Marie Antoinette

The Austrian Archduchess Marie Antoinette was born in Vienna in 1755. She married Louis-Auguste, the future King Louis XVI of France, at the age of fourteen. The last monarchs of France were Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis the XVI.

The French people initially held Marie Antoinette in great regard throughout her reign as Queen of France, but when the monarchy came under fire for its decadence and extravagant spending, popular opinion of the queen sharply declined. When the enraged Parisians stormed Versailles, the unrest reached a fever pitch.

Marie Antoinette is perhaps most known for the iconic phrase "Let them eat cake," which she uttered after learning that Parisians were no longer able to afford to purchase bread, shortly prior to the French Revolution when the majority of French people were experiencing extreme poverty. She had apparently intended to indicate that they should eat brioche if there was in fact no bread. Many historians contend that there is no solid evidence to support the notion that Marie Antoinette actually made these declarations, despite the fact that it was a baseless myth that spread quickly.

Marie Antoinette's and King Louis XVI's poor reputation among the French people is frequently mentioned as a cause of the French Revolution. At the age of 38, Marie Antoinette would eventually be executed by guillotine at the Place de la Concorde in Paris on October 16, 1793. During her imprisonment and horrific trials, her hair had become entirely white.

Birth - Death: 1755 - 1793