Welcome to the Patron Podcast! The Patron Podcast is where we dive deep into fascinating stories from history, folklore, literature, and more. While many of our essays are free, the Patron Podcast is for paid subscribers only. To get access to the Patron Podcast, the weekly Crossroads Roundup, and the full archive, become a paid subscriber below:
Download the free Substack app to listen to the Patron Podcast on your smartphone anywhere, anytime:
Marie Antoinette, to this day, remains one of the most controversial rulers in European history. Was she a heartless tyrant, or the victim of a gilded cage? A frivolous spendthrift with no care for the suffering poor, or a child bride completely out of her depth?
As we’ll see over the course of this two-part series, Marie Antoinette was a complicated woman, and neither stereotype truly embodies who she was. In this episode, we’ll examine her childhood and the early years of her reign—and crucially, the missteps that put her on the path to ruin.
Our theme song is “Arabesque No. 1” by Claude Debussy (public domain).
Resources for Patrons:
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Crossroads Gazette to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
