All language subtitles for Secrets.d.Histoire.2019.Les.favoris.de.Marie-Antoinette

HISTORY'S SECRETS

MARIE ANTOINETTE'S FAVORITES

She wasn't yet 15
when she arrived from Austria,

to marry the French dauphin,
Louis-Auguste, on May 16, 1770.

She was only 18

when she became queen,
upon Louis XV's death.

And she was just 38

when she was executed,
after a sham trial,

that brought up names
from her inner circle:

La Lamballe, la Polignac, Fersen,

who were all close
to the young princess,

the inexperienced queen

and the innocent woman,
caught up in a world that was dying.

It was here, to the queen's hamlet,

with lambs in ribbons
as her confidantes,

that Marie Antoinette withdrew,

far from the duties and pressures
of the court at Versailles,

far from the castle,
the king's ministers,

from Mrs. de Noailles
the Duchess of Villars,

those sticklers for protocol,

from the Austrian ambassador,

Mercy-Argenteau,
the bearer of cutting missives

from the Empress Maria Theresa,

but also far from her aunts,

Louis XV's daughters,
those inveterate gossip-mongers.

Here, by the Petit Trianon,
things were quite different,

amid carefree laughter
and friendship,

with perhaps, people say,
a few lovers.

To the stultifying courtiers
at Versailles,

who wouldn't prefer the lively,
fun-loving Princess of Lamballe,

who was young, pretty,
naughty and somewhat naive,

but whose fate
proved as bloody as the queen's?

Who wouldn't choose to hobnob

with the Duchess of Polignac,

who was open to anything

and was already being accused,

of frivolity,
wantonness and privilege?

And who could turn down
Rose Bertin's gorgeous dresses

and the great Léonard's hairdressing,

worn atop heads
that were soon to roll.

And who wouldn't respond

to the steamy letters
from Axel von Fersen,

that most handsome of Swedes,

a newcomer to France,

with the same youthfulness
and appetite for life,

who shared the queen's anxieties

about the violence of the times?

Those were people
that Marie Antoinette frequented.

Tight-knit, loyal and discreet,

they attended
to the gracious princess,

before becoming the phantom guard
to a scapegoat queen.

During her early years in Versailles,

Marie Antoinette
discovered the workings

of Europe's most sophisticated
but most rigid court.

Thousands of courtiers lived there,
bound by its strict etiquette,

a codified system that quickly became
the dauphine's worst nightmare.

She was truly to discover

the representative duties
of the French sovereign,

which required sovereigns
to be permanently visible,

having been created by Louis XIV,

and required her daily movements
to be entirely scheduled in advance

and choreographed, like a ballet.

The dauphine had strict duties

and was also prohibited

from giving free rein to her desires.

She ran up against
a system of rules and principles.

A request for a glass of water

had to pass through her first lady,

who would ask her second,

who would then ask a servant,

who would get the water.

It would take 15 or 20 minutes.

It was due to her childhood,

which she spent at Vienna's court,

in Schönbrunn, where she had fun.

Her upbringing
was actually quite bourgeois

and she wasn't too restricted
by the constraints of protocol.

Marie Antoinette
also quickly understood

that the aristocracy
was not wholly on her side.

Her marriage to Louis-Auguste,

the French dauphin
and future Louis XVI,

sealed the reconciliation
of France and Austria,

after 200 years of enmity.

King Louis XV

and Marie Antoinette's mother,
the Empress Maria Theresa,

had brought about that rapprochement.

Some courtiers saw Marie Antoinette
as an Austrian agent

and quickly came to refer to her
as the "Austrian bitch,"

revealing the deep-seated hostility

of a large part of the top nobility

toward the Franco-Austrian alliance,
of which she was the product

and to which she also fell victim.

Yet a few years earlier,
in spring 1770,

Marie Antoinette's introduction
to her future subjects

began most auspiciously.

As she first set foot on French soil,

the young girl was amazed

by her reception among the people.

Marie Antoinette arrived in France

amid shouts of joy,
festivities, applause and cheering.

She was intoxicated
by the French people's reception.

She was given a triumphant welcome,

amid flowers,
with girls bringing her bouquets.

She radiated joy,
at the reception she was given.

Marie Antoinette was already popular
upon her arrival.

People liked her youthfulness
and her verve.

People identified her
with the hope of renewal,

of a reconstituted
resplendent monarchy.

For the first time in a long time,

the French had a pretty future queen,

whom they liked, who was young

and was in keeping
with their expectations.

Marie Antoinette
was just fourteen and a half.

But her physique and demeanor

immediately won over
the French people.

She was tall and slim.

She carried herself beautifully.

She had a high forehead,

with watery blue eyes
and a charming smile.

Marie Antoinette
had a lot going for her, physically.

Her porcelain complexion
was widely admired.

The 18th century was almost obsessed

with that translucent
milky whiteness.

But she also had her flaws.

Her lower lip tended to pout,
in a way that seemed disdainful.

Her face wasn't that pretty,

but she had boundless charm
and a slight German accent.

She was truly adorable.

She was clearly
in what we would call adolescence,

in that she was a girl,
in the making,

who had understood

that she had

a weighty political mission
to accomplish,

without exactly understanding
its workings.

Louis XV
deployed all the necessary pomp

to signal the major political event
of that alliance with Austria.

At Versailles,

the marriage celebrations began
with a blessing in the royal chapel.

They continued in a new theater,
completed for the occasion.

The Royal Opera was officially opened
on May 16, 1770,

not with an operatic performance,
but with a royal feast,

to celebrate the future Louis XVI's
wedding to Marie Antoinette,

around a vast table,
under the ceiling, there,

set for 21 people,
with the king at the head.

The whole royal family was there,
with other princes and princesses,

while the court and ambassadors

were seated in the surrounding boxes,
to watch the show.

Through its size alone,
the Royal Opera is an amazing venue.

It's the biggest court theater
that's come down to us in France.

It was acknowledged at the time
as the biggest theater.

It can seat
1,300 to 1,400 spectators.

The marriage was also celebrated
with a performance of a Lully tragedy

and a bal paré,

which unfolded
according to the strict protocol.

The king called out the names
of pairs of dancers, in turn,

who then formed a procession,
in twos,

in hierarchical order,

with the dauphine opening the ball
and following on from there.

It was all about etiquette.

There were more spectators
than dancers.

There were only two dances:

the minuet,
which was the ultimate royal dance...

and the contredanse,
which developed through the 1700s.

But in 1770, the young dauphine,
although a fully-fledged princess,

hadn't fully mastered
the steps of the contredanse,

so she danced a minuet,
for the whole court.

Imagine how she must have felt,
dancing, as everyone else watched.

In a slight departure
from the usual bal paré etiquette,

she was permitted to dance
an allemande,

another dance,
which she had mastered.

Everyone went into raptures
over the young princess's grace.

But the honeymoon was short-lived.

Amid the hostility of some courtiers
and a seemingly excessive etiquette,

Marie Antoinette worked hard
to established her own confidantes.

Marie Antoinette was deeply isolated
within the royal family.

Even in the circles in which

she was entitled to expect support,

she was totally isolated

and even stigmatized.

She wanted to know more,

to seek entertainment
and to have fun.

She was in search of youth,

with an appetite for affection.

Marie Antoinette's wedding
to the future Louis XVI

was partly celebrated
in Versailles' Hall of Mirrors.

A passage for visitors and courtiers,

this magnificent space
is adorned with 357 mirrors,

symbolizing everything

that the future queen
would try to flee -

a life of constant observation
and comment.

But Marie Antoinette had to get used
to the ways of the French court.

Upon her arrival,

she was shocked to see

how Mrs. du Barry,

Louis XV's mistress,
a simple courtesan,

reigned over Versailles.

Court etiquette

held that no woman of a lower rank,
such as Mrs. du Barry,

could address a women of higher rank,
such as a princess.

She had to wait to be spoken to.

Finally, after long months of silence

and to oblige Louis XV,

Marie Antoinette spoke in public
to the king's favorite.

On the occasion of the new year,

on January 1, 1772,

she summoned her attention
with this famous line:

"Many people
are at Versailles today."

Never had such a banal utterance
attracted such commentary.

Recently restored,

the queen's magnificent bedroom
was the main room in her apartments.

You can see a portrait of her mother,
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria.

And this is her brother,
Emperor Joseph II.

And her husband, Louis XVI,
is opposite her bed.

