♪ Maid: Look, your baby sister is being added to the painting.

♪ She's a pretty little thing, isn't she?

♪ Perhaps some fresh air would do you some good.

Or... Or a carriage ride.

Well, I just pushed a child out of my body, so bouncing over cobblestones holds little appeal.

I-I just meant that... you've not left your room in months.

I must get used to it.

I'm told it's unsafe for me to leave Versailles.

♪ Yes.

That wretched Jeanne de Valois and her vile lies.

I wish she was the only one slandering me.

[Knock on door] It's time for Madam Sophie to go to the nursery.

No, I want to keep her with me.

Thank you.

You are not required.

I told Yolande to keep the secret.

If you're going to be angry with anyone, it should be me.

Don't worry.

I'm still furious at both of you.

Now, excuse me, I was reading to Sophie.

♪ ♪ [Chains rattling, man moaning in distance] ♪ I don't want any visitors today.

Are you listening?

I said no visitors.

I'm here to help.

[Keys jangling] Who are you?

An admirer who wants you to live.

I hear you have an infection.

Let me see.

♪ Oh, it should have healed by now.

You've been picking at it.

Not much else to do around here.

I have an ointment that can help.

What do you want?

[Softly] Oh, ****!

[Softly] You have shown the King and Queen as tyrants, but there is more to be done.

I'm not interested in politics.

Are you interested in freedom?

We have presses at the Palais Royal.

We use them to produce material that discredits the royal regime.

Write your story, and we'll print it.

In return...

I'll secure your escape from this place.

What would I write?

Tales of life at Versailles with the King and Queen.

I barely knew them.

It'd sell better if you did.

I'll bring all you need to write... and to escape.

I'll never get past this guard.

He hates me.

I haven't had a meal he hasn't spat in.

Mm.

Write your story.

I'll deal with the rest.

[Keys jangling, cell door banging] [Indistinct chatter] Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin.

Where's it gonna end up?

Ah... Giddy up, here comes your horse.

Clippity-clop, clippity-clop, clippity-clop.

Breteuil: Your Majesty.

I'm afraid we have another blackmail letter from England.

I told you, I don't want to know.

Well, this time La Motte has included proof.

He has your private letters and has divined their intimate content.

I will go to London and negotiate.

Whatever he wants is a small price.

He gets nothing.

Let him publish and be damned.

Well, yes, but... you need to think of the wider implications.

I...forbid you from taking this any further.

Thank you, Breteuil.

Say what you have to say.

He's right.

You can't dismiss this.

Listen, I know it's hard to think about the Dauphin's situation, but one day, Normandy will be the next King of France.

These letters confirm the timeline of our relationship, and they'll cast doubt on the boy's parentage.

It's blackmail.

I'm not giving in to blackmail.

Let me deal with this.

I know London.

I'll find your letters.

♪ By the time you get back from England, I'll be myself again.

♪ Promise.

♪ Mustard paste, to clear the lungs.

How kind.

♪ [Groans, coughs] Calonne?

Calonne: Oh, sorry.

Oh, Majesty.

[Coughing] Fear not.

I have battled through to deliver an official draft of the tax reforms for the Notables to approve.

Do other kings have to ask permission to enact their will?

♪ What if the Notables defy me, like the Parlement did?

They won't.

Vergennes has chosen them carefully.

Apart from Orleans, they are allies who will put the needs of the country above their own selfish interests.

And when they endorse your reforms, you will be the king who ushered in a new era for France.

And you will be the nation's greatest financial controller.

We'll see.

And Vergennes will be the most loyal and honorable minister a monarch could ask for.

♪ Vergennes?

Vergennes?

Vergennes!

The doctor quickly, the doctor, please.

Yes, yes.

Calonne: Help!

Where's the doctor?

Now!

Please, please, don't you dare leave me, Please don't leave me, Vergennes.

♪ What a terrible shock.

No man knows the hour of his death.

♪ He was the only minister who never betrayed me.

♪ And now I must persuade the Notables without him.

♪ The Count De Vergennes was a fine diplomat and a great statesman.

It was his idea to summon you here today in this Assembly of Notables, to hear my plans for improving the revenue of the state and assuring a more equitable assessment of taxation.

Abuses in tax payment are defected-- Excuse me, are defended by self-interest and ancient prejudice.

These tax abuses oppress the wealth-producing, laboring, and professional class.

[All murmuring, shouting] I plan to remedy this defect.

[Murmuring and shouting continue] A king who wants the nobility and clergy to pay their own way.

