Which French queen is credited with popularizing the use of perfume in the 18th century?

Marie Antoinette is the French queen credited with popularizing perfume as a fashionable luxury in the 18th century.

Marie Antoinette did not invent perfume, which had been used for thousands of years and was already important at the French court. Her influence came from her highly visible taste for fragrances, scented rooms, flowers, powders, and perfumed accessories. Her personal perfumer, Jean-Louis Fargeon, created floral compositions featuring notes such as rose, violet, jasmine, tuberose, lavender, and orange blossom.

Her perfume habits reflected a broader transformation in 18th-century French fragrance culture. Perfume was shifting from heavy scents used partly to mask unpleasant odors toward lighter, floral fragrances associated with elegance and personal style. The queen’s patronage helped reinforce Versailles as a center of luxury and encouraged perfumers to develop bespoke products for elite customers.

A common mix-up is crediting Marie Antoinette with introducing perfume to France. Catherine de’ Medici is associated with earlier developments in French perfumery during the 16th century, while Marie Antoinette’s role belongs specifically to the late 18th-century fashion for refined floral scent.