Noble Blood - The Great Hope of Spain

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

King Alfonson XII of Spain died without a male heir—but there was hope: his wife was six months pregnant. And as great fortune would have it, the Queen gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who would be Alfonso XIII. At the turn of the century, Spain was at a crossroads. It could either regress, into a conservative Catholic monarchy, or become a more liberal constitutional government. But the King facing those challenges was entirely unequipped to rise to the occasion, and his cloistered and limited worldview would allow Spain to fall into chaos and then worse. Support Noble Blood:— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon— Merch!— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Vodam. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot.

But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, The cat just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and grim and mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. Usually, the Spanish Royal Guard played music during royal proceedings. But on May 17, 1886, the palace in Madrid was silent. The guard had been dismissed early that day. Not only was there no music,

the royal family had actually ordered that the streets next to the palace be sanded down so that passing carriages wouldn't make too much noise. It might seem like overkill to change city infrastructure for just one day, but the Queen of Spell, Maria Christina of Bourbon, wife of King Alfonso XI, 12th, was going into labor for the birth of her third child, and they didn't want to take any chances.

The Bourbons had been struggling for more than half a century to produce a male heir to the throne. Let's flash back 50 years before this silent birth, back to Queen Isabella II, who was born in 18th, 3rd. She was the only daughter of King Ferdinand the 7th, but since succession laws prevented women from inheriting the throne, Isabella was never supposed to rule Spain. But her father never had a son, and so to ensure that their bloodline remained in control, the king changed the laws at the last minute, making Isabella the second the first and only queen regnant in the history. of Spain, back when she was just three years old. As you might imagine, that was a controversial move. The late King's brother, Don Carlos, wanted to rule instead of his niece. He thought that Isabella's reign indicated that the country was becoming too liberal, not just because her father had abruptly changed the succession laws on her behalf, but also because as Isabella grew up,

She supported Spain separating from the Catholic Church and becoming a constitutional monarchy. In this political context, Carlos, Isabella's uncle, represented a conservative traditional alternative. His supporters, naming themselves Carlists, formed a militant far-right group that tried to violently overthrow Isabella three times over the course. course of the 19th century. While the carlists did not succeed, a group of moderates, frustrated with Isabella waffling between liberal and conservative policies, did eventually send Isabella into exile. It's never a great sign when a moderate party spearheads a coup. Under Isabella, Spain had been a disaster, with a huge federal defile. growing economic inequality, and near-constant

peasant uprisings and civil war. The following king only lasted three years before getting fed up by the constant crises. Meanwhile, progressives began wondering if Spain should have a monarchy at all. In 1873, after the king stepped down, the legislature declared Spain a republic. The problem was that no one could agree on how this republic would work. The situation was so chaotic that the president left in the middle of a workday to go for a walk in the park, which turned into him boarding a train to Paris and ghosting the Spanish government altogether. So Spain decided to give the monarchy thing another try,

and they installed Isabella II's son Alfonso the 12th as king. And so now we're caught up. After a near century of coups and crises and various existential threats to the Spanish monarchy, Alfonso the 12th was king and he needed to produce a male heir as quickly as possible. His first wife died of typhoid almost immediately after their honeymoon, and he proposed to his second wife, Maria Christina, just four months later. He didn't seem thrilled about it. He allegedly told his closest advisor Pepe Ocosio,

You don't like her? Neither do I. After they got married, Alfonso XIV and Maria Christina had a daughter, much to the court's chagrin. A Frenchman in the royal court sent Maria Christina a letter advising her on best practices to conceive a baby boy. He included extremely graphic descriptions about what Alfonso and Maria Christina should be doing with their genitalia, using a metaphor about how the Grand Turk should enter Constantinople. We don't know if she took his advice, but either way it didn't work. She had another daughter in 1882.

Worse yet, just three years later, Alfonso the 12th was dying of tuberculosis, so he was running out of time to produce a male heir. He was well aware of the dire political consequences of his death. His alleged last words were, The conflict, the conflict. But there was a lot of the conflict. a glimmer of hope. Maria Christina was pregnant. Six months after Alfonso the 12th's death,

a cadre of political ministers waited in the palace while Maria Christina was in labor. The streets outside the palace sanded into silence. Now you understand why they were taking no risks with this baby's birth. If Maria Christina had a boy, she should, could keep the monarchy going for another generation. If not, Spain might be thrust back into political turmoil with no clear path out. Finally, while the nation waited, a government official brought out the newborn on a literal silver platter with a red velvet cushion. The official removed a handkerchief which covered the infant's body and revealed that this baby was a boy.

