October 6, 1789: The Day Versailles Changed Forever

Today, October 6, marks one of the most dramatic days in the history of Versailles.

On this day in 1789, thousands of Parisians—many of them women—marched to Versailles to confront the monarchy. By the end of the day, Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and their children were forced to leave the palace for Paris, never to return.

It is remarkable to consider how quickly events unfolded. I can’t help but think about their fate whenever I visit Versailles. To be honest, I’m quite sympathetic to the plight of the royal family and often wonder what France would be like today had the monarchy survived. Would a modern day royal family be something like other European monarchies, with traditions and protocols relatively in tact?

What Happened at Versailles?

The events of October 6 actually began the previous day, when thousands of people gathered in central Paris and set out for Versailles. France was facing a severe financial and food crisis, and the rising price of bread had become a particularly painful issue for ordinary people.

The marchers traveled roughly 12 miles from Paris to Versailles, arriving only days after a lavish banquet held at the Royal Opera on October 1 for officers of the Flanders Regiment. Hosted by the royal family, the evening included music, wine, and toasts to the king and queen.

At another moment in French history, it might have been nothing more than a royal celebration. But France was hungry, and the optics were terrible. Reports of the banquet—and particularly its extravagant atmosphere—helped fuel anger toward the monarchy.

The March on Versailles

By the time the crowd reached Versailles, tensions were high. Louis XVI was away hunting at Meudon, while Marie-Antoinette was at the Château de Trianon. She returned to the palace as the situation deteriorated.

The king eventually met with a delegation of women and agreed to provide bread. But the crowd remained at Versailles through the night. In the early morning hours of October 6, demonstrators breached the palace. Marie-Antoinette was awakened and warned that the crowd had entered the Queen’s Apartments. She fled through her private rooms toward the King’s Apartments, where she was reunited with Louis XVI and their children.

The scene is difficult to imagine when standing in these rooms today. The Queen’s bedchamber, now one of the most carefully preserved spaces in Versailles, had suddenly become a place of fear. Guards were attacked, and the royal family was no longer safe.

By that morning, it was clear that the royal family could not remain at Versailles.

“Le Boulanger, La Boulangère et Le Petit Mitron”

Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and their children left the palace that afternoon and traveled toward Paris surrounded by the crowd. The people famously referred to them as “le boulanger, la boulangère et le petit mitron”—the baker, his wife, and his young apprentice—a reference to the king as the provider of bread, his queen, and their young heir.

It was a remarkable reversal. For generations, Versailles had represented the extraordinary power and authority of the French monarchy. Now the king was leaving it under the watch of the people.

Apparently, Louis XVI believed his departure might be temporary. He left instructions concerning the palace and expressed concern for what would become of his beloved Versailles. But the royal family never again lived there. They traveled to Paris, where they remained under increasingly restrictive circumstances as the Revolution continued.

Louis XVI was executed in 1793, followed by Marie-Antoinette later that same year.

Versailles Survived the Revolution

Thankfully, the palace itself was not ransacked or destroyed on October 6 or in the days or months that followed. Its furnishings, however, were later dispersed through revolutionary auctions. Many pieces were lost, sold, or scattered, while others were eventually recovered and returned to Versailles.

So when we walk through Versailles today, we are not simply seeing a reconstruction. Many of the objects and rooms connect us directly to the world that existed before the Revolution and to the royal family who left these rooms on October 6, 1789.

Bread and French Culture

Given the importance of bread in French culture, it’s not surprising that its cost was at the heart of the events of October 1789. Bread has long been a staple of the French table and an essential part of everyday life. Anyone who has visited France understand the boulangerie is woven into the fabric of French neighborhoods, and buying a fresh baguette is a daily ritual for the French.

So when bread became increasingly expensive and difficult to afford in 1789, it was about far more than the price of a loaf. For ordinary Parisians, bread was a necessity. Its rising cost was a very tangible reminder of the economic hardship they were experiencing—and of the growing disparity between the monarchy and the people.

More than two centuries later, bread remains an essential part of French daily life, making it easier to understand why its affordability mattered so much in 1789.

Qu’ils Mangent de la Brioche

No discussion of the French Revolution would be complete without those four infamous words: “Let them eat cake.” Except that Marie-Antoinette almost certainly never said them.

The story appears in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, which he wrote in the 1765. Rousseau described an unnamed “great princess” who, upon hearing that peasants had no bread, supposedly responded that they should eat brioche, a pastry-like treat.

Marie-Antoinette was still a child at the time of Rousseau’s writing. She had not yet arrived in France, was not yet married to Louis XVI, and certainly was not the queen of France. The phrase was eventually attached to her, becoming part of the popular image of Marie-Antoinette as an extravagant and uncaring queen.

This unfair characterization is one of the primary reasons I am sympathetic to Marie-Antoinette.

Versailles Today

For me, its history is one of the things that makes Versailles so fascinating. It is easy to be swept up in the beauty of the palace—the gilded rooms, painted ceilings, crystal chandeliers, and gardens stretching toward the horizon. All of it is truly magnificent. But when you have historical context for what happened here, it is impossible to see Versailles simply as a beautiful château. Every room carries another layer of history.

Today, we can walk through the Queen’s Apartments and stand in the very rooms from which Marie-Antoinette fled that morning. We can stand in the Hall of Mirrors where the monarchy once staged its most magnificent ceremonies. We can even see a performance in the Royal Opera where the banquet was held for officers of the Flanders Regiment on October 1.

That is what makes Versailles so extraordinary to me: the beauty remains, but so does the history. And on October 6, 1789, the course of that history changed forever.