12 Historical "Facts" That Simply Aren't True

4. Marie Antoinette Did Not Declare "Let Them Eat Cake" To The French Peasantry... The Quote Was Merely Misattributed To Her

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Queen Antoinette was pretty much hated by all French peasants and, although she may have thought it, she never actually told the starving 18th-Century proletariat to 'eat cake'. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his book Confessions, wrote the line: "Make-shift of a great princess who was told that the peasants had no bread and replied: Let them eat brioche".

This satirical piece only implied that Antoinette said it, in a sarcastic way, but the reality is she didn't tell the French peasantry to eat a sweet, French cake-like bread as an alternative to their normal baguette.

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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.