<P> "Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread . Since brioche was a luxury bread enriched with butter and eggs, the quote would reflect the princess's disregard for the peasants, or her poor understanding of their situation . </P> <P> While the phrase is commonly attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, there is no record of her having said it . It appears in book six of Jean - Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, his autobiography (whose first six books were written in 1765, when Marie Antoinette was nine years of age, and published in 1782). The context of Rousseau's account was his desire to have some bread to accompany some wine he had stolen; however, feeling he was too elegantly dressed to go into an ordinary bakery, he recalled the words of a "great princess": </P> <P> At length I remembered the last resort of a great princess who, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied: "Then let them eat brioches ." </P>

Where did the expression let them eat cake come from