Abstract:
The origin of the phrase ‘let them eat cake’ is obscure. Conversely, it is widely understood that the
woman whose name is most associated with the phrase, Marie Antoinette, the last pre-revolutionary
Queen of France, never said it. But despite its lack of veracity the phrase demonstrates neatly the
degree of disdain and anger directed at the Queen to the point where hatred becomes a useful term.
This hatred was not unique to Marie Antoinette. While there is no phrase to highlight her role in the
public eye, Alexandra Fedorovna, the last Czarina of Russia, was the focus of parallel disdain.
Despite the timescale their situations are strikingly similar.
The French and Russian revolutions form the backdrop for the close of these two women’s lives.
Political historians de-emphasise the role of individual actors in shaping events, but the events of
individual lives – or more precisely, the way in which those events are interpreted in the public
sphere – can provide an insight into the impersonal events that constitute noteworthy targets of
analysis.
This study identifies a common dynamic that explains the reason why Marie Antoinette and
Alexandra Fedorovna were both the target of such intense hatred during the revolutions that
overthrew the systems they were part of and contributed collectively and individually to the shaping
of the modern world.
