The natural range of the giant sequoia is a narrow band along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada range, California, USA. The tree grows at high altitudes between 5,000 to 8,000 ft and only occurs naturally in about 65 to 75 disjoint groves (depending on the definition of a grove) with a total area of 36,000 acres.
Marie Antoinette was born in 1755 and was the daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa. Marie Antoinette married King Louis XVI of France. In 1793, she and her husband were beheaded after the fall of the Bastille.
In Book VI of Rousseauâs Confessions (written about 1767), he relates a version of the story, attributing the quote to âa great princess.â Although Marie-Antoinette was a princess at the time, she was still a child, so it is unlikely that she was the princess Rousseau had in mind. Since Rousseauâs writings inspired the revolutionaries, it has sometimes been supposed that they picked up on this quote, falsely credited it to Marie-Antoinette, and spread it as propaganda, as a way to rouse opposition to the monarchy.