Marie-Antoinette: queen, style icon, scandal magnet, and the woman behind some of history’s juiciest stories. Over this mini-series, we’ll peel back the layers of legend and fact, exploring the life, the style, and the enduring fascination of France’s most infamous queen. Expect a mix of history, intrigue, and a few surprising truths that will change the way you see Versailles’ most glamorous—and misunderstood—resident.

The Most Famous Quote Never Spoken

“Let them eat cake!”

The quote conjures up Marie Antoinette at her most extravagant, or her most naïve, supposedly said when she was told the people had no bread. The line depicts a carefree queen who either thinks the have-nots of this world should simply dine on lesser fare, or that they should slake their hunger on party foods. She didn’t seem to have a clue in the world that if peasants can’t get bread, they most certainly can’t get cake.

And bread was essential. Far from watching their carbs, regular people from the time got over half their daily calories from bread, and burnt it all in a physically strenuous life.

So, did Marie-Antoinette really say such a callous, or clueless, thing? Well, the truth is perhaps stranger than even fiction, as is so often the case. Certainly, it would be easy to believe given the context. In the midst of famine, one noble did quip that the peasants should eat grass like his horses. After that, his head – complete with grass in his mouth – was set on a pike and paraded through Paris. Another noble spent nearly as much on coffee and cognac as a year’s wages for a servant, and his budget for theater tickets would have cost the total yearly earnings of twenty-eight servants – that is, those nourishing themselves almost entirely on bread.

That world of outrageous luxury is still there for you to explore in the Palace of Versailles. You can marvel at the overwhelming blitz of gold and gilding everywhere you turn, from the Hall of Mirrors to the royal bedrooms. Join us, and a Memories France guide will bring all that over-the-top opulence into focus for you, making it make sense to a modern eye.

We can take you through the pure enchantment of the royal gardens where an army of hydroengineers and gardeners made sure fountains and blooms were picture perfect for any princely stroll, or even hold an outdoor feast. In such a bubble, what would they know of a peasant’s dinner table?

We can show you Marie-Antoinette’s play farm, her attempt to taste of the lives of modest country folk, which might also lead you to believe that she actually made the remark. You can read our previous post and learn more about this magical place. In the midst of such décor, from her pretend village to the glitter and glister of the royal palace, you have to wonder what did they think of the common folk? Could the queen have uttered those fateful, indeed fatal, words?

Did Marie Antoinette Actually Say "Let Them Eat Cake?"

Whether she spoke the words or not, it was crucial that the people believed she did.

Everyone was out for the poor queen’s blood – for some she was Madame Deficit whose spending plunged the country into debt and famine, for others, the “Autrichienne” punning on her Austrian origins and the feminine ending of “Austrian” that evokes a female dog.

The cake remark perfectly caught what was thought of her, encapsulating the disconnect between the suffering people and the out-of-touch aristocracy.

If people could be convinced (and it wasn’t hard, given those hairdos, get-ups, and shepherdess games) that she did say such a horrid thing, then the royals were guilty of criminal indifference to the peoples’ sufferings and monarchy itself could in turn be indicted.

But it was fake news, all along.

If Not Her, Then Who?

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a bestselling philosopher whose ideas were debated in coffeehouses even by those who couldn’t read. This is the man who famously wrote that man is born free but found everywhere in chains, another quip that captured the air du temps: a wave of independence and rebellion.

In one of his most read works, he speaks of a "great princess" who, when told the peasants had no bread, responded, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche," which we have long translated as “Let them eat cake.”

The catch was, when he wrote this, in 1765, Marie Antoinette was just little “’Toinette” probably playing with dolls and skipping rope: simply a ten year old little girl in Austria at the palace of Schönbrunn, not even a twinkle in France’s eye.

Whoever Rousseau’s “great princess” might have been – and it certainly wasn’t ‘Toinette – her remark was less cruel that simply out of touch with what famine really meant and the choices open to people that might otherwise have to eat grass – and did.

So while the queen never could have said it while reigning in France, the phrase was repeated by the people gossiping about her in coffeehouses like the Procope, so much and so often that it became a byword for her supposed extravagant ways.

As an aside, while we’re getting to the bottom of things, what exactly is “brioche?” It’s not cake exactly, though it is a treat, an enriched bread with butter and eggs, often eaten at breakfast. If you want an idea of what Rousseau’s “great princess” meant you can do no better than to ask for some at the pâtissier STOHRER which was opened in Paris in 1730 by pastry chef to Queen Marie Leszczyńska, wife of King Louis XV, Nicolas Stohrer. Still there at the same address today, 51 rue Montorgueil 75002 Paris. Any good bakery will have it, however, and you can delight in its fluffy texture and hint of sweetness. It certainly is a royal treat.

The Real Queen & Her Private Versailles

Marie Antoinette, now that we’ve established that she never said such a thing, did do a lot that made the people believe, down to this very day, that she would have.

Her spending for state – and statement – clothing was sky high- as high as her outlandish hairstyles that did not endear her to public sentiment after a run of bad harvests and an indebted nation.

Suffocating rules of protocol and iron-fist etiquette ruled each moment of each her days, down to waking and sleeping. Tradition forbade her from even from choosing her own friends, or dressing as she pleased.

But Marie-Antoinette was having none of it. She bucked it all as well as she could, her entourage, her clothes, her hairdos were all of her own choosing. She paid for it dearly, and not only in money.

Fully aware of all the haters, she retreated more and more from public life into her own properties on the grounds of Versailles – away from the whispers and the unpleasant looks, as well as the rigid rules of behavior becoming to a queen. These surroundings still stand, in spite of centuries and revolutions. We can show you not only the life as it was lived under the eyes of King and court at the royal palace in all its magnificent glory, down to the bedroom where the Queen was forced to give birth in full public view.

We can still show you her manor of the Petit Trianon. Here, with a select few friends she would hide away from Versailles’ oppressive climate. In this retreat she put on plays or gambled the night away with her favorites, or pursued more wholesome games with her children. Come with us to see her hamlet with its ornamental dairy where she could play at peasant life away from the sterner, disapproving gaze of the palace courtiers.

The final word

Thus we can definitively state that no, Marie Antoinette almost certainly did not say "Let them eat cake."

It was fake news from the start, a piece of political propaganda – a powerful one, that even though Marie-Antoinette never spoke it, might well have ended up costing her her life.

We love the myths that still circulate about this famous queen, but the real history is stranger and more fascinating by far than any fiction. Come find out the real story with us. We can plunge you back into Versailles’ heyday in all its glory and splendor, and explore the wreckage it left in its wake when the nobles awoke from their dreamworld.

Merci de votre attention. Merci d'avoir pris le temps de lire notre blog ! Nous sommes une petite société de tourisme basée à Paris qui privilégie une expérience personnelle dans une boutique où nous pouvons partager notre passion pour notre patrimoine et notre communauté avec chaque personne qui se joint à nous. Si vous souhaitez participer à une visite guidée, rendez-vous sur notre site Web. site web pour un voyage inoubliable dans la ville lumière. En outre, consultez nos médias sociaux @memories.france pour tout savoir sur Paris : de l'utilisation du métro aux cafés les plus proches de chaque grand monument, il y en a pour tous les goûts !

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