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date: 10 February 2025

Marie-Antoinette 1755–93
French Queen consort of Louis XVI 

  1. Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.
    Let them eat cake.
    on being told that her people had no bread
    attributed, but much older; in his Confessions (1740) Rousseau refers to a similar remark being a well-known saying; another version is ‘Que ne mangent-ils de la croûte de pâté? [Why don't they eat pastry?]’, attributed to Marie-Thérèse (1638–83), wife of Louis XIV