I feel bad for just about everyone involved. It's a miracle that anything substantive gets done in an empire where people have to worry about losing their lives/livelihood over the most trivial things. Everything in one's life could come crashing down all for picking the wrong dress, or baking a snack that wasn't 100% ultimately satisfying?
The crown prince wasn't a prince, he'd just be a sorry, pitiful dude, angry at the world for not going exactly his way.
Still excited to see Marie being awesome though.