Marie Antoinette
Did Queen Marie utter the words, “Let them eat cake”?
“Let them eat cake” is the most famous quote attributed to
Marie-Antoinette, the queen of France during the French Revolution. Upon being
informed that the citizens of France had no bread to eat, Marie Antoinette,
Queen-consort of Louis XVI of France, exclaimed "let them eat cake",
or "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche".
This cemented her position as a airheaded woman who didn't care
for the common people of France, and is why she was executed in the French
Revolution, which was fueled by this same remark.
But did Marie-Antoinette really say those infuriating words?
Not according to historians. Lady Antonia Fraser, author of a biography of the
French queen, believes the quote would have been highly uncharacteristic of
Marie-Antoinette, an intelligent woman who donated generously to charitable
causes.
That aside, what’s even more convincing is the fact that the
“Let them eat cake” story had been floating around for years before 1789. It
was first told in a slightly different form about Marie-Thérèse, the Spanish
princess who married King Louis XIV in 1660. She allegedly suggested that the
French people eat “la croûte de pâté” (or the crust of the pâté).
The first person to put the specific phrase “Qu’ils mangent
de la brioche” into print may have been the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
In Book VI of Rousseau’s Confessions (written about 1767), he relates a version
of the story, attributing the quote to “a great princess” (Probably referring
to Marie-Thérèse). Although Marie-Antoinette was a princess at the time, she
was still a child, so it is unlikely that she was the princess Rousseau had in
mind.
Her life was actually quite a sad story from beginning to end
and reputable historical accounts of herself and her actions are quite contrary
to the general perception of her, not just then, but today as well.
Debunked!
Sources:
P.S. - If you have any urban legend or superstition that you are doubtful of, just comment it and I will try to debunk that.
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