Marie Antoinette's famous line was never uttered:
Marie Antoinette has been reviled for supposedly declaring, when she heard the poor had run out of bread, “Let them eat cake!” or, in French, Qu’ils mangent de la brioche, a rich, egg-based breakfast bun. But according to biographer Antonia Fraser, the charge is unfounded.
The choice phrase, which became a symbol for the callous indifference of the rich, was actually used by others long before the Revolution, as recorded by the philosopher Rousseau. In fact, it was first uttered a century before by another French royal, Queen Marie-Thérèse, the Spanish-born wife of Louis XIV and even then, she may have advised the masses to eat croûte, or the tasty crust of the pâté.