“Let them eat cake” might be history’s most famous quote about aristocratic obliviousness – Marie Antoinette’s callous response when told starving French peasants had no bread. The quote supposedly revealed her complete disconnect from reality, helped fuel the French Revolution, and ultimately sent her to the guillotine in 1793.
There’s just one problem: she almost certainly never said it.
So how did history’s most infamous misquote become permanently attached to France’s doomed queen? Here’s the real story behind “Let them eat cake,” who probably did say it, and why Marie Antoinette took the blame.
Who Was Marie-Antoinette?
Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna (Vienna 1755 – Paris 1793) was an Austrian princess born and raised in Vienna’s court. At the age of 13, Marie-Antoinette was betrothed to the Dauphin of France (the heir to the French throne), Louis Auguste. This arranged marriage was an attempt at reconciliation between Austria and France.
Marie-Antoinette arrived in Versailles in 1770. She lived in the opulent Château of Versailles with her husband, the Dauphin, until 1789.
By 1774, King Louis XV had died, and the Dauphin ascended to the throne as King Louis XVI. Before the age of 20, Marie-Antoinette was already Queen of France.
Marie-Antoinette had a lavish lifestyle, and she liked to organize great balls in the Château or extravagant parties in the Gardens of Versailles. When she needed to escape the French court’s rigors, she traveled incognito to Paris or spent her time “playing the peasant” in the Hameau de la Reine, the Queen’s hamlet built for her inside Versailles.
Despite her position as Queen of France, Marie-Antoinette had no power. She was still an Austrian who never broke ties with her family in Vienna, so King Louis XVI never discussed politics or asked her advice on state affairs. Apart from her lavish parties, charitable works, and producing heirs to the French throne, the Queen of France couldn’t do much more.
At the beginning of her life at the French court, Marie-Antoinette was generally well liked and known for her beauty and generosity. Over the years, however, growing resentment emerged toward the Queen’s lavish lifestyle and extravagant parties, especially as many people in Paris were facing hardship and food shortages.
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“Let Them Eat Cake” Meaning: Why It Was So Offensive
Marie-Antoinette was Queen of France during the French Revolution. At some point around 1789, when being told that her starving subjects had no bread, Marie-Antoinette supposedly sniffed, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” – “Let Them Eat Brioche” or “Let Them Eat Cake” in French.
Because brioche is more expensive than bread, the anecdote has been cited as an example of Queen Marie-Antoinette’s obliviousness to ordinary people’s conditions and daily lives in France. With that insensitive remark, the Queen became a hated symbol of the decadent monarchy and fueled the Revolution that would cause her to (literally) lose her head in 1793.
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“Let Them Eat Cake”: The Quote Marie Antoinette Never Said
According to historians, the Marie-Antoinette “Let Them Eat Cake” quote was, in reality, a false rumor. The evidence suggests that Queen Marie-Antoinette did not say Let Them Eat Cake and that it was somebody else who uttered the famous quote long before Marie-Antoinette became Queen of France.
Then, who said “Let Them Eat Cake”? Here’s what we know:
1. There are Versions of Marie-Antoinette’s Quote Let Them Eat Cake Years Before
Scholars of folklore have found versions of the same quote, with some variations, across Europe. In Germany’s 16th century, there was a story of a noblewoman wondering why the hungry peasants didn’t eat Krosem, a kind of sweet bread.
In France, we find the quote “Qu’ils Mangent de la Brioche” uttered by a “great princess” in Rousseau’s autobiography Confessions. Rousseau’s book was written in 1767, when Marie-Antoinette was only ten years old and still living in Austria, far from the French court.
Contemporary historians find no evidence revolutionaries used this quote as propaganda. The first time it was connected to Marie Antoinette in print was 1843, fifty years after her death.
Who said Let Them Eat Cake? Here are our two suspects:
It is believed that Rousseau either coined this Let Them Eat Cake quote himself, or he was referring to Queen Maria-Thérèse, who was the wife of King Louis XIV and lived about 100 years before Marie-Antoinette became Queen of France.
→ Feeling hungry? These are the best Parisian cakes, born and perfected in Paris!
2. Queen Marie-Antoinette Actually Cared About Her People
Despite Queen Marie-Antoinette’s undeniably lavish lifestyle, historians agree that she was an intelligent woman who displayed sensitivity toward France’s poor, starving population.
During her life in the French court, Queen Marie-Antoinette donated generously to charitable causes. In some letters to her family in Austria, we can also see that she cares about her people, perhaps in her own way.
It seems the “Let them eat cake” quote was used to illustrate the gap between the French aristocracy and the people’s plight. Poor Marie-Antoinette – just as with the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, her reputation was permanently tarnished by something she never actually said.
Other Famous Marie-Antoinette Quotes
While Queen Marie-Antoinette is remembered for being overthrown by revolutionaries and guillotined for treason after the fall of the French monarchy, she has some very thought-provoking quotes. They make us wonder whether Queen Marie-Antoinette was actually as evil as history portrays her.
“When everyone else is losing their heads, it is important to keep yours.”
“There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.”
“Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end?”
“I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long.”
