A royal heritage?

Could the Maine Coon breed have descended from the cats that belonged to the French queen, Marie Antoinette (left)?

The queen's passion for small, fluffy, cats and dogs is well known. Believing that her life was in danger, the queen is thought to have shipped her beloved cats to this country--along with many of her worldly goods--on a ship owned by Captain Samuel Clough. Did he see himself saving a maiden in distress?

 

Letters are said to still exist that Captain Clough wrote to his wife, suggesting changes in his family's home that presumably were intended to help the Queen feel more at home. It is also said that some of the Queen's furniture is still found in Wiscassett, Maine, lending credibility to this story.

Perhaps the queen's longhaired cats bred with the American shorthaired cats, and the Maine Coon resulted? Timing makes this theory unlikely, however. Marie Antoinette was beheaded in 1793, and by the 1860's (only 70 years later) Maine Coon Cats were center stage at state fairs up and down the eastern seaboard.

What role did the early New Englanders play in the Maine Coon's history?