Maria Christina named him Alfonso the 13th after his late father with the knowledge that this boy would become king. A telegram was sent out throughout the nation proclaiming that, quote, tranquility has been completed in all of space. This tranquility wouldn't last long. From the moment he was born, Alfonso the 13th was expected to bring together two opposing parties with opposing visions of what Spain could be. On the one hand, far-right groups like the Carlists wanted Spain to remain a conservative, Catholic imperial power with a strong monarchy. On the other hand, progressives and anarchists wanted to form a more democratic secular government. If Alfonso succeeded in unifying the nation, he would allow the Spanish monarchy to survive.

Otherwise, he would end up like his grandmother, Isabella II, reviled by both the right and the left, and cast into exile. The stakes were impossibly high for a baby king. I'm Danish Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood. True to the volatile political moment, Alfonso the 13th's upbringing at the end of the 19th century was full of contradictions. He was raised to be both spoiled and obedient, mercurial and thoughtful, liberal and conservative. The French newspaper LaFiguero described the young king in 1889 as the happiest and best-loved of all the rulers of the earth. As the future king of Spain, he was doted on by the court, especially by his aunt Isabel. She lived by the maxim, you have to do whatever the king orders, and made this an official protocol for the court.

According to the scholar Xavier Casals, this culture made the little king a capricious and spoiled person, who cursed at his family members and courtiers if they didn't do what he wanted. But spoiled as he might have been, Alfonso was already feeling the pressure to live up to impossibly high expectations. Alfonso was in his late father's shadows. When he was just two years old, the Spanish legislature expressed their desire for the little king's upbringing to compensate for the, quote, immense sorrow and anxiety that the nation has felt for the death of his august father. So Alfonso's mother, Maria Christina, tried to give little Alfonso the same intense military education that his father had received. when he was growing up. Little Alfonso the 13th got up every morning at 7.30, took classes, practiced horsemanship, and took bracing walks in the mountains before returning to the palace for tea.

In the afternoons, he took fencing classes and did military training with other aristocrats, with mini rifles that fit in their small hands. As Alfonso got older, he started playing polo against other politicians and ministers, most famously young Winston Churchill. But for the most part, according to the politician and writer, Fernando Saldivia, it was a highly reclusive life, entirely cut off from the people.

That gave some politicians and journalists pause. Alfonso's military education turned him into a devout Catholic who loved uniforms and parades. He was becoming a relic from the past, rather than a progressive monarch all set for the new 20th century. At the same time, Alfonso was just a teenager. People's politics of all a lot over the course of their young adulthood. Mine certainly did. I thought I knew everything at 20. Alfonso's mother and his late father and grandmother were all committed to upholding a relatively progressive monarchy,

and there was no reason to think that Alfonso would do anything much differently. In 1902, on his 16th birthday, Alfonso officially took the throne, swearing to uphold a constitution, which was only about a decade older than he was. On that day, the streets of Madrid looked as though they were out of another era. The center of the city had garlands, flags, and palm fronds flying from the balconies. At night, businesses, ministries, and wealthy residents paid for electrical lights to illuminate the city. At the coronation, Alfonso gave a short, if unremarkable speech. He later wrote in his diary,

I did not think I could take any chances. Now that he was officially king, the pressure was on for him to marry and produce a male heir of his own. In 1904, the Prime Minister of Spain, Antonio Maur, appointed himself Alfonso the 13th's marriage wingman. Even though a Spanish monarch hadn't set foot in England for three and a half centuries, Maura had decided that Alfonso's wife should be British, since a royal wedding would be a great way to repair the relationship between Spain and England.

Moreover, England, with a relatively stable modern monarchy, would be a model for what Spain's monarchy wanted to be. The French ambassador to Spain said to Maura, a young English princess would bring here the ways of life and the independence of spirit that would modify the mores of a somewhat old-fashioned court. And so, Maura reached out to a few English aristocrats, collecting photos of their daughters to present to Alfonso.

