“Let Them Eat Cake”

The phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" or, "Let them eat brioche" is attributed to be spoken by Queen Marie Antoinette upon learning that the peasants had no bread. The anecdote was employed by pro-revolutionary commentators to scorn the aristocracy of the French Ancien Régime as a disregard for the peasants. It is now a well-known fact that Marie Antoinette was neither uncaring nor ignorant, not to say indifferent. Presumably, the last queen of France did say "Let them eat brioche". What might it mean if being said not by a vicious juvenile snobette, but by a monarch? Quite literally, it could mean that there are brioches to eat. In other words, it is possible that the bakeries were out of bread, but not pastries, which were available. In short, there was no famine.