Now look,

this is one of the finest pieces
of royal furniture:

Marie Antoinette's jewelry case.

This piece
combines precious materials,

such as mahogany, green marble,

Sèvres porcelain,
mother-of-pearl and bronze.

The central panel here
represents the arts.

These three leaves
allow the case to be opened,

revealing the many drawers

in which Marie Antoinette
kept her jewelry.

At the top,

you can see the allegories
of strength, wisdom and abundance.

They previously bore the royal crown,

which was removed
during the French Revolution.

And it was in this bedroom
that the queen gave birth.

A royal birth was a public ceremony,

ensuring
that no substitution occurred

and that the prince
truly was the queen's son.

Just think,
people would push and shove here,

to witness royal births.

Isolated from the French court,

Marie Antoinette
became acquainted with two women

that came to play major roles
in her life:

Yolande de Polignac,

and, before her,
Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy,

whom we know
as the Princess of Lamballe.

She was a devoted friend

and one of those
most loyal to the queen.

The Princess of Lamballe was destined

to get along well
with Marie Antoinette.

They had the same background.

They were both from abroad.

They had the same rank,
as princesses.

They had the same upbringing.

The Princess of Lamballe
was a delicate, pretty young woman,

of very fragile health

and not of the highest intelligence.

She was also highly sensitive.

She was very impressionable.

She was said to have fainted
at the sight of a crawfish.

Marie Antoinette was won over
by her gentleness

and further attracted by her

due to the intimacy
that they could establish together.

It was truly
a deep, powerful friendship,

which is what
Marie Antoinette was in search of.

She wanted someone
to whom she could open up.

Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy
was born in Turin

and belonged
to one of France's richest families.

She married the Prince of Lamballe,

the son of the Duke of Penthièvre
and an heir in the royal lineage.

When she met Marie Antoinette,

she was living
in her father-in-law's Paris mansion,

the Hôtel de Toulouse,

now the headquarters
of the Banque de France.

It was here,
in this magnificent gilded room,

that her wedding dinner was held,
some years earlier.

There were three tables
and 130 guests,

with all of the trappings
of the court highlife.

All of the royal princes were there.

The finery was extraordinary.
It was glistening with diamonds.

The gallery was lit

with thousands of candles,
with lanterns.

And the Princess of Lamballe
entered that extraordinary setting.

This gilded gallery was inspired
by the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles,

with these mirrors

and this gilded woodwork.

Vassé, the renowned sculptor,

sculpted a whole bestiary
of land and sea animals.

The land animals
include boar and deer.

The sea animals

include shellfish -
lobsters and crawfish.

The gallery is 40m long and 6.5m wide

and it's 8m to the ceiling.

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
is about double that.

Despite the lavish setting,
the dinner was somewhat morose.

The princess's father-in-law
was grieving his mother's death.

Even the liveliest courtiers

were more subdued than usual.

There was a sense of darkness
hovering over the dinner.

Maybe it wasn't totally lugubrious,
but the dinner wasn't that cheerful

and it wasn't the best introduction

that the princess could have had
to Paris and to her husband.

And the princess discovered
her husband's character.

One of the 18th century's
most renowned libertines,

he left her an unpleasant legacy.

He promoted sexual liberty

and racked up amorous conquests.

He frequented brothels.

His libertine tendencies
were extremely pronounced.

He was very controversial
and debauched.

He died after 16 months of marriage,

having caught various diseases,

which we would now describe
as sexually transmitted

and he passed them on to his wife,
Mrs. de Lamballe.

A childless widow at 19,

the Princess of Lamballe
was entirely available

to Marie Antoinette.

She divided her time
between Versailles

and the homes of her father-in-law,
the Duke of Penthièvre.

She regularly stayed
at his property in Rambouillet,

where he had commissioned
an English garden,

and a cottage,
with astonishing aquatic decoration.

The walls are punctuated
by alcoves and pilasters,

imitating an ancient style,
but built entirely of seashells.

There are clams, scallops,
oysters and mussels,

winkles and so on.

And this vault is encrusted
with pieces of mother-of-pearl,

creating the room's sense
of preciousness and luminosity.

And mother-of-pearl was also used
on the mirror above the fireplace,

instead of the usual glass.

These shells were all from
the Duke of Penthièvre's châteaux,

across France.

There are shells
from his Nogent-sur-Seine residence,

where mussels
could be harvested from the Seine.

And he owned
the Château d'Eu, in Normandy,

so he could bring in shells
from Dieppe.

And his was the grand admiral
of the French navy,

with control of all the vessels
in the French fleet,

so he could bring in shells

from further afield,
such as the Caribbean,

to complete the decoration here.

In the Princess of Lamballe,

Marie Antoinette found a confidante,
someone to open up to.

But she was also an accomplice
to all of her daily activities.

They shared fairly lighthearted,
frivolous interests.

They liked talking together

and making fun of the old courtiers.

They were among the rare young faces
at Versailles, after all.

They played music,
sang and walked together -

they walked a lot -

all in the company of others.

Marie Antoinette was searching
for a way of living freely

and avoiding the rules,
shackles and constraints.

Marie Antoinette's
favorite activities

included sledding,

which she brought back into fashion
as soon as snow fell on Versailles.

Marie Antoinette would accord people
the privilege of driving her,

with other princesses,

then they'd draw lots,
to generate surprises and laughter,

and they'd all set off,
for a long excursion.

They'd go from château to château,
from La Muette to Meudon,

even to Rambouillet.

Then they'd have something hot,
to warm up, at the château,

before returning to Versailles
before nightfall.

The sleds themselves
contributed to the sense of fantasy,

with their strange,
fabulous bestiaries,

with their sirens, dragons
and tortoises

or even a leopard,

as you can see here,
in a most spectacular example.

It's naturalistic, as you can see,

ready to pounce, with bulging eyes
and an open mouth.

It was sculpted and painted
in keeping with the natural model

and based on a real leopard,

kept at Louis XV's exotic menagerie,
just nearby.

Marie Antoinette liked to have fun.

But her mother, Maria Theresa,
Empress of Austria,

had other plans for her.

The Empress Maria Theresa

saw her children
as little pawns or soldiers,

to further the greatness
of the empire and of Austria.

She told her to be a good German.

Maria Theresa chose a mentor
for her daughter,

her own ambassador,
the Count of Mercy-Argenteau.

And the Count of Mercy-Argenteau
regularly wrote to the empress,

to keep her up to date
with Marie Antoinette's every move.

Her ambassador told her everything
about Marie Antoinette.

Marie Antoinette
didn't want to comply.

Politics didn't interest her.

That's understandable.

She was young.

She wanted to be appreciated,
to have fun and to develop,

but not to do politics.

After ascending the throne, in 1774,

Marie Antoinette
broadened her close contacts,

creating what she called
the "queen's circle,"

a group of young people
that she liked to play and talk with.

One young woman among them
became her favorite.

That was Mrs. de Polignac,

with whom the queen quickly developed
a powerful friendship.

Mrs. de Polignac
was a stunning beauty,

outdoing Lamballe, even.

She had blue eyes,
brown hair and a winning smile.

Everyone was crazy
about Mrs. de Polignac.

She reminded people
of Raphael's virgins.

She was anything but a saint,

but she had that angelic face
and those flowing brown curls.

Her face was a perfect oval.

She was proud to be idle
and lacking in interests.

She was proud to be lazy

and she was very punctilious
in keeping her distance from others.

And that's probably
what charmed Marie Antoinette.

Mrs. de Polignac
had married Count Jules de Polignac,

an aristocrat from the provinces.

They weren't courtiers.

The Count of Polignac
was totally broke,

so they didn't live at the court,
because they couldn't afford it.

She usually lived in the countryside,
in Brie.

They only came to court rarely.

Marie Antoinette rapidly came
to seek out the Countess of Polignac,

who replaced the Princess of Lamballe

as the queen's favorite.

The Duchess of Polignac was funny.

She was very spirited,
while knowing her place,

and was infinitely more funny
than the Princess of Lamballe.

She accompanied the queen everywhere

and was glad to host.

The Princess of Lamballe hosted too,

but there was a lot more laughter
with the Duchess of Polignac.

Marie Antoinette,

saw Mrs. de Polignac
as being very free and liberated.

She was married, with two children,

but she made no secret
of the lovers that she had.

For Marie Antoinette,
as queen of France,

all of that was obviously

totally off-limits and forbidden.

But now she had a role model,
a free, emancipated woman,

who did as she pleased.

