Your first sneak peek of Noble Blood, a brand new podcast from executive producer Aaron Mahnke and iHeart Podcasts. Join author Dana Schwartz on a narrative tour of history's most fascinating royals: the tyrants and the tragic, the murderers and the murdered, and everyone in between. But be warned: when you’re wearing a crown, mistakes often mean blood. Learn more at NobleBloodTales.com
In 1793, the infamous Marie Antoinette was moved to the Conciergerie in Temple Prison. A woman who became synonymous with indulgence spent her final months with almost no personal possessions, separated from her children, awaiting her imminent death.
By the time he was 17, Charles II was a prince in exile. When his father, the King of England, was beheaded, the country became a protectorate without a monarch. But Charles was willing to sacrifice whatever (and whoever) it took to win his crown back.
An Australian man comes to England claiming to be a long-lost heir thought dead in a shipwreck. What happened next sparked a trial lasting 188 days—one of the longest in English history—and a scandal that captivated the Victorian public.
King George V and Tsar Nicholas II were first cousins who looked so much alike that people often jokingly called them twins. When one cousin's crown came under threat, the other had a decision to make.
The same day Queen Liliuokalani proposed a new constitution for Hawaii that would restore power to the monarchy and grant native Hawaiians the right to vote in elections, a group of white businessmen met at a law office in Honolulu, and hatched a plan that would change the course of nations.
When King George IV died, his obituary in The Times read: “There never was an individual less regretted by his fellow-creatures than this deceased king." But even George IV once fell in love.
Arbella Stuart was a pawn her entire life—a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I and a valuable marriage prospect to be dangled before foreign princes. But when Arbella finally decided to take her life into her own hands, she ignited a series of events straight out of a Shakesperean tragedy.
In the middle of the night on an otherwise quiet spring evening, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was attacked in his bedchamber by an assailant wielding a sword. The Duke survived, and in the chaotic aftermath, the household discovered the Duke's valet, dead by apparent suicide. But as the details of that night emerged, the story became murky. More questions than answers remain now to a murder mystery that will never be solved.
The Marquise de Brinvilliers is a subject of operas and stories, a larger-than-life villainess who murdered her family with poison and almost got away with it. Almost.
Lord Byron has become synonymous with the romantic, creative hero. But it may have been Lady Caroline Lamb, his most famous lover, who truly embodied the spirit of the age. Their romance led to blood, tears, fire, and pubic hair. Poets, am I right?
The wedding between Margot of Valois and Henry of Navarre was meant to end religious fighting in France. It didn't.
Bitterly lonely and abandoned by her family, Anna Ivanovna grew to hate love. And when she became the unlikely Empress of Russia she used her power to build an ice palace that was both a spectacle and a torture chamber.
"The Queen's death must be dated from the Diamond Necklace Trial." The nation turned against Queen Marie Antoinette when she became an unwitting pawn in the most ambitious catfish in history.
Only days after he was deposed, King Ludwig II of Bavaria died in an apparent suicide. But was it murder? Or was it just the final act of a king who had gone mad with love and with passion, born into the wrong century?
She was born Charlotte of Belgium, before fate re-named her Carlota of Mexico. She and her husband were high-minded, idealistic imperialists, ready to forge their destiny on a new continent. But they were woefully unprepared for the reality that awaited them outside their palace walls.
Catherine the Great, Russia's most famous Empress, wasn't born in Russia—she was a minor German princess engaged to the future Emperor. But less than a year after her husband ascended to the Russian throne, Catherine overthrew him in a coup with the help of her lover in one of the most extraordinary political maneuvers in history.
In 7th-century China, Wu Zetian went from low-tiered concubine to Empress and then, finally, to Emperor in her own right. Her legacy is murky and strange, and her rise to power is trickled with blood.
During a post-wedding detour in Denmark, James VI of Scotland learned of the evils of witches, and he brought his anti-witch fervor with him when he returned to Scotland.
Catherine of Aragon was Henry VIII's first wife.
Anne of Boleyn was Henry VIII's second wife.
Jane Seymour was Henry VIII's third wife.
Anne of Cleves was Henry VIII's fourth wife.
