2:00

it's upside down. Yeah. Real serious stuff. Yeah.

2:02

Yeah. We get into the nitty gritty. And

2:05

here's something else I think our listeners should know about us.

2:08

We live and breed rom-coms.

2:11

Literally, I feel like that's one of the times

2:13

where I'm being completely serious. Yep. And

2:16

we also love the doe-eyed cousin

2:18

of the rom-com, the princess movie.

2:21

But these stories always end after the princess

2:23

marries the prince and allegedly lives happily ever

2:25

after. We never see the part where they

2:27

get into a screaming match about whose turn

2:29

it is to clean the moat, you know?

2:31

Yeah. And honestly, I need to see that.

2:33

Me too. That's how you can really tell

2:36

where the love is, is when you see

2:38

two people fight. Yup. But

2:40

all jokes aside, royal life is

2:42

hard. I mean, sure, you get

2:44

to wear a tiara, but you can

2:46

also get egg balls or beheaded.

2:49

Right. And we're not talking Disney

2:51

movies. The real life uncensored version

2:53

is usually more like Game of

2:56

Thrones meets Vanderpump Rules. Oh, what

2:58

a great mashup. And

3:00

that brings us to why we're here. Brooke and I

3:02

have so much fun pulling back the curtain on the

3:04

world's biggest celebrities and family dynasties over on

3:07

Even The Rich that we wanted to

3:09

do the same on a show all about

3:11

royals. So in this new series,

3:13

we'll be sharing stories about some royals you

3:15

may have heard of and some you likely

3:17

have not. So

3:20

Brooke, speaking of someone everyone knows

3:22

of, but who most people don't

3:24

actually really know, when I

3:27

say Marie Antoinette, where does your mind

3:29

go? Listen, I know what most people

3:31

would say, but here's the thing.

3:33

When we auditioned for Even The

3:36

Rich, they asked us who our

3:38

favorite royals were. And you said Marie Antoinette

3:40

and you were like, she didn't actually say

3:42

let them eat cake. And I've never forgotten

3:44

it. Oh, my God, this is really

3:47

hitting me in the field. And you

3:49

know, while she was a

3:51

wig wearing fashion icon of her time,

3:53

who ended up getting beheaded, the truth

3:55

of Marie's story and why she was

3:57

killed is way more complicated than cake.

4:00

Like, what if I told you all

4:03

of this was because of really bad

4:05

PR? That she was

4:07

basically the victim of a

4:09

total bogus propaganda campaign with

4:11

pornographic cartoons? Okay, well, I

4:14

know nothing and I'm now on board. Yeah,

4:17

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

4:19

beginning. I mean, if you think a bunch

4:21

of nude pictures is bad, grab those pearls

4:23

to clutch for when you hear what she's

4:26

ultimately accused of. Honestly, it's

4:28

almost too shocking to believe. Okay.

4:31

So this is the story that shows how rumors

4:33

can get you killed. You

4:35

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

4:42

October 1793 in Paris. Queen

4:45

Marie Antoinette of France is riding in the back

4:47

of an open wagon. Her

4:49

hands are bound and her once fabulous

4:52

hair has been hacked off. She's

4:55

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

4:57

manages to sit up straight. She

5:00

chose her outfit carefully today. A

5:02

pristine morning dress, a petticoat, and

5:04

bonnet. Always. She's

5:07

determined to carry herself like a queen,

5:09

not like a criminal. Now

5:12

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

5:14

guessed that she's on her way to

5:17

be executed for high crime and freedom.

5:19

I did have a feeling maybe that was happening, yes. So

5:23

a huge crowd gathers in the Place

5:25

de la Révalucion to hurl insults at

5:27

Marie. Now most of these

5:29

insults are about how she's a traitor and a

5:32

sexual deviant. Marie wants to

5:34

yell back at them, but the people didn't

5:36

listen to Marie during her trial. So

5:38

why would they know? And

5:40

kind of her was like,

5:43

then she thinks of a pit. And

5:45

a pit forms in her stomach when she

5:47

wonders if her children will remember her as

5:50

a villain too. Marie

5:53

finally arrives at the center of this square. Her

5:56

eyes shoot up to a platform where

5:58

the executioner and the guillotine... await.

6:01

It's only a few steps of the test, but

6:03

for Marie, it might as well be a thousand.

6:07

She shrugs off the soldier who's leading her to

6:09

the stairway. She doesn't need or

6:11

want his help. She's doing

6:13

this alone, but with

6:15

each step, her pulse speeds up. She

6:18

reaches the top of the platform and

6:20

stares defiantly into the executioner's eyes. He

6:23

pushes her forward and forces her head

6:25

onto the chopping block. She

6:28

catches one last glimpse of the

6:30

blade dangling overhead. She can't believe

6:32

it's come to this. When

6:34

she first came from Austria and was introduced

6:36

as the future queen of France, people

6:39

cheered her in the streets. They

6:41

saw her as a force of change. What

6:44

did she do to make them turn against her

6:46

so dramatically? How could they

6:48

swing so violently from love to hate? She

6:51

still can't fully understand it. A

6:54

wooden collar closed around her neck and

6:57

her thoughts swirled. Was

6:59

there something she could have done differently? Could

7:01

she have listened more? Thought

7:04

harder? Maybe people would have

7:06

loved her if she'd actively linked someone else. Someone

7:09

less foreign, less

7:11

independent, less Marie

7:14

Antoinette-like. Or maybe

7:16

not. Maybe because she was

7:18

a strong woman in a world run

7:20

by men, she was always

7:23

doomed to a fate like this.

7:31

You can binge Even the Royals early

7:33

and ad-free right now by joining Wondery

7:35

Plus in the Wondery app or on

7:37

Apple Podcasts.