To keep her favorite close by,

Marie Antoinette furnished
an apartment at Versailles for her.

But Mrs. de Polignac
didn't come alone.

She brought her clan with her.

The Duchess of Polignac was a woman

of whom only good was said,
broadly speaking,

but that wasn't true

of her sister-in-law,
the fearsome Diane of Polignac,

who was a sort of harpy,

whose sole obsession

was in obtaining advantage
for her family and her clan.

Diane of Polignac quickly saw

that the Countess of Polignac

could capture
Marie Antoinette's interest

and that could be profitable.

The Count of Polignac

became a colonel
in the king's regiment.

He obtained a stipend
and became a hereditary duke.

He was entrusted
with the breeding of horses.

When Mrs. de Polignac
married off her 13-year-old daughter,

Marie Antoinette obtained
a dowry of 800,000 livres for her,

which was out of all proportion.

And the Polignacs' friends
and friends of friends

all obtained stipends
or other advantages,

of various kinds.

When the Polignac family
met Marie Antoinette,

they were almost poor

and within a few months,

they came to own
one of the court's greatest fortunes.

When Marie Antoinette herself
became a mother,

she even appointed
the Duchess of Polignac

as the governess
of the royal children.

The Princess of Lamballe
had now withdrawn,

but she retained her prestigious post
as superintendent to the queen.

Those privileges were all accorded
with the king's agreement.

One
of King Louis XVI's greatest mistakes

was to give in to his wife.

Marie Antoinette was generous
and naturally kindhearted

and she liked to indulge people

and Louis XVI
liked to indulge his wife.

And that led to disaster.

It led to disaster,

because
it destroyed the workings at court,

which was a finely-tuned system.

People could be moved up

and they could be moved down,
as they fell out of favor,

but that needed to happen
discreetly.

The king proved very tolerant
of some of his wife's activities,

her love of gambling, in particular,

which she shared
with her new friends.

Gambling was a popular,
longstanding tradition at court,

but Marie Antoinette
favored a particular entertainment.

Marie Antoinette didn't favor
the so-called jeux de commerce,

which involved an element of luck,

but also an element
of skill and thought,

which Louis XVI favored,
such as quadrille.

She liked games of pure chance,
such as faro,

which require no thought
as to how the game is played,

but involve stakes,

and large sums of money
were bet on card games.

These cards may seem ordinary,

but there were no luxury decks
back then

and cards like these
were used at the court,

as they were across Paris,
in gaming rooms and people's homes.

People gambled with cash

or with chips,

marked
with the gambler's coat-of-arms.

These are ivory chips,
painted on both sides,

with attractive designs,
of flowers and insects...

birds or other more abstract images.

They came in various shapes,
denoting their value.

They were round or rectangular
and some were smaller, like this.

Marie Antoinette gambled a lot
on faro

and she lost a lot of money.

At one point,
she had over 400,000 livres of debt,

which was double
her annual allowance.

There was a memorable game

at which the players gambled
for 36 hours,

causing the queen to miss
All Saints Mass, on November 1.

The game proved too powerful
and too unusual

and it went on for longer
than people were expecting.

Marie Antoinette was intoxicated
by money and gambling

and the king had to pick up the tab

when she lost money.

The queen's apparent insouciance

quickly attracted negative criticism
from the old courtiers.

Marie Antoinette

received the Petit Trianon
as a coronation gift from Louis XVI

and she sought refuge from the court
here.

Here, she could privately indulge
one of her passions: music.

She often played the harp,
her instrument of choice,

and the piano forte

that you can see here
was with her for much of her life,

including at the Tuileries.

She sometimes accompanied herself
while singing.

And she brought foreign composers
to the court,

such as Gluck, from Austria,
for whom she made a place,

and the Italians
Sacchini and Piccinni.

The esthetic quarrels

between Gluck's followers
and Piccinni's

were resolved in the former's favor

and Gluck triumphed
with his Iphigénie en Tauride,

with its popular tune,
"Chantons, célébrons notre reine!"

The queen's inner circle
congregated at Le Trianon.

"This is where I feel at home,"
she liked to say.

Far from the courtly protocol,
things were intimate and simple here.

When she came into a room,
no one had to get up.

People kept talking

and the ladies carried on
with their tapestry and embroidery.

Marie Antoinette
aspired to a private life,

which kings and queens
were usually not permitted.

She redecorated this boudoir,

equipping it with a system
to preclude prying eyes.

Thanks to a mechanical system
installed just below this room,

she could cover the windows
with mirrors,

to hide herself away.

This mechanism naturally gave rise
to rumors about Marie Antoinette.

She was said to be having relations
with numerous lovers.

Not all of the queen's favorites
were women.

She also surrounded herself
with as handsome, brilliant men,

in particular,
the attractive Count Axel von Fersen,

from one of Sweden's
richest, most powerful families,

a man for whom she felt
the most irresistible attraction.

Their names were Vaudreuil, Lauzun,

Coigny, Esterházy, Artois
and Besenval.

All were prestigious,
accomplished aristocrats,

but they were also
the queen's favorites,

men that knew better than the rest

how to bring out her best
and enchant her.

Their looks were usually quite manly,

as Marie Antoinette
was living in a dream world,

at Le Trianon,

and in that dream world
men were the most attractive part

of the decor.

In general,
they were all tall and handsome,

with a lot of presence.

She was sensitive to appearances

and she was also sensitive
to reassuringly masculine men.

That male entourage

almost made up
a court within the court.

Marie Antoinette
had a particular bond with each one.

Count Esterházy was her confidante,

with whom she could talk
about the most intimate subjects,

because she knew
that he was both virtuous

The Duke of Lauzun
was a bit older than she was.

He was handsome.

He was an international playboy
and they went riding together.

He was always by her side on hunts.

The Count of Vaudreuil
introduced her to the theater.

In summer,

they played games,
such as blind man's bluff,

which they seem to have liked
in particular.

They played a lot of music

and they indulged
in the pleasures of conversation.

The subject of that conservation
was usually quite trivial

and mostly concerned

people's various liaisons.

The queen reveled in gossip

and was full of admiration
for the group's loosest tongue,

the Baron of Besenval,
with his love of witticisms.

A colorful personality
and a past master of intrigue,

Besenval lived in one of
the finest houses on the Left Bank,

which is now
the Swiss embassy in Paris.

We're at the Hôtel de Besenval,

which was originally
the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour,

which was built at the end
of Louis XIV's reign, in 1705.

This became a key spot
for high society meet-ups

in 18th-century France,

as the Baron of Besenval
had numerous relationships

and hosted
some of the queen's circle here.

The Baron of Besenval
was a Swiss military man.

His character was joyful and dynamic.

Nothing scared him

and he committed generously
to whatever he did.

The Baron of Besenval
didn't do things by half measures.

The Baron of Besenval
assembled his friends here.

He liked to gossip.
He was a bit of a chatterbox.

He enjoyed court gossip
and this is where he shared stories,

with his circle of friends.

Everybody wanted to be invited
to the Baron of Besenval's dinners.

Marie Antoinette
felt a sense of frustration,

not to be able to enjoy
the charms of that Parisian life

as much as she'd have liked,

as it was much more entertaining
than life at Versailles was.

Libertines
and often too sure of themselves,

the queen's favorites
sometimes indulged

in inappropriate advances
toward Marie Antoinette herself.

She didn't really like those
that tried to seduce her.

She liked the company of men.
She liked the compliments.

But she wanted to keep her distance.

She didn't want to become
too familiar with men.

She didn't look upon men
as parties to her private life.

They were there
as a mirror to her femininity.

And she liked to admire herself
in that mirror.

The queen's mind had no space
for ambiguity in love,

but as much couldn't be said
for the courtiers.

Marie Antoinette's encounter
with measles, in spring 1779,

proves as much.

It was much discussed.

Marie Antoinette had measles

and was treated in the usual way,

but she got bored,

so she asked for four people
to attend to her in her illness:

the Duke of Lauzun, Count Esterházy,

the Duke of Coigny and Besenval.

They were there to tell her stories
and to entertain her.

And the king allowed that to pass.

The story was a scandal, of course.

because people felt it undignified
for a queen of France

to be attended to in her sickness
by four men.

Those aristocrats that feigned shock

at the coterie with which
Marie Antoinette surrounded herself

were really shocked
not to have been chosen.

The stories that circulated
were replete with jealousy.

Marie Antoinette was criticized
for keeping company with idlers.

