Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Nine Kings, One Room

Starting point is 00:00:00 On May 20th, 1910, an event occurred which never occurred before or since. Gathered for the funeral, the British king Edward V, 7th, nine different European monarchs assembled inside Windsor Castle for a photo. In the immediate years after this image was taken, life would change dramatically for most of the monarchs. Learn more about the day nine kings were in one room and what happened to them later on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now.

Starting point is 00:00:55 Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. On May 6th, 1910, King Edward I died. Edward had a very odd reign as king. He was the son of Queen Victoria, who was Queen Forever, and he was the era. parent for almost 60 years. When Victoria died in 1901, he took the throne at the age of 59. He was, by all accounts, one of the more popular British monarchs of the last century, but his reign was to be short-lived. He passed away just nine years after his ascension. Those nine years saw a lot of change in the world. When Victoria died, her funeral had a large

Starting point is 00:01:33 number of royals from around Europe, but not necessarily other monarchs themselves. When the leader of a country died, news of it would travel as fast as a horse or a ship could carry that information. Likewise, once someone got the news, if you wanted to go to attend the funeral, it would take you just as long, if not longer, to go back. The end result is that you had seldom see monarchs attending funerals for other monarchs prior to the 20th century. It wasn't like a coronation where you had some sort of advance notice. The first decade of the 20th century saw dramatic changes in communication and transportation. News could travel almost instantly via telegraph and telephone. Trains and steamships could also carry passengers faster. So when

Starting point is 00:02:11 Edward the 7th died, it was possible for other European monarchs to actually attend the funeral. However, it wasn't just a matter of technology. As I covered in a past episode, many royal families in Europe were all related to Queen Victoria, and hence Edward the 7th. These royal families were all quite literally one big family. So it was in this environment that the funeral of Edward the 7th became such a noteworthy affair. It was the biggest gathering of royalty in history, and, as you'll see, a feat that is now impossible to surpass. The funeral was held on May 20th, two weeks after the king's death. With almost instantaneous notification of his death, that gave plenty of time for the monarchs of Europe to assemble,

Starting point is 00:02:52 kind of like the Avengers, but with giant walrus mustaches of the period. The funeral was held in Westminster Abbey, and afterwards there was a massive procession from the Abbey to Windsor Castle. There was an estimated three to five million people along the route. most interestingly was a very long procession of royal representatives from around the world. In addition to the handful of monarchs in attendance, there were also attendees from royal houses as far away as Japan, Siam, and Egypt. When the procession arrived at Windsor Castle, the decision was made to take a photo of the nine monarchs who happened to be in attendance. The photo wasn't really that big of a deal at the time, it was just something that was done because everybody was there.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Who were the nine kings in attendance? Well, the first obviously was King George the 5th of the United Kingdom, the son of Edward the 7th. But also in attendance were the following. King Hacom the 7th of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel II of Portugal,

Starting point is 00:03:47 Kaiser Wilhelm the 2nd of Germany, King George I of Greece, King Albert I of Belgium, King Alfonso of the 13th of Spain, and King Frederick the 8th of Denmark. It's hard to tell when one phase of history begins and another one ends. In hindsight,

Starting point is 00:04:03 you could say that the funeral of Edward the 7th might have been the last hurrah for the 19th century European order. Just four years later, the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, and it sparked the First World War, which upended everything. Franz Ferdinand, by the way, was in attendance at the funeral and took part in the procession. The lives of these nine men are sort of a microcosm of much of European history that happened over the next several decades. Let's start with King George V of Britain. George actually probably did the best of the kings in attendance. He was king during World War I, and by all accounts did a fine job leading the country,

Starting point is 00:04:40 at least as a source of inspiration. He changed the name of the dynasty from the very German-sounding House of Sax, Coburg, and Gotha, to the much more British-sounding House of Windsor. Likewise, many titles which he and other members of the family had back in Germany, were all relinquished. He died in 1936 at the age of 70. His son, Edward VIII, was involved in a massive scandal for wanting to marry an American divorce, say, which resulted in his abdication of the throne. King Hockham the 7th of Norway was probably most famous for refusing to abdicate the throne

Starting point is 00:05:11 when the Nazis invaded. He fled to England, and from there spent the war helping the Norwegian resistance. He even refused to abdicate under the threat of the Nazis rounding up Norwegians and putting them in concentration camps. He returned to Norway in 1945 to a hero's welcome, and he passed away in 1957 at the age of 85, having preserved the Norwegian monarchy, which still exists today. Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria didn't fare quite so well. Bulgaria joined the central powers during the First World War, and Tsar Ferdinand found himself at war with England.

