Members of the French court were celebrities. Versailles was a public palace where members of the public were invited to observe public royal ceremonies every day. The activities of royals were widely reported in both respectable publications and scandalous libelles, the tabloids of the time. There was a wide gap between how royals were seen by the public and their true personalities. This was particularly true for Marie Antoinette, who was publicly portrayed as an arrogant profligate adulterer, while in her private life she was relatively chaste and caring about those less fortunate.

Marie Antoinette was thrust into the public eye upon her arrival to the French court. Initially, the French people were enthusiastic about their new dauphine despite her Austrian origins. As Fraser describes it, “The Dauphine could do nothing wrong” (105). However, public opinion quickly turned against the young woman. First, Marie Antoinette did not conceive, leading to concerns that she would not fulfill her crucial role of providing France with an heir. This backlash was encouraged by “an epidemic of satiric and grossly obscene pamphlets” (138), many of which criticized the royal couple for their lack of pregnancy. Other libelles spread rumors that Marie Antoinette was having a series of torrid affairs with men and women because the King was unable to perform sexually. As France slid into an economic crisis, criticism of Marie Antoinette focused on her profligate spending and gambling, earning her the nickname Madame Deficit. Fraser argues that this perception, while not wholly unfounded, overlooks the “extravagant habits of the rest of the royal family, including the aunts” (221). This public perception underlay the rumor that Marie Antoinette had told the people of France to eat cake when they could not afford bread—the most pervasive myth about her that remains to this day.

This flippant remark dates to well before Marie Antoinette’s time and was originally attributed to another woman. In contrast, Marie Antoinette expressed sympathy and concern for the French people and their troubles. She went of her way to help commoners, as when she arranged for care for a young man who was crushed beneath carriage wheels during a hunt. According to Fraser, while as a young woman, Marie Antoinette was as carefree and lighthearted as people believed, she soon focused more on fulfilling her duty as a caring mother and supporting her flailing husband. Finally, Fraser acknowledges that Marie Antoinette did have extramarital relationships, including an affair with Count Axel Fersen. However, these were far from the scandalous sexual exploits detailed in the libelles.

Fraser argues that Marie Antoinette’s “natural dignity in public inculcated since childhood” (429) was interpreted as frigidity or disdain by the increasingly discontent public. The difference between the public’s perception and her private personality contributed to the Revolutionaries’ decision to execute Marie Antoinette for crimes both real and imagined.