Marie Antoinette

About Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France before the French Revolution, is ranked #232 in historical importance by MIT’s Pantheon project. As an Austrian Archduchess who married Louis XVI, her political influence and subsequent fate-culminating in her execution in 1793-cemented her legacy as a symbol of the excesses of the monarchy leading up to a major historical turning point. Her role is central to understanding the causes and initial phases of the French Revolution.

In the digital age, her historical significance at #232 contrasts sharply with her modern internet attention. In 2025, her Wikipedia pages accrued 4.0M views, resulting in an Attention Gap rating of +9x, indicating significant overattention relative to her established historical rank. For context, this is less than half the attention given to modern figures like Michael Jackson (#416 importance) or Bruce Lee (#314 importance), who both received 8.4M views in the same year.

Despite the general overattention, recent interest shows some turbulence. While her pageviews increased by a modest +6.8% year-over-year, the 2025 Momentum data reveals a -10% drop in interest when comparing Q1 to Q3 traffic, suggesting her cultural resonance may be slightly receding from its recent peak.