Catherine Howard was Henry VIII's fifth wife.
Katherine Parr was Henry VIII's sixth wife.
The Archduke Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, retreated to his hunting lodge in Mayerling with his teenage lover in 1889 to enact a gristly suicide pact in an event both stranger and more tragic than it appears at first blush.
Stories from history are not kind to Queen Ranavalona of the Kingdom of Imerina. They call her bloodthirsty, mad, a "female Caligula." People were killed under her rule—lots of them, and cruelly. But "madness" doesn't tell the whole story. Ranavalona was a canny political leader, protecting her kingdom from the insurrection of imperialism for her entire 33-year reign... at any cost.
In 2001, a woman named Ghislaine de Védrines befriended a charming man named Thierry Tilly. The rest of her close-knit aristocratic family soon became close with him as well. For Noble Blood's one year anniversary, Dana is joined by her research assistant, Hannah Johnston to discuss the mysterious and bizarre brainwashing of the wealthy de Védrines family.
King George III's "criminal sister" was sent to marry the King of Denmark when she was a teenager. Her husband wanted very little to do with her, and so her attention wandered over to a charismatic doctor. That doctor slowly gathered power until he became all but an autocrat. But power, and love, are both risky gambles.
Leopold II, King of the Belgians, was a man obsessed with the profits that came with colonization. Using smokescreens of charities and shell corporations, he claimed a private landholding 76x larger than his own nation, and unleashed decades of horror on the land's inhabitants.
In the words of Omar Little, "When you come at the king, you best not miss." A possible bungled assassination attempt on the King of Portugal in 1758 gave his prime minister the excuse he needed to unleash a bloody reign of terror on the nation's nobles.
Tycho Brahe was the heir to several lines of Danish nobility. Rather than spend his life as a bureaucrat, he devoted himself to astronomy and collected the data that would lead to a new era of discovery. He also had no nose, a pet elk, a dwarf, and a mysterious death. Just your typical scientist stuff.
In 945, Olga's husband, Igor I, was murdered by a subjugated tribe. Olga then became the de-facto ruler of Kievan-Rus, and she would let the Drevlians who killed her husband know that mercy was not one of her strong suits.
Yang Guifei is considered one of the four great beauties of China. But her role as imperial consort would have deadly consequences and spell the end of the Tang Dynasty.
Georg Friedrich, the great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II is embroiled in a legal battle with Germany, attempting to reclaim millions of euros worth of property that was taken from his family during the Soviet occupation of Germany. But the law that allows property reclamation has one major caveat: property is forfeited if your ancestors significantly contributed to the rise of the Nazi party. So exactly how significant was the role of the Kaiser's son, Crown Prince Wilhelm, in the Nazi party? Because the photos don't look great for him...
On April 3, 1817, a strange woman in a turban and ruffled black dress appeared in a small village to the north of Bristol. She would claim to be a Princess from a distant island, and for a summer, she would dazzle and charm an entire town of Englishmen and women all too ready to enjoy a spectacle of the "exotic."
While feverish and riding on a hot day, King Charles VI had a fit of madness, and murdered one of his own men. For the rest of his reign, he would be plagued by periods of insanity during which he often couldn't remember his own name. And without a clear regent, greedy factions attempting to rule in his place led to chaos for France.
One of the most enduring stories about the founding of the United States of America is that before George Washington accepted the position as President, he declined the position as King. But "enduring" doesn't necessarily mean true.
The great love of King Edward II's life was a man named Piers Gaveston. As one contemporary wrote, “I do not remember to have heard that one man so loved another... and our king was incapable of moderate favor." But favoritism has its price. And love would cost both men their lives.
The Duke and Duchess de Praslin were originally a love match. But two decades—and a beautiful, young governess—led to growing tensions and resentment. When the Duchess was found murdered in her bedchamber, the police had no choice but to arrest her powerful husband.
Depending on which stories you read, Juana of Castile is either a woman who went mad after the death of her husband, or a maligned figure who was manipulated by the men in her life so they could rule Spain in her place. Her life is a perfect example of the stories we like to tell about women who go mad.