She couldn't see any harm in it.
She had no idea what was brewing.

Often absent from Le Trianon
during those recreational dates,

Louis XVI allowed his wife
to entertain herself as she saw fit.

He trusted her.

He knew she was basically honest,
which she was.

And he preferred her to have fun
than to get involved in politics.

Louis XVI looked on
the society that the queen kept

with a sense of indulgence,

due to his abiding sense of guilt

in his knowledge
that she wasn't happy

and he knew that he shared
in the responsibility for her pain.

The royal couple married young
and had little in common.

They had no shared interests.

The queen liked gambling,
music and the theater.

The king liked hunting, study
and mechanics.

They even kept different schedules.

Marie Antoinette
liked to go to bed at dawn,

while Louis XVI was an early riser.

All that they had in common
was a hatred of physical love,

dating back to their wedding night.

What happened?

Nothing, to start.

They were united in marriage,

without the marriage
ever really being consummated

or producing children.

You can imagine
that everyone at court

was dying to know

whether the royal couple
had ever actually had sex.

People went as far
as paying to see their sheets.

Their privacy
was constantly being violated.

A doctor was brought in

and that doctor
watched them in the act.

He said that things would come right,
little by little,

and they shouldn't force it.

Marie Antoinette wrote
to Empress Maria Theresa,

"My dear mother,

"you must understand
that the nonchalance is not mine.

"What can one do
with a man that is made of wood?"

Maria Theresa was distraught.

There would be no heir
to seal the Franco-Austrian alliance.

Her daughter could be rejected.

She sent her son, Joseph II,
to the young couple's rescue.

Joseph II came to Versailles

and he spoke to his sister.

Then he spoke to his brother-in-law.

He revealed certain things

about the nature
of Louis XVI's sexuality.

He wrote
that the king penetrated the queen

and then stayed motionless
for a few moments,

before withdrawing,
without having ejaculated.

Joseph II
acted as a marriage counsellor

and a while later

Louis XVI was able to write to him
that he had risen to the challenge.

After eight years of marriage,

Marie Antoinette
gave birth to a first child,

a daughter who was quickly nicknamed
Mousseline la Sérieuse.

Another two sons and a daughter
were then born.

The queen's humiliation
gave way to a more serene period,

but a miraculous encounter
was to change her life forever.

And that was with Axel von Fersen,
the shadowy Swedish count.

Contemporary accounts all concur

that Fersen was one
of the most handsome men ever.

He was tall, with dark eyes,

regular facial features,
a well-toned body

and an imperturbable demeanor.

He was described as a blazing soul,
encased in ice.

And every woman
fell in love with him.

He was a prideful man
and very aware of who he was.

And he was something of a mystery.

Fersen was Swedish.

He was from a grand family.

People at the Swedish court
used to say,

"There is France, there is Sweden
and there are the Fersens."

During the time of King Gustav II,

the Fernsens were one of Sweden's
most envied and admired families,

as is reflected in the location
of their Stockholm palace.

The message that it conveyed
was clearly seen by one and all.

We're on the terrace
of the Fersens' palace.

The location is symbolic
and you can immediately see

that it overlooks Stockholm,
opposite the royal palace,

as the perfect illustration
of the Fersen family's standing.

The Fersens were powerful,

in social, political
and financial terms.

They owned mines
and Sweden's East India Company.

They had relationships across Europe.

And the illustrious family
owned several properties,

such as Steninge,

and Löfstad manor.

Located 200km southwest
of the Swedish capital,

it was Axel's favorite residence.

Axel von Fersen spent every summer
of his childhood here.

So it was imbued
with emotion and memory.

As you can clearly see,

this room is full
of portraits of the Fersen family

and of personal objects,

such as this clavichord,
which he traveled with.

along with his travel bed.

Fersen lived an itinerant life,

for a simple reason.

There was no place for Fersen,
here in Sweden.

Another Axel von Fersen, his father,

dominated the political stage,

so our Axel von Fersen

needed to fashion his own destiny.

That destiny played out in France,

at a costumed ball
at the Opéra de Paris, in 1774.

It was a providential encounter,

between a pretty black domino,

Marie Antoinette,
and the dark, handsome man.

The two spoke to each other.

Fersen was as yet unaware
that it was Marie Antoinette,

but the sparks flew,

until life created the circumstances
to bring them together again.

In 1778,
while the queen was pregnant,

the young nobleman
was introduced to the court.

When Marie Antoinette saw him,
she said,

"Ah, I made his acquaintance
some time ago."

That proved that she hadn't forgotten
their meeting, in January 1774.

Marie Antoinette was lovestruck.

It was a deep shock,
emotionally and sentimentally

that took her
to the depths of herself,

revealing her true being.

She hadn't gone in search of love,
but love had come to her.

And she fell truly in love with him,

but it was an impossible love.

Fersen's love for the queen
passed unnoticed,

because Fersen continued to live
amid that very distant restraint.

But it was clear

that the queen
had feelings for that man.

Once he was back
from his military campaigns,

the handsome Axel developed the habit
of visiting the queen at Versailles,

where she awaited him impatiently.

Over the years, he became
increasingly necessary to her.

Fersen was an excellent adviser
to Marie Antoinette.

He was truly guided
by Marie Antoinette's best interests

and I think that amid the solitude

that was Marie Antoinette's
daily fare at Versailles,

Fersen was like
a breath of fresh air,

while he also provided support
that Marie Antoinette could rely on.

The idyll unfolded
in the most romantic of settings,

the queen's English garden,
at Le Trianon.

Imagine the two of them,
walking amid the nature here.

This garden
is the expression of a desire.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
was a clear influence.

It was a new language,
developed in La Nouvelle Héloïse.

And then
there's a clear English influence,

which can been seen
in nature that has been tamed,

but seems completely natural.

Marie Antoinette used this garden
to express

the most intimate, personal side
to her character.

It's a labyrinth of the soul
and of the heart.

The bewitching setting
is studded with surprises

and little monuments,
recalling a theater set.

With her architect, Richard Mique,

the queen set up
fake rock formations,

straight out of a painting
by Hubert Robert.

And there's a temple of love.

And an octagonal belvedere,
overlooking the grounds.

The queen could indulge in music,
one of her greatest pleasures.

She played the harp beautifully

and she sang fashionable tunes,

with Axel von Fersen, of course.

And it was a way
of expressing their affection

to a complicit, admiring audience.

Behind these bars

lies the inner sanctum,
the queen's most private place,

where she only brought
her best friends.

As you can see, the cave is tiny.

You can scarcely fit two people
in here.

The queen could be a woman here,
rather than just the queen of France.

To the sound of babbling water,
from this little waterfall,

she could talk to Axel.

That was enough
for the rumors to spread

and for people
to start disparaging her.

What was the queen doing here?
No one knew.

These two little slits

enabled them to see
when intruders were coming,

allowing Marie Antoinette
to make a quick getaway,

via these steps,

which led through a hidden door,
back to the garden.

Marie Antoinette
was to be harshly reproached

for her closeness to Axel von Fersen,

although no one actually knows,

how far the queen
and her confidante went,

over the 20 years
of their relationship.

People say
they were restrained in their love,

that they allowed themselves
the occasional caress.

I think it's hard to imagine,

because Marie Antoinette was a prude

and didn't enjoy physical love.

It was probably hard for them
to violate those prohibitions

and to be physically intimate,

simply because
for someone such as Fersen,

touching the queen of France
would be sacrilegious.

Fersen and Marie Antoinette
were intimate in a complex way,

which is what's so beautiful.

Marie Antoinette
liked the stage and singing.

And as she never did things by half,

she commissioned her own theater,
near Le Trianon.

This richly decorated space

seems to be made of marble and gold,

but it's all fake.

The moldings and statues
are in plaster and pasteboard,

a much less costly material
that people worked with back then.

That's what saved the place,
during the Revolution.

No one wanted to sell it,

as it was seen to have
no market value.

The space can hold
up to 250 spectators.

The queen hired professional actors
to perform on the stage,

but she also set up her own troupe,
the so-called Seigneurs.

Acting was not seen at the time
as a noble endeavor,

as it was associated
with manipulation and deceit.

Only actresses
or mistresses could engage in it,

so for the queen to get up on stage
was seen as a scandal.

A frosty exchange was reported

between the queen
and her sister-in-law,

the Countess of Provence,
born as the Princess of Savoy,

who refused to engage in acting,

declining the invitation
as unworthy of her rank.

The queen was amazed.

