Hi all, I’ve always been fascinated with French history, including Marie Antoinette. I remember seeing somewhere that the quote “let them eat cake” didn’t actually happen as a way to make her look worse. Just now, I saw another claim that she had a house built in the gardens behind Versailles with fake villagers so she could pretend to be a peasant whenever she wanted.
Did either of those things happen, and can anyone say if she is truly as bad as everyone says she is?
Yes, “Le Hameau” (The Hamlet) does exist and was built by Marie Antoinette. I believe they have done considerable restoration to the village in recent time. In this era of Covid, I’m not sure what the status is for visitors. The village is built on the “Petit Trianon” estate at Versailles.
https://www.wmf.org/blog/visit-versailles-%E2%80%93-le-petit-trianon
Though “let them eat cake” has been attributed to Marie Antoinette, it has been de-bunked.
There was a lot happening with Marie Antoinette. The French didn't like her because she was Austrian. That dislike of her, is what has lasted so there aren't a lot of positive things that are said about her now. She did spend a lot of money on clothes and shoes. There's a lot of biographies written on her and many of them have biases against her. The one written by Antonia Fraser was well researched and written unbiasedly, if you want to know her life better in detail, I suggest that one.
She wasn't prepared to be Queen let alone, Queen of France. Not because of her age but, her mother slacked on her education prior to going to France. When she arrived to Franc, She didn't speak French well, and had a lot of Germanisms in her French. Of course, she got better as time went, since French was the language she spoke everyday. Life at Versailles was very different than it was in Austria and probably had trouble adjusting. She did enjoy dancing and performing though and the king liked her (her husband's father). So there's a few positive things going for her. I'd say, she was misunderstood and still is.