Marie Antoinette

1755–1793 · Queen of France

Marie Antoinette was the Austrian-born wife of Louis XVI and queen of France before the Revolution abolished the monarchy. Imprisoned with the royal family, she was tried and executed in Paris in October 1793. The story of her courtesy to the executioner belongs to the later accounts of that execution.

Traced to source

2 quotes we’ve traced to Marie Antoinette

“Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end?”

Attributed

“Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose”

Attributed

Not actually Marie Antoinette

Often misattributed to Marie Antoinette

Famous lines widely pinned on Marie Antoinette that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Let them eat cake”

actually Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Did they really say it?

Thought Marie Antoinette said something else?

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