"Madam, I see no reason
why you may not engage

"in entertainment
that I, the queen of France,

"do not disdain to take part in,"
she said to her.

The Countess of Provence replied,

"I may not be queen,
but I am made of the same wood."

The queen acted with friends such as

the Duchess of Polignac
and the Count of Vaudreuil,

or her brother-in-law,
the Count of Artois.

Marie Antoinette didn't want
to invite courtiers from Versailles

to fill the seats,

so the staff at Le Trianon
made up the audience,

creating a comedic situation

in which the queen of France played
shepherdesses, peasants and servants,

to the applause of her own servants.

The king attended some performances

and was keen
to see his wife on stage.

But he lacked
Marie Antoinette's enthusiasm

and often fell asleep.

The queen chose fashionable authors,

playing Rosine
in the Barber of Seville,

by Beaumarchais a scandalous author,

whose Marriage of Figaro
had been banned

for some time at the court.

And Marie Antoinette
also indulged in fashion.

Her costumier, Rose Bertin,
her hairdresser, Léonard,

and her portraitist,
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun,

were part of her inner circle

and, as you'll see,

they broke from the tradition
at Versailles.

Marie Antoinette was coquettish
and liked to be admired.

She liked to be admired by men
and by the court.

She was very proud.

She was the queen of France
and she knew it.

And she sought out people

that could help her achieve
the appearance that she desired.

She quickly noticed

how well a number of people
in her own entourage,

notably the Duchess of Chartres,
were dressed,

so the Duchess of Chartres introduced

a certain Miss Bertin to the queen.

Miss Bertin - or Rose Bertin -

quickly became known
as the minister of fashion.

From the Picardy countryside,

the young woman owed her rapid ascent
to her talent and her vast ambition.

She was penniless,
but had gold at her fingertips.

She wasn't beautiful,
but she understood beauty.

She didn't have to rely on men,

because she had an eye for detail

and a sense of organization
and observation.

Her love of perfection
quickly got her noticed.

It was new,
because costumiers were usually men.

This was the first time
that a woman was setting the tone.

Miss Bertin was like Miss Chanel.

Like the future Coco Chanel,

Bertin
set up her own fashion business.

It was called Le Grand Mogol,
on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré,

and it attracted the elegant

and became a place to be seen
in the capital.

Everyone from Paris
and the court at Versailles

came to her store,

to see her and to seek advice.

She ran workshops
across the whole of France.

She had 450 or 500 people
working for her.

Thus it was a commoner,
albeit an outstanding businesswoman,

that Marie Antoinette chose
to dress her.

The decision flouted tradition.

Marie Antoinette chose to deal
with a genuine designer

rather than the court's costumiers,

who would have dressed her
in a classical style she rejected.

Marie Antoinette wanted to be modern.

She didn't want to be a court icon.

Here, in the queen of France's
private apartments,

Marie Antoinette adopted the habit
of seeing Rose Bertin every morning

Imagine them, on their own here.

The queen is seated
and Rose is standing up,

showing the queen of France
the new fabrics -

damasks, silks, brocades.

The queen would feel the fabrics
and compare them.

Rose would have brought in
various sketches and designs

and the queen
would choose her favorite.

Obviously, those morning meetings,

between the queen of France
and a commoner,

who shouldn't be able,

according
to the sacrosanct etiquette,

to enter the queen's apartments

gave rise to a lot of jealousy.

The court wondered what was going on
between those two women,

what secrets the queen was confiding
to that rag merchant.

Taking advantage
of her privileged status,

Rose Bertin liked to say
that thanks to her,

the queen wasn't in fashion,
she was fashion.

And the strange coupling

of a queen

with Paris's
most sought-after stylist

gave rise to designs
that were copied all over Europe.

The fashions that Rose Bertin
created with Marie Antoinette

all have something in common,
which is freedom -

the queen's freedom
and women's freedom.

This was the time of Rousseau.

People didn't want
that cumbersome etiquette,

those grand court dresses,
with their corsets.

People turned to other designs
and other fabrics, above all.

The times were not
to forgive Marie Antoinette

for the freedom of her dress.

Cocksure of her talent
and pushing the queen to transgress,

Bertin's reputation at Versailles
was terrible.

Miss Bertin
had an abrasive character.

It was very strong

and enabled her to manage people
and bring the queen the best.

But at the same time,
she got above her station

and that made people angry.

People disliked Miss Bertin
and said that she was uncouth.

As proof, Mrs. de Lamballe
spoke curtly to Rose Bertin

and Rose Bertin replied,

"Madam, if you're not satisfied,
you should try elsewhere."

The Princess of Lamballe
was devastated.

She begged Marie Antoinette
to smooth things over.

Rose Bertin became a despot
and a dictator.

As the empress of style,

Rose Bertin was still required
to share her royal domain

with another golden-fingered god,
a hairdresser called Léonard,

an artist who worked with a comb
and with his spirit.

Mr. Léonard was very particular.

He was part of the queen's retinue.

He had an official title

and knew his position.

It's hard to imagine,
but he addressed the court

with his Gascon accent,

which he concealed as best he could.

He was mischievous.

He was fanciful.

He loved breaking the rules

and crossing the line.

And Marie Antoinette gave him
space and time with her.

His creations for Marie Antoinette
were absolutely astonishing.

Léonard created a fashion,

which Marie Antoinette and her court
immediately adopted:

the pouf,

hair pieces
stretching to vertiginous heights

and threatening the wearer's balance.

Those hairpieces were called poufs

and added extra hair
onto the basis of the wearer's own,

with the results topped off
by a range of exotic objects.

The idea was to be contemporary,
while adding a touch of humor.

When the parliament reconvened,
there was a style,

there was the bonnet à la révolte,
during the Flour War of 1776,

or the frigate,
during the Franco-English war,

when the Belle Poule achieved glory
against the English fleet.

People wore boats in their hair.

It was a period of total excess.

There were no limits.

The poufs could reach
over a meter in height

and weigh up to 5kg.

They took hours and hours to make.

The frames were made of rattan,

so the pieces could be very tall.

And the material was horsehair,

which could be found everywhere
at that time.

That's a genuine horse's tail

and this is the finished object.

It's a very characteristic material,
which holds up well.

Then there's mohair,
which comes from the Angora goat.

That's very soft and light

and was used
for those fluffy creations,

like this one.

These materials have their own smell.

It really smells of the stables.

It's anything but practical.
They're tall and they're heavy too.

You have to be able to move in it

and to sleep,

you had to have it held in place,
either sitting up or between boxes.

It was tough.

To get into a carriage,

people had to crawl
or get into ridiculous positions.

And doors were a problem too.

You needed a servant, of course,

and there were wigs
that divided into two pieces,

to lower the upper part,
as the wearer came through the door.

The hairpieces were hard to handle
and usually very expensive,

costing tens of thousands of euros
in today's money.

Many cartoonists

were keen to ridicule
the new mania at Versailles.

Bedecked with flowers and powdered,

the wigs were also scented,

thanks to the art
of a third of the queen's favorites,

her devoted perfumer,
Jean-Louis Fargeon.

Jean-Louis Fargeon
created the scent that she wanted

and he could do that due to progress
in the field at that time,

particularly in distillation
and scenting.

He was able to create
the scent of the flowers

that she liked the best,

which were at Le Petit Trianon.

They were the strongest scents,
so jasmine, tuberose and rose,

like this,
which she often wore in portraits.

Fargeon's thousand-flower bouquet
became her favorite perfume,

a fragrance
she never wanted to be without.

And Marie Antoinette dispensed it
using an astonishing object,

which is now held
at the Musée Fragonard, in Paris.

It looks like a book,
bound in red leather,

entitled Pensée Chrétienne.

But it actually turns out
to be a perfume case,

with three handmade glass vials,
with silver stoppers,

which Marie Antoinette often used.

Whenever she felt emotional or weak,

she'd sniff a vial, as a restorative,

providing her
with the energy she needed.

Marie Antoinette liked to be admired
and took care of her appearance.

So it's no surprise

that she wanted a good portraitist
who could do justice

to her outfits and hairdos
for posterity.

And she chose a painter
that combined beauty and talent:

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.

Marie Antoinette and Vigée Le Brun
were an incredible match,

in esthetic more than artistic terms,

because Vigée Le Brun
was a beautiful person.

Vigée Le Brun
was a beautiful young woman.

who shared some of the features
of the Duchess of Polignac.

She came from
Paris's artistic bourgeoisie.

