Marie Antoinette's Freya Mavor teases playing con artist Jeanne La Motte — and what happened to the real Jeanne

At the heart of Marie Antoinette season 2 is con artist Jeanne La Motte, who plots to steal the world's most expensive diamond necklace.

The real-life incident, named The Affair of the Diamond Necklace, sees ruthless Jean (played by Skins and Industry star Freya Mavor), plan to steal the jewells — estimated to be worth £13 million in today's money — and blame the theft on the queen (Emilia Schüle), who is famed for her extravagant lifestyle.

It helped to destroy Marie's reputation and played a part in her eventual execution. Here, Freya Mavor talks about Jean, including her motives and how she felt about joining such a big period drama. Plus we find out what happened to the real Jean...

What can you tell us about  your character Jeanne La Motte? 

Freya Mavor: "Jeanne is very much someone who is outside of Versailles who is scheming how to make her way inside that circle and to be able to have control and influence there. She is a total fantasist. She’s come from an intensely brutal, poor and traumatic background which has made her incredibly decisive and ruthless.

"She will perform, lie and manipulate to get herself where she wants to be. The absolute audacity and her being a woman at that time and doing what she did with literally no remorse or care about what anyone thought is quite astonishing."

• I think Marie Antoinette is the best period drama on TV

Is there anything you admire about her? 

Freya: "It's just the smarts she had to actually construct that whole plan and play everyone like a chess board. I’d like the viewers to feel quite impressed by the smarts of the woman."

How did you feel about joining the series?

Freya: "It was a bit intimidating coming into something that was already very established but it was nice because it already felt like a big family and everyone very quickly put me at ease. Coming in with this intrigue and playing this character who is such a wildcard was deeply thrilling."

What happened to the real Jeanne La Motte?

Jeanne was eventually caught and put on trial. She was found guilty, but a lot of the public still sympathised with her and blamed Marie. She was whipped, branded and sent to the Bastille.

She then was sent to a different prison, which she amazingly managed to escape from dressed as a man and fled to England, where she wrote her memoirs. These also blamed Marie for the diamond necklace theft.

Unfortunately, Jeanne tragically died aged just 35 after jumping out of a window to escape debt collectors. She is buried in Lambeth, London.

Marie Antoinette season 2 is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now. In the US it's available via PBS. Check out our best BBC dramas guide for more shows to enjoy.