What did Marie Antoinette do?
Marie Antoinette was the Queen of France during the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette has gone down in history as the arrogant and apathetic monarch who said “let them eat cake” when told the peasants were starving because they had no bread. The daughter of Francis I and Maria Theresa, Emperor and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Marie left Austria for France in 1770 to marry the prince of France. As the revolution swept Paris in 1789, Louis and Marie tried to flee but failed. Marie and Louis XVI were stuck as prisoners at the palace at Tuileries. They tried to get help from royal supporters in England, Prussia and Austria, but in 1792 they were arrested and charged with treason. Louis was beheaded 21 January 1793 and Marie was beheaded 16 October 1793. According to legend, Marie’s last words were an apology to the executioner for accidentally stepping on his foot.
Marie Antoinette, in a word, did nothing. She was the queen of Louie the 16th (I believe) and became the embodiment (to the French Peasants) of the ruling rich. Her famous words “Let them eat cake” were considered ironic in the sense that the cake she meant was a style of bread used previously to prevent starvation of fighting troops (I think). In any case, this type of bread was already being used (and used up) on the French poor.