Maurer's top picks were Patricia and Victoria Eugenia of Brattenberg, as they were, quote, prettier and more likable than the other candidates. Upon visiting England, Alfonso was smitten with the younger Brattenberg, Victoria Eugenia. Victoria Eugenia, familiarly known as Ena, was blonde with blue eyes and a rosy complexion. She was cheerful and shy. She was also not quite as taken with the young king as he was of her. She acknowledged that he was, quote, very happy, very nice, but that he was, quote, not handsome. She seemed to grow more fond of Alfonso over time. In her postcards from 1905 to 1906, she shifts from identifying herself as a friend to using the word love to address him.

Less than a year after they met, they were engaged to be wed. There was no reason to think that this royal wedding would be any different from the coronation, which went off without a hitch. After the ceremony at the Royal Monastery of San Geronimo, the royal procession, waved through the streets of Madrid with every balcony draped with red and yellow cloth, meant to represent the national flag. But then, as the royal couple's royal carriage passed the Italian embassy on Caye Mayor, a bomb detonated. A news crew filming the procession caught the tragedy on film. You can see the royal carriage rounding the corner before a puff of smoke clouds the screen.

The footage cuts abruptly to the wreckage. The carriage toppled over. The crowd desperately trying to escape. The light from the bomb momentarily blinded the couple, but they emerged unscathed. The bomb had gone off right between the last row of the carriage's horses, between the horses and the carriage where the couple was sitting. Had it been any closer, it probably would have killed them. Not everyone was as fortunate as the royal couple. The bomb injured over 100 people and killed 24, including the guardsmen who had been riding right beside Ina.

Blood soaked the trim of her wedding dress. That's how close he was. The couple was ushered into another carriage to flee the carnage. They could hear the screams of the crowd as they drove away toward the safety of the palace. It turned out that this terrorist attack was part of a growing, anarchist anti-monarchy movement centralized in Barcelona. The man that threw the bomb was a Gaunt

Catalan anarchist named Mateo Moral. This wasn't the first time he had been involved in an attempt to assassinate Alfonso. Just one year earlier, Alfonso had stopped in Paris on a diplomatic mission on the way to meet Inna in England for the first time. As Alfonso returned from a night at the opera, a group of terrorists, which many scholars think likely included Moral,

detonated a bomb in a park nearby, which injured 12 people, but didn't hurt the king. Right before the royal wedding, Moral had checked into a hotel on Kaye-Meyor, requesting a room overlooking the street. He concealed a bomb in a bouquet of flowers and tossed it from his window

on the third floor as the royal carriage passed by. Moral took his own life after fleeing the scene, so his exact intentions remain unclear. But the terrorist attack seemed more like an expression of a vague, inchoate desire for revolution than part of a specific political strike. And it failed. Alfonso and Enna survived and would continue to rule over Spain well into the 20th century. But this event was an omen of what was to come. While Alfonso was taking fencing lessons and sending postcards to his English fiancée, he was mostly insulated from Spain's continued political turmoil. The bombing on his wedding day made one thing clear. Alfonso and the monarchy had passionate enemies.

He may have started out as the beloved royal baby, but now he was king and king of one of the most unstable countries in Europe, and all of the fencing lessons in the world couldn't prepare him for political chaos to come. The tragedy at Alfonso and Ina's wedding, became a grim omen for their relationship. Under the harsh pressures of royal life,

their marriage started to sour. The first problem was that Ina didn't seem to like Spain very much. She hadn't yet learned Spanish, and she seemed baffled by the customs of the Spanish court. There weren't any hotels in Madrid where her guests could stay, so they had to stay in the houses of random officials. nearby. The palace had no central heating, which made rooms often musty and cold, and Alfonso's secretary was in the habit of spitting directly on the floor, which Ina thought was disgusting.

The second problem came when Ina and Alfonso had their first child. Ena, a descendant of Queen Victoria, was a carrier for haemophilia, a hereditary disease that can cause profuse, sometimes spontaneous, bleeding, and can prevent blood from clotting. Hemophilia generally expresses in men, but is carried by women, creating potential issues in producing a healthy male air. Starting in 1907, Ina had six children in seven years. Her eldest and youngest sons were both hemophiliacs, and her two daughters were carriers for the disease, but she had two sons which were spared. Alfonso had been aware that Ina could be a carrier when they got married, but he decided to take the risk.

