Marie Antoinette-Cake anyone?

Image from Google Images

So did she really say the famous line "Let them eat cake?"

Well, first of all the phrase isn't as derogatory as you think. By French law if normal, everyday bread was sold out the fancy more expensive bread had to be sold at the normal loaf price. So it wasn't like the baker could say "Oh look it's a famine and all I have left is the expensive bread. Too bad."

So when the cheaper bread ran out she said, "Let them eat cake" what she should have said was,"Let them eat cake at the discounted price of bread." but who wants to say that long of a sentence. Some argue that she might have never even said "the cake" phrase at all, it was just a form of political slander from the French Revolutionists.

I think that if Marie had not lived such an extravagant life as queen then the rumor would never been started but it is quite a fitting line for her. She always exceeded her spending budget and had to have all the most popular fashions. I mean hair that is 2 ft high? Come on...

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antionette#Historical_legacy_and_popular_culture

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/227600.html

Here is a good article about Marie's hair, which I find hilarious:

http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip99010.htm