In the winter of 1891, a group of 15 Prussian visited a hunting lodge in the woods for what was supposed to be an ice-skating party. Instead, it became an orgy. And then the anonymous letters began arriving.
Queen Njinga ruled the united kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba while facing off against the constant threat of Portuguese colonization. All it took was the cunning to know who to trust and when.
Her first lover was found dead in a river. Her second husband was strangled in his bed. Perhaps it's no surprise that in popular culture, Lucrezia Borgia has become a femme fatale, a black widow murderess who stepped over husbands in order to achieve her own ends. But the real Lucrezia is a figure far more complex and tragic than the stereotypes might lead you to believe.
Thanks to the popularity of the television series The Crown, a new generation has become captivated by Princess Diana—her life and her tragedy. She remains an enigmatic figure, undeniably captivating, for both her vulnerability and her power. To better understand her life, and her legacy, Dana speaks with Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes of the podcast 'You're Wrong About.'
The daughter of a Jewish heiress and Polish count went on to become one of the most infamous secret agents in British history. The story of Krystyna Skarbek reads like part-spy novel and part-political thriller.
At the end of the 19th century, a man in San Francisco declared himself the Emperor of the United States. Was he mad? Possibly. But he also became a beloved fixture of a city, a unifying symbol, and a monarchical mascot. This is the story of Emperor Norton I.
Catherine the Great's son, Paul I, idolized his deceased father Peter III and resented his powerful mother. Unfortunately for him, when he finally became Tsar, he would learn that wielding power isn't as easy as it looks.
The Chevalier d'Éon was a diplomat, spy, traitor, and international celebrity. She's also sometimes regarded as one of the most prominent transgender figures in European history.
In American history books, King George III is painted as the despotic villain keeping us from our independence. That he was "mad," then, makes perfect sense. But in reality, his madness was a sad coda to a long reign, a tragic untreated illness that left him completely alone.
For our 50th (!) episode, Noble Blood is tackling historical rumors: "Let them eat cake," Elizabeth I being a man, the lost dauphin of France, and....... *that* rumor about Catherine the Great.
Christina of Sweden is one of the most compelling figures of the 17th century, a queer Catholic convert who rejected social norms and stepped down as a monarch to live a life completely on her own terms.
The oldest daughter of Henry VIII, Mary Tudor, is commonly known today as "Bloody Mary" for her persecution of Protestants in England during her reign as queen. But as a young woman, she was a girl whose life was ripped out from under her when her father declared that she was no longer a princess.
When Mary rode into London to claim her crown, she was met with celebration the likes of which had never been seen before in the city streets. Five years later, at the end of her reign, she was a hated figure. Today, she's known as Bloody Mary.
A bisexual, sword-fighting, opera-singing, 17th century arsonist... no wonder there are so many stories about her.
Vincenzo Gonzaga's first marriage ended in a humiliating divorce by non-consummation,. His next set of would-be in-laws wanted to make sure the same problem wouldn't happen twice, and so the Vatican was called in to help orchestrate a public trial for Gonzaga to undertake. Turns out there was nothing simple about sex and masculinity in Renaissance Italy.
The rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I is stuff of legends: neighboring queens, cousins, opposites, and deadly opponents.
Frances Howard wanted to divorce her first husband and marry someone else. Someone was standing in the way.
Hortense Mancini is perhaps most famous for being a royal mistress, but her life was a series of adventures and scandals. Hortense was willing to do whatever it took to be a woman who lived on her own terms in the 17th century.
King Edward VIII is notorious for abdicating the British throne to marry a twice-divorced American woman. But Wallis Simpson was far from his most notorious paramour...
Elizabeth Báthory is famous for being one of history's most prolific serial killers, a Hungarian Countess who tortured and slaughtered hundreds of young women, protected by her power as a noble. But what is the story is a little more complicated? What if the political power that allegedly protected her was actually a target for her political enemies? Is it possible that history's favorite murderess is actually innocent?
In the 18th century in Russia, a noblewoman named Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova was well known in her area for treating her serfs with unique cruelty. But the true situation was far worse than the rumors. Eventually, she would be convicted of beating 38 young women to death, but many think she might have killed over a hundred more.