Refreshingly democratic.

You won't be saying that when you get a land tax bill for your 6 million acres.

-If that's the price of reform.

-Oh, please.

The public might believe your egalitarian codswallop, but you don't fool me.

These proposals are dangerous.

The ordinary people already resent us.

If Louis enforces these taxes, the church and nobility will hate us, too.

Josephine: Someone should assassinate him.

Someone hasn't forgiven Louis for banishing her girlfriend.

Still no letters from the lovely Marguerite?

-[Grunts] Well, she has not forgotten you, my dear.

There could be a thousand reasons for her silence.

Perhaps Marguerite has rediscovered her love for her husband.

It does happen.

A visitor from Parlement.

-Gird yourself.

-I can come back later.

Provence: No, no, no.

Stay.

Close the door on your way out.

♪ Does your brother know you're entertaining his enemies?

He sees you here often enough.

♪ Oh, you may speak freely in front of my wife.

Will the Notables approve these, uh, tax reforms?

They are certainly more amenable to the King's plans than your parliament.

They've been hand picked to agree, and they don't know the King is struggling with his faculties.

Parlement is concerned.

Well, it needn't be.

Reassure your colleagues that I have no intention of allowing my brother to enact this lunacy.

♪ You knew.

The trial was a mistake.

I wonder what else you've been right about over the years.

My life might have been different if I'd listened to you.

But perhaps not so interesting.

Be honest.

Did you know before I told you about the Dauphin?

No, of course not.

♪ Yolande knew.

But she didn't tell me.

I'm so sorry.

You would never keep anything like that from me.

♪ I have kept something from you.

Go on.

S-So, Yolande was determined that Calonne be made financial controller.

That's no secret.

♪ He was appointed... the night that you had that dreadful miscarriage.

Yolande saw you collapsed, but... but she didn't raise the alarm.

And she left you to bleed while she pushed Calonne for the job, and she denied-- ♪ I wanted to tell you so many times.

But I thought you wouldn't believe me.

♪ I do believe you.

♪ Jeanne, voice-over: How can I compose a skillful arrangement of events or gracefully express myself when I can only speak a language dictated by sorrow?

But I must take up this pen to protect my memory from slanderous words of malice.

Jeanne: There you go.

Jeanne, voice-over: I have been abused, insulted, and disgraced.

The wounds inflicted on my honor are too deep to heal.

♪ Your Majesty.

I'm pleased to report that the Notables are broadly in favor of the changes to taxation.

[Whispering] Thank God.

[Softly] Never doubted it.

Provence: However, before we discuss your proposals in more depth, I must clarify a point of confusion.

We are told these new taxes are necessary for the financial health of the nation.

But according to Mr. Necker's famous report, our treasury makes an annual profit of... 12 million livres.

[All murmuring] That is more than enough to serve the country.

So why does His Majesty require more?

It is not for the assembly to question the King's requirements.

We might be reassured if His Majesty showed us the accounts.

[All murmuring in agreement] ♪ I--I wasn't suggesting that.

♪ [Door slams] That bastard.

Remember your place.

♪ We have spent years covering up the deficit to save France from financial ruin, and your brother's undone all our work in two minutes.

♪ Everyone's gonna blame us for this mess.

♪ We have to tell them the frightening truth.

We can't.

[Door opens] ♪ You bastard!

I didn't expect them to ask to see the accounts.

Anyway, it was a fair question.

Not in front of the entire Assembly.

Fine.

If we are in surplus, why are you in need of money?

There is no surplus.

-But--but Necker-- -Necker!

Necker cooked the books to hide our war spending.

♪ If I share the accounts, it will show that France is mired in debt that multiplies every single day.

How much do we owe?

Six billion.

♪ But you said... "a bit of debt."

Six billion is not a bit.

-I thought I could fix-- -Just don't.

Don't.

Everyone was so pleased with me after the war.

I didn't want to let them down.

Why on Earth would you let me buy Saint-Cloud?

To prevent you and the children from suffering, not for my mistakes.

I would-- You deceived me.

About this, about the Dauphin's health.

Louis: I am a truthful man.

I never deceived you about anything.

You are a liar!

I don't know what to do.

Alright?

I don't know how to rule.

-I need Vergennes.

-No, you don't.

You still have Calonne.

[Indistinct chatter] Why did you want to see me?

I know you've been whispering in corners with the King's brother.

Is treason afoot?

My concern is always the preservation of the crown.

[Door opens] Well, this is cozy.

I tried to stop her.

She wouldn't take no for an answer.