Even so, Alfonso came to resent. his wife for ruining the clear line of dynastic succession and making it harder to marry off their daughters. Alfonso wrote in a diary, quote, I am not resigned to the fact that my heir has contracted a disease that my wife's family has brought and not mine. I know I'm unfair, I admit it, but I cannot feel otherwise. end quote. As the years passed, the couple started to see each other less and less. The queen took frequent trips to England alone or left for Malaga with her children and her mother, and left Alfonso in Madrid.

Meanwhile, Alfonso's political career was off to a rocky start. His neutrality during World War I won him praise, especially from his. his old polo buddy Winston Churchill. Because of his humanitarian efforts during the First World War, Alfonso became the first and only monarch to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Domestically, though, things weren't going nearly as well. Alfonso's relationship with Antonio Moura, the Prime Minister who acted as Alfonso's marital wingman back in 1904, was Strain. Political unrest exploded in Barcelona as the result of an anarchist pro-republic movement, similar to the group that fueled the terrorist attack at Alfonso's wedding.

After a general strike and a series of anti-clerical protests, Maura sent in troops, who killed 104 civilians and imprisoned 1,700. Then, Maura executed the beloved anarchist leader and educator, Francisco Ferrer Guardia, for spearheading the riots, despite having no evidence that actually proved he had spearheaded the riots. Maura lost so much goodwill as a result that he was forced to resign. With all of this chaos in the legislature, Alfonso became a more and more powerful figure in Spanish politics. He could dissolve Parliament and appoint ministers at will, allowing him to manipulate the government from behind the scenes. And recall that time in 1873, when Spain had gotten rid of the monarchy and then reinstalled a king again a year later?

Well, when Spain brought the monarchy back after that brief hiatus, the government gave the king control over the army. me. So by this point, Alfonso had the legislature and the military under his control, and he was completely rolling back the liberal reforms that his grandmother Isabella had set into motion almost a century ago. This was exactly what progressives had been worried about when Alfonso was an eight-year-old receiving a Catholic military education and learning to use a child-sized musket. In keeping with his incredibly traditional upbringing,

Alfonso the 13th seemed more enamored with bringing Spain back to the past than bringing it toward a better future. It turns out the progressives were very right to work. When Alfonso had ascended the throne at age 16, Spain was still thought of as a world power. In spite of the political turmoil domestically, Spain in the 19th century had a vast empire, with strongholds in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. But just two years later, at the end of the Spanish-American War, Spain had lost almost all of its colonies.

military leaders who had suffered crushing defeats in the Spanish-American War wanted to find opportunities to expand colonial control and regain Spain's former glory. They set their sights on Morocco, where Spain already had a few military outposts. Conquering Morocco was unpopular among politicians and civilians, who thought such an invasion would be pointless, expensive, and distracting. But Alfonso the 13th sympathized with the desire to restore Spain's imperial dominance. While Alfonso didn't introduce or spearhead the idea, as leader of the military, he became the face of the movement. The position majorly backfired. A few years into the attempted conquest, a general had expressed some reservations to Alfonso about continuing to advance up the reef

mountains in northern Morocco. Alfonso assured the general that he shouldn't retreat, sending him a telegram that said, hurrah for real men. The battle that followed, was the bloodiest yet, resulting in the death of 3,000 Spanish soldiers. Alfonso was reportedly playing golf in the south of France when someone told him about the crushing defeat. He allegedly responded, Goose bumps are expensive. That sounds a little awkward translated into English, but he was basically calling the soldiers cowards and,

complaining about the financial burden of them being cowardly soldiers, rather than expressing concern for the many lives that were lost. This was Alfonso the 13th's Let Them Eat Cake Moment, where the public tore him to shreds for his callousness in the face of tragedy. And like Let Them Eat Cake, there's actually no proof that Alfonso actually said, the phrase that he became infamous for. According to a French ambassador, Alfonso instead complained about being surrounded by chicken brains. But no matter what he said, Alfonso and the war that he

came to represent had never been less popular. Parliament began an investigation into the Battle of Anuel to take the military to task for the brutal loss. Fearing the consequences of that investigation, a high-ranking military official named Miguel Primo de Rivera staged a coup to overthrow the Spanish legislature and set up a dictatorship in 1923. Alfonso didn't spearhead the coup, but he didn't shut it down either. As Primo de Rivera and his army invaded Barcelona, Alfonso expressed his support for the new regime and sat down with the dictator a few days later

to discuss the division of their powers. With that, Spain seemed further than ever from being a democratic republic. Primo de Rivera struck down the constitution that Alfonso had sworn in on and completely dissolved the legislature. Spanish politicians, both conservative and progressive, had hoped for a day when the constant coup that had defined the 19th century

would finally come to an end. Not only did these violent coups continue during Alfonso's reign in the 20th century, but now Alfonso was supporting them. That said, there was a way in which Alfonso's rule succeeded in modernizing the Spanish government. On a trip to Rome, Alfonso made a telling comment to the king of Italy. He called Primo de Rivera my Mussolini. The comparison was apt. A year before Primo de Rivera took control of Spain, Mussolini had staged a nearly identical coup in Italy, invading Rome with the Italian king's blessing.