She was a pastel artist's daughter.

She came to prominence quite easily
on Paris's art scene,

thanks to her formidable talent.

The young prodigy
was at ease in high society

and in 1776, she was introduced

to the court

of the Count of Provence,
the king's brother.

Her portraits quickly found favor,

attracting
the attention of the queen,

who was often disappointed
by her official depictions.

She thought a good portrait
should be truthful,

though if it erased
a few physical imperfections,

she thought it ideal.

Marie Antoinette had been in search
of her ideal image,

to send to her mother, the empress.

Marie Antoinette
met Mrs. Vigée Le Brun,

a female painter,

who wanted to show women
at their best.

She had the talent
to depict Marie Antoinette

in courtly attire,

while making that attire
seem incredibly light.

The materials were the same.
She was in a corset.

She was wearing
richly embroidered satin.

But Vigée Le Brun
made it look light and elegant

and Marie Antoinette's face
was suddenly revealed,

as if by a camera.

That portrait was sent
to Empress Maria Theresa,

who was delighted with it.

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun became
the queen's official portraitist.

In less than 10 years,

she painted the queen
dozens of times.

One picture, painted in 1783
and held at the Louvre, in Paris,

was met with outrage at the court.

Vigée Le Brun showed Marie Antoinette
in a robe de gaulle,

an ethereal white muslin dress,

suitable for indoor use
or for summer walks.

It seemingly depicted the queen
in private.

France was scandalized

to see the queen dressed
like an ordinary person.

The painting was removed
from the exhibit on the same day.

The artist was immediately asked
to provide a substitute,

so she reworked the face

and the position of the queen's hands

and dressed her differently,

in a robe à la polonaise.

The attire befitted a queen,

unlike the light dress
that was unworthy of her rank.

The incident further tarnished
the queen's image,

which had been eroded over the years.

Her uncourtly behavior and company
bothered people

and were to have consequences
that she hadn't fully understood.

In the early 1780s,

Marie Antoinette was won over
by a fashion for country life.

Not far from Le Trianon,

she commissioned
the so-called Queen's Hamlet,

around an artificial lake.

It comprises a dozen cottages,
such as those seen in Normandy.

To make the buildings
seem more picturesque,

fake old bricks were used,
with artificial cracks

and flaking paint.

Things looked rustic on the outside,
but the inside was luxurious.

This hamlet
was Marie Antoinette's fantasy.

It was not intended to last

and was built without foundations.

The largest of the buildings
was the queen's house.

The hamlet also has a farm,
with a henhouse,

cows, sheep, pigs and rabbits.

Marie Antoinette saw it
as a place to entertain,

but also as a rural laboratory,
for her children,

so that they could learn
how farming actually worked.

The queen came here for walks
and fished for carp and pike.

The queen had two dairies built here,

one used for manufacturing
while this one was kept clean.

The first, as the name suggests,

was used to make dairy products,

such as cream, white cheese
and butter.

Marie Antoinette loved fresh produce.

A follower of Rousseau's ideas,

she sought a return to nature.

But Marie Antoinette's life
in her hamlet

was far from the harsh reality
of the French countryside,

where even back then

two harvests had been ruined
by unsettled weather,

leading to famine.

People felt that in building this,
the queen was being provocative,

which increased her unpopularity.

Her reputation continued to suffer

and her closest friends
were brought down with her.

In 1785,

the attacks on Marie Antoinette
intensified.

Within the court itself,

her personality, lifestyle
and acquaintances were questioned.

The queen's way of living
was criticized,

her spending, her flights of fancy,

her excesses
and her life outside the court.

People knew
that the queen kept a retinue

and it was known that her retinue
constantly demanded favors,

which were paid in hard cash.

She was criticized as a bad queen
and a bad woman.

She was criticized as a bad mother.

She was said to have lovers,
both male and female.

She was said to sleep
with all of them,

which hit her reputation hard,

because she was seen as a woman

that had sexual relations
with all those people

but also as a queen
that thought only of her friends

and emptied the kingdom's coffers
for them.

Horrible cartoons circulated,
under the counter,

such as these engravings,

carefully held
at France's national library.

This one depicts Marie Antoinette
kissing a woman,

a clear allusion

to her alleged relationship
with the Duchess of Polignac.

This one shows her
with a handsome officer,

Axel von Fersen,
her favorite confidante.

This cartoon

shows a young officer,
with épaulettes,

who's sweet talking a woman,
with the French coat of arms above,

which you can see here,
with the fleur-de-lis.

There's someone coming in here,

probably the king,
catching the lovers in the act.

The other cartoons
are similar in nature.

You can see Pheme, with her trumpet,
announcing the birth of an heir,

but Louis XVI is wearing horns,
as a cuckold.

In the last of the series,

you can see Louis XVI
who's rocking the cradle,

while Marie Antoinette
makes love to a man,

at the back of the room.

They all depict an impotent king
and a licentious queen.

The first attacks on Marie Antoinette

were produced
at the Château de Versailles itself.

I'm thinking
of the Count of Provence,

who hated Marie Antoinette,

who couldn't stand his own brother,
whom he saw as incompetent

and who used words and images

to destroy Marie Antoinette
in the eyes of the public.

Things started at court
and spread to the city

and when things moved to Paris,

people started gossiping
about the queen's behavior.

Marie Antoinette could see
her image was deteriorating.

She needed to do something
to reassure the public,

to change the perception
of her lifestyle.

Some of her favorites
started to drift away from her

and Marie Antoinette divested them

of some of the hitherto
highly lucrative functions

that the members of her retinue
had held at court.

In an attempt to counter the libel,

Marie Antoinette
and the managers of the king's estate

decided to commission a new portrait
from Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.

The artist's instructions were clear:

to depict the queen
at the Château de Versailles,

in the company of her children,
guarantors of the royal succession.

It was highly symbolic.

She wasn't to be depicted
as a frivolous, profligate queen,

but as a family mother,
appealing to the viewer's emotions.

The queen was in a red velvet dress,
lined with sable,

recalling Marie Leszczynska's,

in a painting
by Jean-Marc Nattier, from 1748.

Marie Leszczynska
was a virtuous queen,

so the opposite of the image

that people had
of Marie Antoinette at that time.

In 1787, at the opening of the salon,

Mrs. Vigée Le Brun,

aware
of Marie Antoinette's reputation,

didn't dare to send in her painting.

The empty space that resulted

gave rise to many quips,
including, "behold, the deficit."

Marie Antoinette
was referred to as Mrs. Deficit,

as a criticism of her profligacy,

for having contributed
to the state's financial problems

at that time.

But the models were also criticized

for the coldness and sadness.

Despite her attempts
to win back favor,

Marie Antoinette and her retinue
became increasingly unpopular.

On July 14, 1789,

as the Bastille was stormed,
realizing the present danger,

the queen did everything she could
to protect her friends.

Pamphlets soon started to appear,
as lists,

identifying
the enemies of the Revolution.

Obviously,

Marie Antoinette's favorites
appeared at the top of the list.

Anyone that had frequented the queen
seemed cursed.

Those people
needed to cease to exist.

That list obviously found its way
to Versailles.

On advice from the king and the queen

the Polignac family
and the whole clique

were required to flee.

They all headed to Italy,
under assumed identities.

They assumed that this would be
a temporary measure,

as they hoped
that the situation would settle.

Marie Antoinette thus bid farewell

to her companions at Versailles,
of many years' standing.

To replace Yolande of Polignac
as governess to the royal children,

she chose Mrs. de Tourzel,

who stayed true to the royal family,
through thick and thin.

Marie Antoinette would even say,

"I entrusted my children
to friendship.

"Now I entrust them to virtue."

Her portraitist,
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun,

also went into exile.

She traveled Europe's courts
for 20 years,

only to return to France
a few years before the Restoration.

Others of the queen's favorites
chose another expected option.

The Duke of Lauzun
decided to abandon his title

and to be known as Citizen Biron,

becoming one of the generals
of the Revolution.

As the violence
started to get out of hand,

he distanced himself
from revolutionary thinking

and he was subsequently arrested.

A few hours before his execution,

that elegant gentleman

had a basket of oysters
brought to his prison cell

and he invited his jailer

to share that basket of oysters
with him.

He may have been Citizen Biron,

but he remained the Duke of Lauzun
to the end.

On October 6, 1789,

an angry mob from Paris
invaded Versailles.

The king and queen had no alternative
but to leave the palace for Paris

and to move into the Tuileries.