I heard you'd been summoned to a chinwag.

Did I miss my invitation?

Well, forgive me, Madame De Rohan, I didn't know you were joined at the hip.

Only when it comes to foiling your nasty little political maneuvers.

My efforts saved your nephew from the scaffold.

But did not save him from exile.

Felicité: No good deed goes unpunished.

Well, now you're here, perhaps we can find common ground.

Show me one point on which we agree.

The King is a fool.

I concede that his plans for tax reform suggest idiocy.

Well, if he wants us to feather his nest, he must show the Notables the accounts.

For all we know, he requires a new tax to fund his wife's jewelry collection.

Don't you believe the nobility should pay their way?

-We do pay!

In blood, shed for the King on the battlefield.

Those who don't desert their post.

[Scoffs] Y-You are mistaken.

I served with honor.

Really?

I heard you abandoned ship at the first sound of cannon fire.

But it's so hard to know who to believe these days.

♪ Antoinette, can't we just go back to how we were?

I mean, you can't be angry with me forever.

-I can do as I please.

-[Scoffs] Marie: It's just I can't find my notebook.

-Where is it?

-Leave us.

Marie: Oh, stay where you are.

This is petty.

You know Louis swore me to secrecy.

You left me to bleed.

Yolande: She's lying.

She's always been jealous of our friendship.

My notebook.

I need to write a list of economies.

You cannot believe her over me.

I've been at your side since you were a girl.

I loved you for it!

Even when your behavior has grieved me, I have preferred it to the pain of losing you!

So many people want me dead.

Just never thought you would be one of them.

No.

-No, no, no, please-- -Don't you-- [Gasps] You are not in your right mind.

Antoinette, you cannot abandon me.

You may stay at court as long as you please, but your welfare is no longer my concern.

Leave.

There.

It is done.

♪ You and I are the same.

We have both devoted years to loving individuals... unworthy of our affection.

♪ Calonne: Necker!

♪ [Grunting] I'm sure you all appreciate that sharing the accounts outside of an official financial report would be, um... against formality.

Instead, may I suggest, as delegate, I could confer with His Majesty and relay said information?

You want the truth?

Here it is.

The accounts.

[Murmuring] Every single secret loan that Necker ever took out to hide the war expenditure.

Provence: What the hell, Calonne?

The King is not to blame for this mess, nor me.

♪ Calonne?

♪ Calonne: We're not in surplus, and we never have been.

Thanks to Necker, we're in terrible, catastrophic debt, and the only way to fix it is for you dimwits to approve the tax reforms.

♪ -What are you doing?

-Let them see the truth.

They need to understand what's at stake.

No.

No, don't.

You traitor!

Calonne: We have to.

It's over.

You traitor, get out of my sight!

[Grunts] [All murmuring] ♪ Give me those.

Give them, give them!

Now!

Louis!

Get a grip.

You look deranged.

It's you.

It's your fault.

♪ [Breathing heavily] ♪ Louis?

♪ I am a liar, and now I've been exposed.

♪ You didn't have a choice.

I see why you hid it.

♪ Calonne betrayed me.

He must go.

No.

Then I will have no one.

You have me.

I will help you.

♪ France is grateful for your service.

If I go now... all the work we've done, it will be for nothing.

♪ I see.

♪ Felicité, whispering: Clothes.

♪ There's a carriage waiting outside in the name Monsieur Henri.

[Whispering] What about the guards?

They've been bribed.

Even him?

No.

He might take a little extra persuasion.

You might find the filling a little sharp.

♪ What is going on with Louis?

He's not turning up to any of his meetings.

-He's been resting.

-There is no time.

He needs a new financial controller.

-He's aware.

-The Assembly was chaos.

-And Paris, it is out of cont-- -Shh!

People are openly spouting dissent without fear of censure.

Louis must deal with it.

He can't just hide away.

-I must see him.

-He's not taking visitors.

Well, if you won't tell him what's happening, then I will.

He is not taking any visit-- Nurse!

♪ You've rested long enough.

Louis?

What are you doing?

I tried to map the... the course of La Perouse, but I couldn't.

Marie: I told you to leave him.

-Leave him.

-Provence: He's not dressed.

-He's not well.

-Go!

♪ Marie: Louis.

Louis.

Come on.

They're blaming you for this.

They are blaming you for this.

They're calling you Madame Deficit, -and it's--it's my fault.

-Well, I don't care what they call me!

-But I can't do anything.

-Oh, you can, you can.

-You can.

You must.

-I can't do anything.

