
Make a callous remark M betraying your indifference to other people's suffering, and you might be accused of having a "Marie Antoinette moment". We've all heard of Marie Antoinette. She is the French queen who displayed her disdain for the plight of her hungry subjects by exclaiming the immortal phrase: "Let them eat cake!" She's also the French queen who - as every history lover knows-got her comeuppance by being sent to the guillotine.
And yet there's a problem with this portrayal: Marie Antoinette never invited the French people to eat cake. Anti-monarchists propagated the falsehood using an anecdote that had circulated long before her birth.
Anyone who wants to discover the queen behind the myth might instead consider the following: "Our situation is awful. When I am really sad, I take my little boy in my arms, I hug him with all my heart, and that consoles me." Marie Antoinette wrote scores of letters during her lifetime, many of which have been preserved. And, as the words above suggest, these letters tell a tragic story. They paint a picture of a woman engaged in a desperate battle for survival as her world fell apart. They help us locate the real Marie Antoinette.
Scurrilous rumours
Bu hikaye BBC History UK dergisinin December 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye BBC History UK dergisinin December 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap

The Victorians' cocaine habit
In the 19th century, a magic new drug took the medical community by storm, riding a wave of scientific endeavour.

Tower of light and dark
The gold-tipped monument that towers above Bath is an architectural jewel and a visceral reminder of the evils of slavery. PAUL BLOOMFIELD visits the newly restored haven built by the wealthy outcast William Beckford

How Britain found its frequency
When radios first appeared in British homes in the early 20th century, one thing soon became clear: domestic life would never be the same again. Beaty Rubens tracks Britons' reaction to this extraordinary new technology via seven cartoons

There are only a handful of survivors left who can say what happened
I WAS INTERVIEWING AN ALMOST 98-YEAR-OLD man about his memories of the Second World War this week.

THE KING LOST KINGDOM
Battered by the Vikings, outshone by King Alfred, Mercia has long been painted as the also-ran of the Anglo-Saxon world. Yet, writes Max Adams, this mighty Midlands kingdom was at the very heart of the emergence of England

Donald Trump has retaken the US presidency, repeating his vow to 'Make America Great Again'. But he's not the first to wield such a slogan. Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan stood for election with the same promise.Did he deliver?
Donald Trump's recurring battle cry \"Make America Great Again!\"- taps into a powerful sense among many Americans that life was better in the old days.

"In times of political volatility, it's more vital than ever that we tell women's stories"
What impact has recent instability around the world had on the study of women’s history? Does our desire for strong female role models risk erasing complexity? And whose lives are still overlooked? Ahead of Women’s History Month, ELLIE CAWTHORNE spoke to three historians about the state of the discipline

Five shocking tales from Britain's royal palaces
Royal residences have been a hotbed of drama, violence and intrigue down the centuries, as Kate Williams reveals

Why, the villagers wondered, were they completely green?
The story of the otherworldly children of Woolpit has long been treated as folklore - but, as John Clark explains, the tale may not be as fanciful as it seems

We are witnessing the biggest gathering of people in world history
I'M SURE, LIKE ME, READERS HAVE BEEN BOTH gripped and saddened this last month by the pictures of India's Kumbh Mela, the biggest pilgrimage in the world.