At the end of the 1700s, Tipu Sultan was the leader of the Kingdom of Mysore, facing off against the encroaching invasion of the British East India Trading Company. Today, Tipu's legacy is complicated and still confused with propaganda and mythology. Was he a crusading hero, or a religious bigot?
Throughout history, there have been stories of royals going mad. But very few kings have committed murder in their fits of insanity.
In 1386 France, Jean Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris faced each other in a fight to the death. The two were former friends turned bitter enemies. Le Gris was accused of a terrible crime, and the courts determined that only God could determine the guilty party.
In a small town in the northeast of Spain, in a small pub, a man named Albert Solà works as a waiter. He might also be the rightful King of Spain.
Boudica is one of the most famous folk-heroines of Great Britain, a woman who led thousands of troops in 61 A.D. against the Roman occupiers. Though her rebellion was ultimately uncessful, Boudica's final victory would be in becoming a symbol that endured through the centuries.
When Sarah Forbes Bonetta was seven years old, she was enslaved in the African kingdom of Dahomey and presented as a gift to a visiting British naval captain. The captain brought her to London in order to "rescue" her. The young girl would soon become the goddaughter to the most powerful woman in the world: Queen Victoria.
Prince Sado of Korea had gone mad. He was prone to violent fits of rage; he would assault and threaten and even kill servants at court. His father, King Yeongjo, needed a way to get rid of him.
When Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow were students at Cambridge University, they co-wrote a musical about the six wives of Henry VIII. From Edinburgh Fringe to the West End to Broadway, 'Six' has become a global phenomenon. Dana speaks to Moss and Marlow about theatre, women in popular culture, and revisionist history.
In 1483, the two sons of the late King Edward IV went into the Tower of London, preparing for the older son's coronation. Instead, their uncle, Richard III was crowned, and the two boys were never seen again. The truth of what happened to the "princes" in the tower is one of history's greatest mysteries, and writers have imagined answers for centuries.
Princess Charlotte of Wales was England's grand hope for the future, directly in line for the throne after the infirm King George III and the buffoonish Prince Regent George IV. She fought for her independence, for the ability to choose her own husband, and ultimately succeeded. But her love story was short-lived.
Elizabeth was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She was a beauty icon with long, chestnut brown hair that came down, allegedly to her ankles. But she also lived a life of quiet, lonely depression. She was a ghost, even before her assassination.
A volcanic eruption turning 1816 into the "year without a summer." A group of Romantic poets stuck inside would change literary history forever.
Cleopatra is famous in popular culture for being one of history's greatest beauties. But her true political savvy and the real story behind her death are more interesting than any caricature.
The rumors about Rasputin—the mad monk who treated the hemophilia of the Tsar and Tsarina's only son—range from comical to absurd. But the truth is buried somewhere beneath, in a story about power and manipulation.
Dan Jones is a historian, television presenter, the author of a dozen books of history and the upcoming novel ESSEX DOGS. We chat about medieval history, the truth behind Arthurian legends, and castles, in honor of Noble Blood's 75th episode!
Franz Ferdinand (the Archduke, not the band) is a central figure in the history of Europe, known the world over for being the target of the assassination that ignited World War I. But before his death, he was a shy, reluctant and awkward boy who was never meant to be the heir to an Empire, who fell in love with a woman he wasn't allowed to marry.
The day began with an explosion, and it ended in death, and it changed the course of history forever.
In the 14th century, Jeanne de Clisson's husband was accused of being a traitor and beheaded by the king of France. In response, Jeanne decided to get her revenge.
Margaret Whigham Sweeney Campbell was the most notorious tabloid figure of her day. Her divorce from Ian Campbell, Duke of Argyll, would be the longest and costliest divorce in British history until that point, and would help usher in the all-too-modern tabloid trend of tearing scandalized women apart.
Sophia Dorothea of Celle was forced to marry a cousin she loathed. Stuck alone in restrictive Hanoverian court, her one happiness was the affair she began with a dashing visiting Count. But royal affairs almost always lead to tragedy, and though her husband's position in the courts of Europe would continue to rise, Sophia Dorothea would suffer only tragedy.