Starting point is 00:05:42 Ferdinand wanted the land back that Bulgaria had lost during the Balkans' war, particularly from Serbia, so they aligned themselves with Germany and Austria. However, as you know, Ferdinand picked the wrong side. He ended up abdicating the throne in 1918 in a bid to preserve the Bulgarian monarchy. It worked for a while. his son, Boris III, died in 1943 during the Second World War, and was replaced by his six-year-old son, Simeon.

Starting point is 00:06:06 The monarchy was abolished in 1946 by the communists. And Simeon, the last king of Bulgaria, is still alive today. He actually served his prime minister of Bulgaria for a while. King Manuel II of Portugal became king in 1908 when his father, Carlos I and his older brother Louis Philippe were assassinated. Manuel didn't last very long on the throne. Just a few months after the funeral in October, the Republican Revolution took place in Portugal, which abolished the monarchy.

Starting point is 00:06:31 He then found himself on the royal yacht sailing to England, where he was met by King George. He lived the rest of his life in exile, and despite several attempts during his lifetime, the monarchy was never restored in Portugal. Kaiser Wilhelm I.m. the second of Germany also found himself at war with his first cousin, King George, at the start of World War I. He eventually had to abdicate at the end of the war as a condition of the United States to begin negotiations, thus ending the German monarchy. He lived and died in exile outside the town of Dorn in the Netherlands. His home was actually captured by Germans after the invasion of the Netherlands in World War II,

Starting point is 00:07:05 and no special honors or acknowledgement of his previous position was offered by Hitler. His funeral in 1941 was small, and despite requesting there be no Nazi flags or imagery, his request was ignored. King George I of Greece had already been king for 47 years by 2010. He only lived a few more years as he was assassinated on March 18, 1913. He was shot in the back while walking down the street. His son didn't fare much better. He ended up abdicating the throne twice,

Starting point is 00:07:34 and his grandson also had multiple periods as king with an exile in between. The Greek monarchy was abolished in 1973. King Albert I of Belgium had ascended to the Belgian throne just a few months before the funeral. During World War I, Belgium probably suffered more than any other country. Unlike other monarchs during the war, Albert actually commanded troops and was on the front lines and in the trenches. He actually allowed his 12-year-old son Leopold to enlist and fight as a private.

Starting point is 00:08:00 He died on February 17, 1934, in a mountaineering accident in Belgium. He was an accomplished mountaineer, and there have been rumors and conspiracies surrounding his death ever since. King Alfonso I of Spain at a path which was similar to that of his neighbor, Albert and Portugal. After an election, which was considered a referendum on the Spanish monarchy in 1931, he left Spain and settled into exile in Rome. Technically, he never abdicated the throne, but his... His two eldest sons renounced their claim. His third son, Juan Carlos, became king when the monarchy was reestablished after the death of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

Starting point is 00:08:37 He died in 1941 while still living in Italy. The last of the monarchs was King Frederick the 8th of Denmark. He reigned for only two more years after he died of a heart attack while passing through Germany on the way back to Denmark from France. He collapsed on a park bench, and when he was found, he had no documentation on him. The police found his body but had no clue that it was the king of Denmark until it was identified by a hotel manager the next day. Given the odd circumstances of his death, there were rumors surrounding it almost immediately, especially considering that there was a brothel nearby. These nine kings, who were assembled in one spot for just one day, all went on to very different futures. All of them, save for George V, either abdicated or died in very suspicious or untimely deaths.

Starting point is 00:09:25 The 20th century wasn't a good one for European monarchies. Most of them were abolished or had their powers severely curtailed. As it turns out, sometimes it isn't so good to be the king. Everything Everywhere Daily is an Airwave Media podcast. The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. Today's review comes from listener DBAU20 from Apple Podcast in Australia. They write,

Starting point is 00:09:53 Gary has been a soothing discovery during this time of the COVID pandemic. My good friend, J.K. Power, hi, J.K. and happy breakfast dude, brought me to you. Heartfeld thanks for this great work from the perfect format for our times. You really timed the multifers together. For your list of future episodes, please consider Hashima Island, commonly called Guncajima or Battleship Island. Also, to complement both DARPA and Bell Labs, please consider an episode on the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. Thanks, DBAU. I will certainly make note of your episode suggestions. Also, if your friend J.K. introduced you to the show, then I think he's a pretty good friend. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostogram, you two can have it right in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Nine Kings, One Room

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