0:00

What if we told you that there's

0:02

a darker side to royalty, and when

0:05

you take a closer look you'll see

0:07

that it comes at the expense of

0:09

everything else, like your freedom, your privacy,

0:12

and sometimes even your head. On

0:14

Wondery's new podcast, Even the Royals, they

0:16

pull back the curtain on royal families,

0:19

past and present, from all over the

0:21

world, and you can listen for free

0:23

wherever you get your podcasts. There's one

0:25

of the most infamous royals in history,

0:27

Marie Antoinette, but everything you know about

0:29

her is wrong. After she

0:31

became queen at just 19 years old,

0:34

she ended up in a battle with

0:36

the French press that started a series

0:38

of impossible to believe events. It's

0:40

history's greatest smear campaign, and

0:42

it had deadly consequences. Or

0:45

Catherine de' Medici, history branded her

0:47

as a cold and power-obsessed

0:49

manipulator, and they said she was

0:51

responsible for one of the most devastating

0:54

massacres in French history. She

0:56

was an orphan who spent her life

0:58

as a powerless hostage, and her determination

1:00

to rise to power led her to

1:03

some dark places and desperate measures. I'm

1:05

about to play a clip from Even

1:07

the Royals. Follow Even the Royals on

1:09

the Wondery app or wherever you get

1:11

your podcasts. You can binge Even the

1:14

Royals ad-free right now on Wondery Plus.

1:17

A quick note about our show. While some

1:19

scenes are dramatized, we promise we did

1:21

our homework and everything is based on

1:23

facts. The Royal heads up.

1:26

Today's episode contains swearing that would have

1:28

the Royal Court calling for our heads.

1:31

Please be advised. So

1:39

Brooke, you and I have been friends for

1:41

a long time. Yeah, and you know what,

1:43

honestly? Not long enough. I would love to

1:45

have you a long time ago. You

1:48

know, I don't disagree at all. Good

1:50

times. Yeah. We've kind

1:52

of been through it all, you

1:54

know? We have, yeah. Working cars

1:56

for celebrities. Yes. Living together. Yes.

1:58

Having arguments about. about how to put

2:01

the toilet paper in the roll correctly or

2:03

who turned magnets upside down. Yeah.

2:06

Real serious stuff. Yeah, yeah. We get into the

2:08

nitty gritty. And here's something else I think our

2:10

listeners should know about us. We

2:12

live and breed rom-coms.

2:15

Literally, I feel like that's one of the

2:17

times where I'm being completely serious. Yep. And

2:20

we also love the doe-eyed cousin

2:22

of the rom-com, the princess movie.

2:25

But these stories always end after the

2:27

princess marries the prince and allegedly lives

2:29

happily ever after. We

2:31

never see the part where they get into a

2:33

screaming match about whose turn it is to clean

2:35

the moat. You know? Yeah. And honestly, I need

2:37

to see that. Me too. That's how you can

2:39

really tell where the love is, is when you

2:41

see two people fight. Yes. But

2:44

all jokes aside, royal life is

2:46

hard. I mean, sure, you get

2:48

to wear a tiara, but you can

2:50

also get eggshells or beheaded.

2:53

Right. And we're not talking Disney movies. The

2:56

real life uncensored version is usually

2:58

more like Game of Thrones meets

3:00

Vanderpump Rules. Oh, what a great

3:03

mashup. And that brings us to

3:05

why we're here. Brooke and I have so much fun

3:07

pulling back the curtain on the world's biggest celebrities

3:09

and family dynasties over on Even the

3:11

Ridge that we wanted to do the

3:13

same on a show all about royals. So

3:16

in this new series, we'll be sharing stories

3:18

about some royals you may have heard of

3:20

and some you likely have not. So

3:23

Brooke, speaking of someone everyone

3:25

knows of, but who most people

3:28

don't actually really know, when

3:30

I say Marie Antoinette, where does your

3:32

mind go? Listen, I know

3:34

what most people would say, but here's

3:37

the thing. When we auditioned for Even

3:39

the Ridge, they

3:41

asked us who our favorite royals were. And

3:43

you said Marie Antoinette. And you were like,

3:45

she didn't actually say, let them eat cake.

3:47

And I've never forgotten it. Oh my god.

3:49

This is really hitting me

3:51

in the field. And while

3:54

she was a wig wearing fashion icon of

3:56

her time who ended up getting beheaded, the

3:58

truth of her life Every story and

4:00

why she was killed is way more

4:03

complicated than Kate. Like, what if

4:05

I told you all of

4:07

this was because of really bad PR?

4:10

That she was basically the

4:12

victim of a total bogus

4:14

propaganda campaign with pornographic cartoons?

4:16

Okay, well, I know nothing

4:18

and I'm now on board. Yeah,

4:21

this story, truly wild, and that's just the

4:23

beginning. I mean, if you think a bunch

4:25

of nude pictures is bad, grab those pearls

4:27

to clutch for when you hear what she's

4:30

ultimately accused of. Honestly, it's

4:32

almost too shocking to believe. Okay.

4:35

So this is the story that shows how rumors can

4:37

get you killed. You

4:39

ready, Brooke? Oh, I am so ready. It's

4:46

October 1793 in Paris. Queen

4:49

Marie Antoinette of France is riding the back

4:51

of an open wagon. Her

4:53

hands are bound and her once fabulous

4:56

hair has been half off. She's

4:59

weak and she's half-starved, but she still

5:01

manages to fit up straight. She

5:04

chose her outfit carefully today. Her

5:06

teen morning dress, a petticoat, and

5:08

bonnet. Always. She's

5:11

determined to carry herself like a queen,

5:13

not like a criminal. Now

5:16

pulling on context, please, I'm sure you've

5:18

guessed she's on her way to be

5:20

executed for high crime

5:22

against freedom. I did have a feeling

5:24

maybe that was happening, yes. So

5:27

a huge crowd gathers in the Plast

5:49

and a pit forms in her stomach when

5:51

she wonders if her children will remember her

5:53

as a villain too. Marie

5:57

finally arrives at the center of the city. eyes

6:00

shoot up to a platform where

6:02

the executioner and the guillotine await.

6:05

It's only a few steps to the top, but

6:07

for Marie, it might as well be a thousand.

6:11

She shrugs off the soldier who's leading her to

6:13

the stairway. She doesn't need or

6:15

want his help. She's doing this

6:17

alone. But with each step,

6:20

her pulse speeds up. She

6:22

reaches the top of the platform and

6:24

stares defiantly into the executioner's eyes. He

6:27

pushes her forward and forces her head

6:29

onto the chopping block. She

6:32

catches one last glimpse of the blade

6:34

dangling overhead. She can't

6:36

believe it's come to this. When

6:38

she first came from Austria and was introduced

6:40

as the future Queen of France, people

6:43

cheered her in the streets. They

6:45

saw her as a force of change. What

6:48

did she do to make them turn against her

6:50

so dramatically? How could they

6:52

swing so violently from love to hate?

6:55

She still can't fully understand it. A

6:59

wooden collar closed around her neck and

7:01

her thoughts swirled. Was

7:03

there something she could have done differently? Could

7:05

she have listened more? Thought harder?

7:08

Maybe people would have

7:10

loved her if she'd acted like someone else. Someone

7:13

less foreign. Less

7:15

independent. Less Marie

7:18

Antoinette-like. Or maybe

7:20

not. Maybe because she was

7:22

a strong woman in a world run

7:24

by men, she was always

7:27

doomed to a fate like this.