-Look at me.

Look at me.

-I can't rule!

♪ I can't rule.

♪ You sent for me?

What do I need to know?

About what?

Politics.

The economy.

Everything.

-The King-- -Is temporarily indisposed.

Oh, my gosh.

My mother ruled an empire.

I'm sure I can look after France for a day or two.

Now, tell me.

What's going on?

The Assembly of Notables has failed.

And the economy is hanging by a thread.

We need money now.

How much?

Somewhere in the region of 500 million.

Can we get another loan from Parlement?

Unlikely.

They are furious about the prospect of tax reform.

Then we must put their minds at ease.

Who's our most vocal opponent in Parlement?

Malherbe.

Bring him to me.

One more thing, Your Majesty.

Please make it good news.

I'm afraid Jeanne La Motte has escaped from prison.

♪ Josephine, voice-over: Does your heart not ache in the absence of our exchanges?

♪ Perhaps you found my correspondence dull.

This will be the last I write.

I will trouble you no more.

♪ [Sobbing] ♪ [Door opens] The Queen is meeting with Malherbe.

Well, that's nice.

For God's sake, wake up!

This is serious.

Louis has genuinely lost his mind.

Well, isn't that what you wanted?

I don't know.

[Josephine sighs] I didn't want her ruling in his place.

What should we do?

I don't know.

It doesn't matter.

What--what do you mean?

[Sighs] It's all so pointless.

[Sobbing] She abandoned me and... [Sobbing continues] Your Majesty.

Thank you for coming.

Uh, where is-- The King is on urgent business.

I speak as his ambassador.

This is most irregular.

These are irregular times.

Now, politics are not my forte.

So, obviously, I don't understand the details of the King's proposal, but... he wants the Parlement to lend him 500 million livres.

[Scoffs] That's impossible.

I demand to see the King.

In--in--in return-- almost forgot-- he will drop his tax reforms.

Huh.

There will be no increased tax on the church and nobility?

Oh, no.

No need to bother them.

No need for extra taxes if the Paris Parlement just grants Louis the money he requires.

Well...it will have to be debated.

The King respects due process.

Hmm.

Tea?

[Indistinct chatter] ♪ Louis: Why are they still talking?

Marie: It's just a formality.

Once they agree the loan, we can go back.

♪ -I have had enough of this.

-Louis, just a little longer.

Just a little longer.

-No, I've had enough.

-No, Louis, no, no.

Louis, please, please.

You have debated long enough.

[Chatter continues] [Loudly] You have debated long enough!

The matter is decided.

You will give me the loan I require.

Majesty, we must follow proceedings.

He's right, Louis.

Please sit down.

My--my word is enough for this to pass.

I command this edict to be registered!

Orleans: Registration without the consent of Parlement is illegal.

It is legal because I am King and I want it!

Monsieur President, His Majesty's request must be declared null and void.

The Duke of Orleans is correct.

The King's demand for a loan is denied.

No.

No!

Traitor.

You are a traitor.

You're all traitors, everyone.

♪ The King's behavior demonstrates that Parlement must have the power to protect France from royal despotism.

The crown must be held accountable for its actions, or France is vulnerable to tyrannical rule.

[Applause] [Cheering and applause] ♪ Put me down!

♪ Let me guess, a letter from the King.

We should do this somewhere more private.

No.

Let's do it here.

♪ I've been banished from Versailles again!

[Cheers and applause] [Crickets chirping] Ah.

First Marguerite, now Orleans.

If Louis keeps banishing people, you'll be ruling from an empty palace.

You imagine that alcohol consoles you.

I can see why.

But it's blunting your wits, Josephine.

I've seen the papers regarding Marguerite's exile.

♪ Provence and Adelaide were behind it.

Neither Louis nor I have acted against you.

Pick your side carefully.

♪ Where are they?!

[Breathing heavily] ♪ [Sobbing] ♪ Marguerite, voice-over: I am tormented.

Each hour that passes reminds me of your indifference.

My husband keeps me confined and guarded.

I plot every hour to find a way back to you.

I will have my revenge on this man who has wronged me.

♪ Mr. Necker.

You remember this room?

I occupied it for many years.

While you ran up the deficit.

Yes.

And yet the people loved you.

For some reason, they still do.

The King doesn't share their admiration for you, and neither do I.

But it has been decided that you should return to government as financial controller.

Thank you, but I no longer seek office.

This is not a request.

You got us into this mess.

Now get us out of it.

Unfortunately, it seems you're the only one who can do that.

