Historical Untruths, One

The most enduring legend about decadent French Queen Marie Antoinette is that when she was told her people didn’t have bread, she coldheartedly replied, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (“Let them eat cake”).

The problem with that legend is that the quote is not directly attributable to her — and some historians believe it would have been out of character for her to say it, anyway.

Versions of the “let them eat cake” story had been circling French monarchs  for years, starting at least 100 years before the reign of Marie Antoinette. The same anecdote with a slightly different quote was attributed to Marie-Terese — coincidentally, also the name of Antoinette’s mother and daughter — who married King Louis XIV in 1660.

In that case, it was “the crust of the pate” rather than “cake.” In the intervening years, the story was attributed to a variety of French royals before it stuck to Antoinette.

In her book Marie Antoinette: The Journey, biographer Antonia Fraser argues that not only did Antoinette not deliver the famous line, but she also disagreed with the sentiment. While Marie Antoinette’s lavish royal lifestyle was perhaps unseemly in the face of her subjects’ plight, she often expressed a sense of responsibility toward them.

“It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness,” Antoinette wrote in a letter to her mother.

So, there we have it.

We will be sharing some others as the weeks go by. Got to keep it real!