Rose Bertin, the designer
was still at Marie Antoinette's side,

having been relatively spared
by the events.

During the Revolution,

Rose Bertin was permitted
to supply dresses to the queen,

though obviously
those dresses were extremely sober,

and she supplied accessories

until late
in the Revolution's trajectory.

Rose Bertin wasn't much troubled
by the Revolution.

Her boutique, Le Grand Mogol,
stayed open for a simple reason:

the Revolutionaries knew

that several hundred people
worked for her,

so there was a lot at stake,
socially.

Those jobs had to be protected.

Another two of her inner circle
decided not to abandon the queen:

Axel von Fersen
and the Princess of Lamballe.

The Princess of Lamballe
had no family or children.

She had nothing to lose.

But she had boundless affection
and love for the queen.

She had that in common
with Axel von Fersen.

They were both somewhat understated,

but when everyone else had gone,

their behavior
revealed their true stature.

Count von Fersen,
amid the events of the Revolution,

was certainly the staunchest
in his opposition.

He had a clear desire
to oppose the Revolution

and it was probably at that point

that the complicity,
affinity and feelings

that had existed
between Fersen and Marie Antoinette

came into their fullness.

At the Tuileries,

Marie Antoinette couldn't get used
to her status as a captive queen.

Spurred on by Fersen,

who was trying to mobilize
Europe's monarchies,

King Gustav II of Sweden,
in particular,

she entertained the idea of flight.

She even commissioned
a highly luxurious object,

for her impending departure
to what she thought was freedom,

a mahogany case,
containing a hundred items,

made of ebony, silver and porcelain,

now exhibited at the Louvre.

This object here

was known in the 18th century
as a nécessaire de voyage.

The case contained

all of the necessary equipment

to attend to one's personal hygiene
and grooming,

to prepare refreshments
or a light meal

and of course to write.

Here are the little inkwells
and a powder shaker,

which people used to write.

And once the letter was written,

there was a service bell,

to summon a servant,
to deliver the letter.

This is an eye bath.

This small item has a stand,

which is easy to grip.

You would fill it up with a solution

and then place your eye on top,

to provide refreshment.

It was a way of caring for one's skin
and improving one's vision.

Marie Antoinette may have needed it,
just like anyone else.

I've taken out
about half of the items

and you can see how much there is.

Remember that all of this
could fit into the case.

The various parts
slid perfectly into place.

Each part was crafted,
down to the millimeter.

In spring 1791,

having finally decided
to flee toward the east of France,

the king tasked Axel von Fersen
with organizing the departure.

The handsome Swede applied himself
with the utmost devotion.

He assembled the necessary items
for the flight,

finding disguises
for the royal family,

commissioning the construction
of a substantial carriage,

which was painted yellow
and bound to attract attention,

so that the royal family
could travel in one carriage,

in comfort.

You have to remember

that he was at risk of arrest,
at any moment.

Fersen was known
to be close to the queen.

So the work that he was doing

put him at constant risk
of a terrible end.

Axel von Fersen
also committed financially,

paying for some of the preparations
from his personal funds.

He even went as far
as to borrow money from his friends.

His accounts are kept
at the archives in Stockholm.

These documents
are absolutely essential,

detailing the sums
advanced by himself

or by his good friends
Mrs. von Korff and Mrs. Stegleman.

On June 4, 1791,

Mrs. von Korff paid 169,000 livres,
and Mrs. Stegleman paid 93,000,

making 262,000 in total,

with Fersen adding 100,000,
to make 362,000.

That sum was the total amount,
to date, that Fersen used

to enable the royal family
to leave Paris,

to equip a carriage,

to pay for the staff
to facilitate their departure.

As amazing as it may seem,

Léonard, the hairdresser
also helped to prepare the flight,

in a final burst of brilliance
from that extravagant individual.

Axel von Fersen sent his messages

in Miss Bertin's hats,

transported by Léonard,
the hairdresser,

who helped to organize
the flight to Varennes.

The situation was wholly surreal.

The royal family left the Tuileries
on the night of June 20 to 21.

Fersen accompanied them
to their first stop, at Bondy,

leaving them to continue to Varennes,

where their journey came to an end
a few hours later.

The king was recognized

and the yellow coach
was brought back to Paris,

like the monarchy's funeral carriage.

But Fersen didn't give up.

He hatched further plots,
to save Marie Antoinette,

who meanwhile tried to negotiate
with the moderate revolutionaries.

But those plans
were all destined to fail.

What happened next to Léonard
remains a mystery.

Léonard ended his life
rather as he had lived it,

which is to say largely in fantasy.

An individual called Léonard Autié
was guillotined in July 1794,

but it's not clear whether it was him
or one of his brothers that died.

If it wasn't him,
he was probably in Russia.

We don't know much
about the end of his life.

So, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI
left Versailles suddenly,

but Marie Antoinette
had already partly abandoned

this château
and the marble court at its center,

which undoubtedly hastened
the royal couple's fall.

Favoring Le Petit Trianon
and the Queen's Hamlet,

Marie Antoinette upended
the court's representative system.

What was the point of courtiers,

if the queen preferred the company
of her own retinue?

She inspired bitterness
and resentment

among the old aristocrats,
who grew tired of being shunned

and she was undoubtedly aware of that
at the time of her imprisonment.

After the invasion of the Tuileries,
by the Sans Culottes,

the royal family was taken

to the Prison du Temple,
on August 10, 1792.

Marie Antoinette's inner circle

had largely contracted
since the outbreak of the Revolution

and she now drew her strength
from her family.

The royal family had never lived
in such proximity

than it did at the Temple.

The king, the queen,
Madame Élisabeth, the king's sister,

and the children,
Madame Royal, and the dauphin,

lived in close proximity.

They were now Mr. and Mrs. Capet

and they were divested of everything
in the Temple.

They started to live the life
almost of an ordinary family,

following
an extremely regular pattern.

Louis XVI spent a lot of time
on his children's education.

We have recovered pages of writing
that Louis XVI set for his son.

He talked to him about history.

He talked to him about geography,
which he greatly enjoyed.

And he played with the children.

Marie Antoinette saw more clearly

her husband's goodness
and generosity,

having perhaps neglected him.

She had called him the "poor man"
and made fun of him.

Now she came to love him, deeply,

because she could see his commitment,
his depth, his exceptionalism

and the solidity of his judgment.

The life that they were now living
was the bourgeois life

to which she aspired,

a life with no representative duties,

that required them
to be nothing but themselves.

Marie Antoinette
had lost most of her friends,

along with her lavish lifestyle.

The family lived a simple life
at the Temple.

Holdings
at the French national library

bear witness to their daily lives.

Cléry, the valet to the family,
created this document,

recording the outgoings
for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Cléry was the only person
that could frequent the royals

and also move freely in Paris,

so he was regularly tasked
with shopping for the royal family.

This is a bill for Cléry's purchases
for the royal family,

from September 1792.

You can see, for example,

that Cléry bought novels
for Marie Antoinette,

notably Evelina and Cecilia,

two English novels,
which were in fashion at the time.

Then tricolor ribbons,

perhaps for the queen's hair
or the little dauphin's hat,

to convey a positive message
to the Convention.

Then they bought balls
for the dauphin,

for him to play with

during their brief outings
into the Temple gardens.

Then there's a shaving dish
for Louis XVI.

Then there are Hoffmann's drops.

That was a sedative,
a mix of sugar and ether,

which shows the queen's stress
during her captivity and isolation.

She needed something
to soothe her nerves.

The drops were quite potent,
but she had used them for years.

Their captivity
was very hard for them.

Meals were the only time
when they could relax,

because Louis XVI was still well fed,
as he needed to be fit for his trial,

so their meals were typical
of a well-to-do bourgeois family.

There were lots of dishes,
with sauces,

and there was wine
and even champagne.

But beyond that, at the Temple,
their captivity was terrible,

though they put on a brave face,
so as not to worry their children.

Marie Antoinette was worried,
as she knew she was under threat,

as were her family
and her remaining favorites,

particularly
the Princess of Lamballe,

at the Prison de la Force.

On September 3, 1792,

she was hustled from her cell.

She was asked to swear her loyalty

to liberty and equality

and her hatred
of the king, queen and royal family.

She answered, "I am fully prepared
to swear the first oath,

"but not the second."

That was when they fell upon her.

She had hesitated

and she was assailed
in a flurry of bayonets

and had her head cut off.

