-Eustache.