In 1600, Guaman Poma began writing what would become a nearly 1,200-page open letter to King Philip III of Spain. Part history, part social critique, it's an illustrated depiction of Inca life and culture that was lost to history for 300 years, until it was rediscovered by accident.
When the Shah of the Safavid empire died in 1576, three of his sons would eventually become Shah. But the real power behind the scenes was their sister, Pari Khan Khanum, a brilliant strategist and political thinker who maintained control of the kingdom until it led to her tragic death.
Before the HBO Max series, 'Our Flag Means Death,' Stede Bonnet was a footnote of history, an aristocrat who partnered with, and then was betrayed by, Blackbeard. But the full story of Stede Bonnet is a fascinating saga, equal parts comedy and tragedy.
Queen Victoria wore white to her wedding, to emphasize that she was not just a monarch but also a loyal, obedient wife. The rituals of her life became heavily imitated, and we still feel the cultural consequences of her choices today.
A living, male heir was essential to a monarch in the 16th century who wanted a secure dynasty. So why did Ivan the Terrible, the first Tsar of Russia, murder his only viable heir to the throne? The story might be more complicated than the way it's been told for centuries.
"[T]he science of healing stood baffled before the science of destroying." The consequences of World War I weren't limited to deaths on the battlefield. Men returned home disfigured beyond recognition, and the esteemed surgeon, Sir Harold Gillies—(hard "G" sound)—made it his mission to help. I interview the historian Lindsey Fitzharris about her new book, The Facemaker.
Sophia Duleep Singh was the granddaughter or Ranjit Singh, the 'Lion of Punjab,' but she had been born and raised in England, a goddaughter of Queen Victoria. But rather than spending her life quietly enjoying her wealth and social status, she fought on the front lines for women's right to vote.
Even though King George III had 13 living children, in 1817, he only had a single legitimate grandchild: Princess Charlotte. And then the unthinkable happened: Princess Charlotte died in childbirth and the Hanovers were left without an heir. Suddenly, all of George III's unmarried adult children were in a race to find eligible princesses and have children to carry on the family business.
William the Conquerer's youngest son, Henry, had to scheme and fight to become King of England. But his dreams of peacefully united England and Normandy would run into rocky waters.
In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry a twice-divorced American woman named Wallis Simpson. Just a few short months later, the two were hosted in Germany by Adolf Hitler himself.
Two sisters raised an army in 1st century Vietnam against Chinese colonialists. Over the next two thousand years, their story would change and twist.
When she was seventeen years old, Georgiana Spencer married William Cavendish and became the Duchess of Devonshire. Almost overnight, she charmed everyone in London society... except her husband.
After Georgiana Cavendish gave her husband an heir, she was free to pursue extramarital lovers. But her affair with Charles Grey would leave her forced to give birth in France while a revolution raged, terrified, and writing letters in her own blood.
The death of Queen Elizabeth is the death of a symbol: after 70 years on the throne, she is the only English monarch many of us have ever known. The story of a disaster in Wales in 1966 highlights that stoic inaction was both the greatest strength, and the greatest weakness, of the late queen.
It's a legend, nothing more, about the founding of Prague, but in the story of a woman allegedly from the 8th century, we see the power of myth and the reasons some stories are told again and again.
King Philip IV had three sons, who he married to three girls (two of whom happened to be sisters themselves). In 1314, a group accusation of adultery would spell the downfall of the Capet dynasty.
Historian Helen Carr, author of The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, to talk about a key event in the life of the third surviving son of Edward III. John of Gaunt, father of the Lancasters and eventually the Tudors, was an unofficial regent for his young nephew. And when taxes were raised too high, the unpopular John became a target of their ire.”
To this day, no one knows who stole the Irish Crown Jewels in 1907, but in the years since a number of suspects have emerged, and the mysterious case involves an Artic explorer, midnight "orgies," and an unlocked room.
In 1841, it seemed inevitable that the small, impoverished principality of Monaco would be absorbed by one of its larger neighbors. But the new Princess had an idea, a risky and possibly dangerous idea to save her country: a casino.