Her hair was curled
and her face was made up

and her head was put on a spike.

It seems also
that her genitals were mutilated

and a Sans Culotte is even said
to have worn them as a mustache.

The mutilation of her body
was the physical and symbolic price

that was being paid
for the excesses and transgressions

that were held against
Marie Antoinette and her friends.

And the mob then wanted to go

to show
the Princess of Lamballe's head

to Marie Antoinette.

The head was carried on a spike
to the Prison du Temple,

and shown outside
the king's and queen's window.

Marie Antoinette didn't see

Mrs. de Lamballe's head on the spike,

because Cléry, Louis XVI's valet,

drew the curtains just in time,

although the queen fainted,
nonetheless.

Everyone was deeply shocked,
for decades,

by the undignified, unfair way
in which she was treated.

Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI
knew they were next on the list.

Following his trial,
Louis XVI was sentenced to death.

After saying a wrenching goodbye
to his family,

he was executed on January 21, 1793,
on the Place de la Révolution,

now the Place de la Concorde.

Six months later Marie Antoinette
was separated from her son,

who was taken to another room
at the Prison du Temple.

In August, it was her turn to leave
her daughter and sister-in-law,

to be imprisoned at the Conciergerie.

Her conditions were even worse
than they were at the Temple.

Far from Rose Bertin's dresses,

she lived out her final months
in a state of total destitution.

These things belonged
to Marie Antoinette,

during her captivity.

There's a blouse and shoes.

These were practically
her only pair of shoes here

and as queen
she had had dozens if not hundreds,

so it was quite a contrast.

Marie Antoinette could no longer live
as she had lived before.

She had been the queen of fashion,

but here at the Conciergerie,

she was in a state of deprivation
or destitution.

She didn't have many possessions
or much linen.

The guards at the Conciergerie

were required to monitor the linen
very carefully,

because people used it
to hide messages.

Things could be embroidered
or sewn into the hem.

Secret messages were often passed
in linen.

The conditions were very strict,

especially the ban on visits

and the way that she had to live.

That was surely a way
of making the queen pay.

Since the Revolution had begun,

Marie Antoinette's attitude
had changed.

Far from her frivolous image,

she discovered grandeur and strength
in her ordeal.

During her two months of imprisonment
at the Conciergerie

and her trial,
which took just two days,

Marie Antoinette created her legend.

The events had a marked effect
on her physique.

She aged prematurely

and was probably sick.

It's said that her hair turned white
in the space of a few hours.

She looked almost ghostly, even.

But at the same time
she had a strength of character

and a pronounced instinct
for survival.

The young queen had only known
gilded salons,

so who would have thought
she would find such courage,

dignity and tenacity, in human terms?

Who would have thought
she would reveal all of that?

Those aberrations,
in the early years of her life,

in which she was lost,
isolated and alone,

and the last years of her life
in which she had nothing

and in which she experienced
a different form of solitude

clearly sealed her fate.

On October 16, 1793,

Marie Antoinette
was sentenced to death.

A few hours before her execution,
she wrote a testamentary letter,

addressed to Madame Élisabeth,
the king's sister.

That pious woman,

to whom Marie Antoinette
had always preferred her favorites,

became her final confidante.

"I write for the last time
to you, my sister.

"I have been sentenced
not to a shameful death,

"as it is only so to criminals,

"but to join your brother,
like him, an innocent.

"I hope to display the firmness
that he showed in his last moments.

"I feel the calm that one feels
when one is beyond reproach.

"I feel deep regret
at having to leave my poor children.

"You know that I lived only for them

"and for you,
my good and tender sister."

Madame Élisabeth
was the last surviving royal

to remain in France

and she wanted to entrust her
with her eldest daughter

and her son, the famous Louis XVII.

The letter is also moving

as she bids farewell
to all of her loved-ones,

her children, first and foremost,
of course,

and her friends.

She didn't name them,

but right to the end,
Marie Antoinette valued friendship,

including in the expression
of her final wishes.

The letter
never reached its destination.

Madame Élisabeth
was executed in turn, in May 1794.

The document only came to light
some 20 years later.

When Marie Antoinette's final letter
was discovered,

around 1815 or 1816,

at the beginning of the Restoration,

with Louis XVIII as king,

some in France
expressed serious doubts

about the letter's authenticity.

But the letter played a major role

in the rehabilitation
of Marie Antoinette,

who, from the Restoration onward,

was no longer the scurrilous queen
or Mrs. Deficit,

but became the martyr queen.

In Vienna, in exile,

Mrs. de Polignac
learned of her friend's death.

She was already very sick

and the news dealt her a lethal blow.

Marie Antoinette
was guillotined in October 1793

and Mrs. de Polignac died
in the first days of December 1793.

It's said
that people tried to spare her

from the reality
of her friend's tragic end,

so she was told that she was dead,
but not that she had been executed.

Mrs. de Polignac was distraught
at the news of the queen's death

and she died of a broken heart.

On her gravestone it was inscribed
that she had died of sorrow.

That goes to show

that that woman,

who was sometimes seen
as superficial and somewhat vain,

also had a sense of friendship.

Axel von Fersen
was also deeply shocked.

After having done everything
to save the king and queen,

he never fully recovered
from their demise.

In a letter to his sister Sophie,
he wrote,

"I have lost
everything I had in this world.

"She, whom I loved so,

for whom I would have died
a thousand deaths,

"is no more."

Count von Fersen would live on
with the queen's memory.

He painfully commemorated

each anniversary
of the king's and queen's execution,

dressing in black
and closing the windows at his manor.

In Sweden, at Löfstad,
at one of the Fersen family homes,

the memory of Marie Antoinette
persists.

After her execution,

Fersen assembled mementos
of the woman that he loved so dearly.

Axel von Fersen dispatched people,
particularly to Paris,

to gather as many
of Marie Antoinette's possessions

as possible,

such as this quilt,
which is kept at Löfstad.

But the process was difficult
and Fersen was disappointed.

The objects that are held here,
having belonged to Marie Antoinette,

are the objects

that she gave Fersen
during her own lifetime,

such as this portfolio,
bearing the French arms.

It has two compartments,

to hold the letters
that they exchanged.

The picture that we have here
of Marie Antoinette in a frock coat,

has clearly been folded

and may have been carefully kept
in this wallet.

Fersen also came to a tragic end.

In spring 1810,

the heir to Sweden's throne
suddenly died

and Fersen was falsely accused
of having poisoned him.

At the prince's funeral,
in the streets of Stockholm,

the mob seized upon
Marie Antoinette's former favorite,

the symbol of the bygone era
of the Ancien Régime.

The mob went wild
and launched a volley of stones.

The red mist descended.

Von Fersen's carriage
was quickly smashed to pieces.

Fersen was forced to get out

and ran up the street,
in search of help.

But he was trapped.

He died an atrocious death,

his body being trampled by the mob.

All that was left of him
was a sock and a belt

and a watch,
tossed back with the words,

"Swedes aren't thieves."

The watch was highly symbolic,

as it was embossed
with his initials, A.F.,

and was a gift from Marie Antoinette,

who carried the same model.

Axel von Fersen
died on June 20, 1810,

Nineteen years to the day

after the royal family's flight
from the Tuileries,

which he had carefully organized.

His body was shipped
to his manor at Steninge.

It remained there for several months,

while a trial cleared his name.

In December 1810,
he was finally honored at a funeral

at the royal church of Riddarholmen,
in Stockholm,

rehabilitating that most loyal
of Marie Antoinette's retinue.

Those friends paid a high price
for being close to the queen.

The Princess of Lamballe,

whose head was carried on a spike,
outside their windows.

Then Mrs. de Polignac,
who sensibly fled abroad

as the Revolution got under way.

And the handsome Fersen

ended up being stoned by the mob,
in Stockholm, for other reasons,

though his fate
was nonetheless tragic.

Not to forget
Marie Antoinette's lawyers,

who were arrested during her trial

and spent several months in prison,
during the Terror.

In short, it was no good thing
to be Marie Antoinette's friend

in the late 18th century.

In her cell at the Conciergerie,

a few hours before her execution,

the queen wrote to Madame Élisabeth,
her sister-in-law.

"I had friends and the idea
of being separated from them forever

"and of their sorrow
is one of my greatest dying regrets.

"May they at least know
that until my last moment,

"I thought of them.

Thanks for watching

and I'll see you very soon

for another History's Secrets.

Robert Gillan
Subtitling: Hiventy