We look forward to hearing your proposals.

♪ [Door closes] ♪ ♪ ♪ La Motte: What are you wearing?

Trousers.

I like them.

What did I miss?

Swedish invasion.

Fersen must really love her.

[Clattering] [Thunder rumbles] Now you try?

[Baby chatters and laughs] [Baby fussing] ♪ Uh...hey, come on, we're going to go.

Got to go now.

Let's go.

[Baby fusses] Uh, Nurse?

Can you fetch the Dauphin?

♪ [Nurse gasps] ♪ Quickly now, come along.

♪ Fersen: Back home, it's tradition for the father to... to build the coffin.

He goes out to collect spruce and thistle down to make a mattress... so he's sure that the child's comfortable, even in death.

♪ The doctor said she didn't suffer.

♪ She just slipped away... ♪ in her sleep.

[Knock on door] I'm sorry, but I must speak with the Queen.

-Can't it wait?

-I'm afraid not.

The situation in the countryside is worse than we originally thought.

Go on.

The peasants were already hungry before the storm wiped out the harvest.

Now more starving people are heading to Paris looking for food.

We need to provide more aid.

But do we have the resources?

The deficit-- We have been making savings, yes.

Not enough to make a difference.

We can't let people starve because of a stupid hailstorm.

There are also other factors at play.

Our agents suspect Orleans is buying up grain and storing it for himself.

-Oh, my God.

-Do you want him arrested?

We--we can't act on suspicions.

Every move we make only increases his popularity with the people.

-Well, how do we proceed?

-[Sighs] We--we... What about Louis?

Is he aware of this?

His nerves are still bad.

I thought it better to come to you.

♪ [Bells tolling] We hardly talk these days.

I am busy with my cause.

Ah, yes, abolition.

Little tip-- if you want to achieve anything, you have to play dirty.

What do you mean?

Is there any bread?

We're starving.

Woman: Please, please, sir.

Just a bit of bread.

Woman: Please, sir, just some bread.

Please.

-Take that hailstorm.

-A dreadful disaster.

Yes, but also an opportunity.

An enterprising man can make capital in a time of shortage.

♪ Peasants are killing themselves to escape hunger, and you want to make money from misery?

Not money.

Capital.

Political capital.

Versailles has no money to help them.

Perhaps they will turn their allegiance to someone who can actually feed them.

You're despicable.

No.

I mean it.

♪ Good luck with your cause.

If you're going to take the moral high ground, you'll need it.

Everyone!

[Crowd quiets] Tell the people to come to the door of my kitchen.

I have plenty of bread to share.

[Crowd murmurs] Necker: My popularity has given the market a boost, but the fundamental problem of the debt remains.

Why did you lie?

About the deficit.

Speak.

Sometimes one must tell a monarch what he wants to hear.

[Muffled laugh] Tell me the truth.

Tell me only the truth.

To save the economy, the King must enact his tax reforms immediately.

-How?

-The only way to do that is to call an estates general.

-A what?

-An old institution.

Representatives of the clergy, nobility, and commoners gather to advise the King.

Necker, I've never heard of it.

That's because the estates general hasn't gathered for over 100 years.

Well, what if-- if we do nothing?

Famine.

Rising prices.

A rebellious aristocracy eager to limit the King's power.

Yes.

Something will snap.

You must talk to the King.

You have to convince him to summon the estates general immediately.

♪ Marie, voice-over: I asked you to come because, well, everything got too much-- the deficit, Vergennes, Sophie.

♪ Louis needs time and rest.

♪ And me.

The country also needs me, so I'm just...

Between my duties and the children, I... -I don't know how to-- -You're sending me away.

No, I'm, I'm-- Well, that is what it sounds like.

I'm split into too many pieces.

Now?

Seriously?

No, I'm...I just, I don't have time for a private life, not at the moment.

♪ It's fine.

♪ Felicité: Hot off the press.

Jeanne La Motte de Valois, "My Life at Versailles."

-Any good?

-The crown is gonna hate it.

♪ "Oh, I have some strong opinions Orleans and Jeanne: about the government of my country"... Jeanne: One day, I hope to see a government that dispenses freedom and happiness... ♪ and the abolishment of institutions that give one class of men the impunity to oppress another.

♪ But let it be known that whatever ingenuity my enemies use to turn the tide of popular prejudice against me, I will seat myself here, firmly on the rock of truth, even as the angry waves of falsehood break with fury at my feet.

♪ ♪ The DVD version of this program is available online and in stores.

This program is also available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video ♪