Alfonso was not going to be the harbinger of democracy. Instead, he was setting Spain up for a different kind of 20th century government. Fascism. Like all attempts at establishing a stable government in Spain in the early 20th century, Primo de Rivera's dictatorship failed. Primo de Rivera promised to bring Spain back to normal, but the economy had collapsed and two unsuccessful coups later, the country was still in shambles. Prima de Rivera retired in 1930 and Alfonso the 13th replaced him with another dictator, Damasco Beringer.

This time, Alfonso wanted to try to go back to how things had been before Primo de Rivera took power in 1923. Alfonso aimed to reinstall the Constitution, set up parliament, and introduce elections back to Spain. Unfortunately for Alfonso, it wasn't that simple. His attempt to consolidate political power over the course of his rule had blown up in his face. Alfonso naively thought that by exerting more and more control over the government, he would be able to single-handedly bring Spain to a place of stability and prosperity. After all, that was his birthright, what he had been told his entire life that he was expected to do. Instead, the more power he took, the less institutional support he had for his rule.

Without a constitution, legislature, or strong centralized government, there were no structures through which Alfonso could express or reinforce political power. All he had, to legitimize his reign, in other words, was the amorphous idea that he was a king. As the monarchy's power shriveled before their eyes, progressives wondered, like they had back in 1873, whether the monarchy was altogether irrelevant. For the first time in 50 years, a Republican government seemed like a viable option. A coalition of socialists took advantage of the opportunity and planned a municipal election in 1931, where the public would vote on whether or not Spain should have a monarchy.

After counting the results of the referendum, they found that 41 out of 50 provinces, voted to install a republic, ending Alfonso's rule. Alfonso fled the country that very night. Alfonso met up with his wife and seven children's in Paris, where he tried to make amends for having not quite been a family man. But after just a few days of living together, Ina was fed up with Alfonso. Everything he did got on her nerves from his lack of,

of interest in reading or music to his bad breath. Finally, she told him, I'm leaving, I don't want to see your ugly face anymore. Ina left for London, and the two would never live in the same city again. So here he was, Alfonso was alone, stripped of his power, and unwelcome in the country he had devoted his life to. In a twisted way, Alfonso succeeded in bringing about a constitutional democracy by running the monarchy into the ground. That said, while the monarchy itself had dissolved, the symbolic role that Alfonso had been expected to play didn't.

In the 1930s, many people still longed for a military hero that would save the country. It was the same thing the nation had longed for when Alfonso was born, a symbol of the greatness of their nation incarnate in a single person. But this time, that figure wouldn't be a king. He would be a fascist. After three years of civil war, Francisco Franco came into power in 1939, officially establishing fascism in Spain. Franco and Alfonso the 13th were politically aligned. Franco started out his military career fighting to conquer Morocco in the 1920s, one of Alfonso's pet projects. Franco became the youngest officer to be promoted to general, and he credited that war with his political awakening. But in practice, Franco and Alfonso were, if you forgive the term, frenomime.

Franco called himself a royalist and aligned himself with conservatives who believed in the divine right of kings. Franco had a long, cordial correspondence with Alfonso the 13th who was in exile, where Franco assured him that he would restore the monarchy eventually. But behind Alfonso's back, Franco talked about Alfonso as a relic of yesteryear and a political liability. After a few years of Franco stringing him along, Alfonso realized that Franco was never going to restore his power. He officially abdicated the throne in 1941. While Franco called himself a royalist, he had one issue with the monarchy.

It prevented him from achieving absolute power. So he stripped the monarchy for parts and reconstructed, it to justify his dictatorship. He moved into the royal palace and wore the captain general's uniform, just like Alfonso had. He conducted official business under a canopy as if he were sitting on a throne. He created coins with his face on them, embossed with a title usually reserved for kings. Francisco Franco, leader of Spain by the grace of God. Like Alfonso, Franco did not create a system of government that could survive him. He kept his promise of reinstating the monarchy, albeit decades later.

