1
00:00:01,034 --> 00:00:04,204
(ominous piano music)

2
00:00:10,877 --> 00:00:13,847
- This is the 
exact spot occupied

3
00:00:13,847 --> 00:00:16,649
by the prison cell in 
which Marie Antoinette

4
00:00:16,649 --> 00:00:20,253
spent the final 75 
days of her life.

5
00:00:21,788 --> 00:00:25,358
At the time of her 
execution, she was 37.

6
00:00:25,358 --> 00:00:27,627
She was not allowed 
to see her children

7
00:00:27,627 --> 00:00:30,063
who'd been taken away from 
her two months before.

8
00:00:31,498 --> 00:00:34,734
She wrote a very moving final 
letter to her sister-in-law.

9
00:00:34,734 --> 00:00:38,171
She wrote, "I embrace 
you with all my heart

10
00:00:39,372 --> 00:00:42,609
"as well as those 
poor dear children.

11
00:00:42,609 --> 00:00:47,580
"My God, it is heartbreaking 
to leave them forever."

12
00:00:54,687 --> 00:00:57,624
On the 16th of October, 1793,

13
00:00:57,624 --> 00:01:00,460
Marie Antoinette was 
prepared for the guillotine.

14
00:01:01,795 --> 00:01:03,696
(dramatic music)

15
00:01:03,696 --> 00:01:07,133
Kept in a cell and 
wearing a plain dress,

16
00:01:07,133 --> 00:01:10,103
she now came face to face 
with her executioner.

17
00:01:11,204 --> 00:01:13,940
(dramatic music)

18
00:01:15,942 --> 00:01:18,745
- I was a queen and 
you took away my crown.

19
00:01:20,113 --> 00:01:23,283
A wife, and you 
killed my husband.

20
00:01:24,617 --> 00:01:27,921
A mother, and you deprive 
me of my children.

21
00:01:29,856 --> 00:01:32,459
Only my blood remains, take it.

22
00:01:33,426 --> 00:01:34,594
Do not make me suffer.

23
00:01:36,396 --> 00:01:39,165
(dramatic music)

24
00:01:47,474 --> 00:01:49,542
The executioner has 
cut her hair off

25
00:01:49,542 --> 00:01:52,712
for what you might 
call practical reasons.

26
00:01:52,712 --> 00:01:54,481
We don't want anything to

27
00:01:54,481 --> 00:01:57,150
impede the chop of the blade.

28
00:01:57,150 --> 00:01:58,685
But I can't help thinking that

29
00:01:58,685 --> 00:02:00,119
he will quite soon be selling

30
00:02:00,119 --> 00:02:02,288
bits of that hair 
off as souvenirs.

31
00:02:02,288 --> 00:02:04,691
After all, it's one of 
the perks of his job.

32
00:02:07,460 --> 00:02:10,463
Her hands were bound 
painfully behind her back

33
00:02:10,463 --> 00:02:13,233
and she was put on a rope leash.

34
00:02:13,233 --> 00:02:14,734
Unlike her husband,

35
00:02:14,734 --> 00:02:17,036
who'd been taken to his 
executioner in a carriage,

36
00:02:17,036 --> 00:02:20,340
Marie Antoinette had 
to sit in an open cart.

37
00:02:20,340 --> 00:02:22,142
She maintained her composure

38
00:02:22,142 --> 00:02:25,278
despite the insults 
of the jeering crowd.

39
00:02:26,946 --> 00:02:29,549
History's come up with 
wildly different ideas

40
00:02:29,549 --> 00:02:32,252
about the significance 
of the Queen's execution.

41
00:02:33,753 --> 00:02:36,489
(dramatic music)

42
00:02:37,690 --> 00:02:39,926
For the revolutionaries, 
killing Marie Antoinette

43
00:02:39,926 --> 00:02:43,229
kept the fire of revolution 
burning brightly.

44
00:02:45,465 --> 00:02:48,134
But for the critics 
of the revolution,

45
00:02:48,134 --> 00:02:50,770
it reveals their 
ultimate cruelty.

46
00:02:51,771 --> 00:02:55,241
(dramatic music)

47
00:02:55,241 --> 00:02:58,144
(blade squeaking)