Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Fake News (1792 edition)

TeaAtTrianon corrects the "let them eat cake" smear against Marie Antoinette: from History.com

When told that starving French peasants lacked any bread to eat, the queen is alleged to have callously declared, “Let them eat cake!” There is no evidence, however, that Marie Antoinette ever uttered that famous quip.
the problem? It was "fake news":
The phrase used to encapsulate the out-of-touch and indifferent royals first appeared years before Marie Antoinette ever arrived in France in philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s description of Marie-Therese, the Spanish princess who married King Louis XIV in 1660. The remark was also ascribed to two aunts of Louis XVI before it was apocryphally tied to Marie Antoinette. (Read more.)

No comments: