The Secret Wife of King Louis XIV: A Cinderella Story | 90

Even The Royals

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.4 • 844 Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before she became the secret wife of Louis XIV, Françoise d’Aubigné was an outsider—penniless, disgraced, and all but invisible to the glittering world of Versailles. But behind her quiet smile was a mind built for survival. Her path to power was no fairytale: there was no fairy godmother waving a magic wand; just a brutal childhood, a cold-hearted guardian, and a series of risky choices. But as she climbs closer to the Sun King’s inner circle, Françoise has to play a shadowy game—one built on influence, seduction and secrets. And when she finally wins the king’s heart… it will come at a price.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderie Plus subscribers can listen to Even the Royals early and ad-free right now.
0:04.1	Join Wonderly Plus in the Wonderry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:07.6	A quick note about our show.
0:09.0	We do a lot of research for our stories, but we also aren't your high school history class,
0:12.8	so some details and scenes are dramatized.
0:15.4	And this show contains some coarse language, so pardon our French.
0:25.4	Thank you. some coarse language, so pardon our French. All right, Eresia Pop Quiz.
0:27.4	Oh, yay.
0:28.6	I think I know the answer, but if you could be any Disney princess, which one would you pick?
0:35.5	Jasmine.
0:36.4	Yes, I knew.
0:37.3	She was the first princess I was for Halloween.
0:40.2	Shout out to my dad who made the costume back in like the very early 90s and going on a magic
0:47.4	carpet.
0:48.1	Yeah.
0:48.8	Seeing a whole new world.
0:50.5	A dazzling place that we never knew.
0:52.6	Yeah.
0:53.7	Would you ever choose to live Cinderella story?
0:56.4	Because obviously you'd be subjected to servitude.
0:59.4	I was like the second part of her story.
1:01.4	Yeah, but you get to marry Prince Charming.
	...

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