Reputations - Marie Antoinette

Marie-Antoinette has gone down in history as a callous, frivolous woman who epitomized
the decadence of the French monarchy, paying the ultimate price at the guillotine.

But her most famous line, 'Let them eat cake,' was something she never actually said.

Reputations reveals how the Austrian-born queen was hated by the French from the start,
and how her unconsummated marriage to the undersexed Louis XVI led her to seek comfort in frivolity.

Yet despite accusations of nymphomania and even bestiality, she tried hard to be a loving wife and in adversity
she impressed even her enemies with her dignity and courage.

This is the very human tragedy of a flawed but caring woman who, as revolution swept her adopted country,
became a prime example of the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.