Why, the impertinence of it! The sheer inconvenience to her schedule! How dare Roger the Stable-hand and his revolting band of peasants force their way into the chateau? And why did her guards refrain from interfering? The ungrateful wretches! One might have believed they considered themselves in some way her superiors! Her! A Countess! Well, she would show them. She would not give them the satisfaction of displaying any emotion other than complete disdain for them!

Hywel's note: obviously, it's not fine to make light either of revolution, the people killed during one, the suffering of those oppressed by either the old system or the new system which replaced it. But the moment Aria showed off her Marie Antoinette dress we knew we had to shoot it! (Or at least the top half of it, which is all she'd been able to bring to the shoot with her as the flouncy skirt was too enormous).

The events of the French revolution are now safely remote from living memory, and the cliche of a pampered and beautiful aristocrat getting her comeuppance is very resonant for many of us who are into BDSM. With Marie Antoinette, the cliches and mythology started very early... including the "Let them eat cake" quote, which there's no evidence she actually said. So please take these photos in the spirit with which they're intended- that of "Carry On: Don't Lose Your Head"!