Antoinette is ecstatic to be Queen and believes that it will grant her the happiness and freedom she's been searching for. Her first act as Queen is to promote Oscar to High Commander of the Royal Guard, giving her a rank similar to that of a Colonel and doubling her salary and pension. Oscar accepts the promotion but turns down the raise due to France's current lack of wealth. Oscar worries that Antoinette's honesty with her emotions will cause her trouble as a sovereign, and that the taxation of the common people would lower her popularity...