Franco decided that after his death, Alfonso the 13th's grandson, Juan Carlos I was the king of Spain, and Juan Carlos remains the king in Spain to this day. Alfonso's legacy is a complicated one. While you could probably correctly argue that Alfonso opened the door for fascism in Spain, what makes his legacy so complicated is that he didn't actually do that much. He had an ambiguous role in the political crises that defined his rule, like the war in Morocco and the series of dictatorships, that started with Prima de Rivera and ended with Franco.

But it's hard to know exactly how much responsibility to ascribe to Alfonso. Alfonso did not unify Spain, but he also didn't destroy it. Seeing this as a success or a failure reveals much more about what we expect of monarchs, especially monarchs in the 20th century, than anything specific about Alfonso or his decisions. Alfonso's story lays bare the power of these expectations for the monarchy. Nostalgia for the old Spain, as well as the hope that a single person might fix a whole country, buoyed Alfonso's rule through decades of turmoil,

but it also created such a high bar that he could never live up to it. Franco exploited those dreams of unification in order to remake the monarchy in his own image. And these romantic visions of history, of dynastic power and nationalism, still keep monarchy alive in the 21st century. Alfonso the 13th reminds us that monarchy is not inevitable. It needs us more than we need it. And being a good king requires more than doing nothing, but letting people grow accustomed to the feeling of a single nationalist hero who takes care of everything. That's the story of Alfonso the 13th.

But stick around after a brief sponsor break to hear how Alfonso actually inspired a writer to create the Spanish tooth fairy. I know this is a left turn from fascism, but it's a great story. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely, on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot.

He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot in luck. Listen to Thanks, Dad, on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent.

He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar. of, you know, the cat just hang in there.

Yeah, it would not be... Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1894, when Alfonza the 13th was just eight years old, he lost his first tooth. This may not seem like a big deal, but this is the boy king we're talking about. So to celebrate the occasion, Alfonso's mother, Maria Christina, commissioned the writer Luis Coloma to write a story. Coloma seemed like a slightly unusual choice for the role.

He was a Jesuit priest, who at the time was most famous for writing an explosive novel that satirized the Spanish upper class. But Maria Christina was familiar with him from his time as a spiritual advisor. to the crown, and he had already tried his hand at writing a book of children's stories. Coloma decided to base his story on a folk tale that had been circulating orally throughout Spain in the 19th century, about a clever mouse that leaves a coin under a child's pillow in exchange for a lost tooth, just like the tooth fairy. Coloma named his mouse Ratoncito Perez, and set the story in Madrid on the streets surrounding the palace,

so the environment would feel familiar to the young Alfonso. Ratoncito Perez lived with his family in a cookie box from the famous very real Prost Confectionary, which was just a few blocks away from the palace and frequently supplied sweet treats to the young king. The story tells of a boy king named King Bubby, Bubby being Maria Christina's nickname for Alfonso, who loses his first tooth. While the court suggests that they gild of the tooth and save it in the royal treasury,

the king's mother has Bubby write a letter to Ratoncito Perez, just like any normal child would do. So he does just that and stays up late, hoping to meet the mouse himself. Sure enough, Ratoncito Perez arrives, wearing tiny gold glasses and a straw hat. The two become best friends and go on an adventure, leaving coins for children across the city and avoiding Madrid's most notorious cats along the way. This is where Luis Coloma's sharp criticism of the Spanish bourgeoisie ultimately emerges. Ratoncito Perez takes King Bubi to both rich and poor household. explaining to him that as king, he must use his wealth and power to improve the lives of those less fortunate than him. The tale was published in a collection of children's stories in 1902, and the tradition of leaving a tooth under one's pillow for Ratoncito Perez spread throughout Spain, as well as Central and Latin America.

There is a bronze plaque on Cayenne al in Madrid, marking the spot where Ratoncito Perez was said to live. The only time the Madrid City Council has officially recognized a fictional character. Noble Blood is a production of I-Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is created and hosted by me, Dana Schwartz, with additional, writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The show is edited and produced by Noamie Griffin and Rima Il Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thane and executive producers Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, visit the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite.

shows. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Vodom. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.