Noble Blood - The Princess Onstage at the Moulin Rouge

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

Clara Ward was a "dollar princess" from Michigan who married a Belgian prince. But her adventurous spirit soon had her eloping with a Hungarian musician and she lives a life that scandalized and captivated Europe in equal measure. Support Noble Blood:— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon— 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. This is Amy Rovock alongside T.J. Holmes from the Amy and T.J. Podcast. And there is so much news, information, commentary coming at you all day and from all over the place. What's fact? What's fake? And sometimes what the F. So let's cut the crap, okay? Follow the Amy and T.J. podcast, a one-stop news and pop culture shop to get you caught up and on with your day. And listen to Amy and T. T.J. on the TV. And listen to Amy and T. the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. This episode begins in Paris, the most romantic city in the world. It's the end of the 19th century, the heyday of nightclubs like the Moulin Rouge and the Follé Berger. It's a typical night at one of those clubs. patrons arrive decked out in their finest, ready to be entertained, titillated, and lightly scandalized. The lights dim and the show begins. This performance is a double act, a pair of performers

with two extremely different skill sets. First, a handsome man takes the stage and begins to play the violin. He's mesmerizing, his music of evoking the hills of a distant land. As he plays, a woman joins him on stage. Certain members of the audience gasp with initial surprise. Is this woman nude? But on closer look, the woman is in fact clothed, wearing a form-fitting dress that leaves little to the imagination. Her movements are strange, heightened, as if she's doing a series of mannequin poses. The combined effect of the music and the poses is electrifying, as is the connection between the man and woman on stage. Their chemistry is undeniable, amplified by the sensual nature of the

performance. If they weren't famous, and they are very famous, audience members would surely be leaning into each other to confirm if their dates were also picking up on the clear vibes in the room. The whole production feels exciting and new. The crowd is entranced. It feels like they're getting away with something just by being here. But then, in the blink of an eye, the spell is broken. A man stands up and yells, I forbid this performance in the name of the law. Folks look around. Is there a chance this man is part of the act? But he most definitely is not. He's a police officer, acting on the authority of a Belgian prince.

The woman on stage in the skimpy outfit and the goo-goo eyes for her stage partner, she's that prince's ex-wife and the mother of his children, the former princess of She-May. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this. This is Noble Blood. When historian Michael Nagel was working on his book, The Forgotten Iron King of the Great Lakes, about Iber Brock Ward, the 19th century industrialist and Detroit's first millionaire, his research took him all the way to Belgium.

There he visited Shimei Castle, the home of Ward's former in-laws. For a time, Iber Ward's daughter, Clara, had been married to a prince of Shimei. When Nagel asked about Clara, the castle's current resident, said plenty without saying much at all. We don't talk about her, said the 92-year-old Princess Elizabeth de Chameh. The family did not appreciate the way she behaved. According to the then-princess, Clara was, quote, very pretty, but she was fast. Clara Ward, the dancing enchantress from that fateful night at the Moulon Rouge, was a socialite heiress turned princess, turned ex-princess, turned nightclub performer,

who lived large and left a slew of husbands and lovers in her wake. She inherited her father's determination and ingenuity, but she found a very different outlet for those characteristics. Clara was born in 1873 to Iber Brock Ward and his second wife, Catherine, who was 30 years his junior. Clara had little time with her father. He died when Clara was only two, and conflict quickly broke out over what would happen to his fortune. On one side, Catherine Clara and Clara's brother. On the other side, Ward's seven children from his first marriage. Eventually, the bulk of Ward's estate went to his very young widow and his second wave of children, including Clara.

Catherine took the money and her children and ran to the East Coast to make her way in New York, and probably to escape the wrath of those seven angry Ward children who inherited the family home, but little else. Catherine remarried within a few years, this time to a Canadian millionaire. This meant moving the whole family to Canada, but Clara wouldn't be there for long. From an early age, Clara was known for her beauty and her high spirits. She was an heiress with very little concept of money. She was generous with what she had, but also took whatever she wanted, seeing everything around her as some sort of free-flowing exchange in the way you can when you've never really had to think about money. The rules didn't apply to Clara Ward, much to the

chagrin of her teachers. School was a straight jacket for Clara, and she rebelled accordingly. She was kicked out of multiple schools. She was devilishly smart and spoke at least five languages, but she was also a spoiled child without a code of ethics. There was always another school happy to take her family's money, but there wasn't a school on earth that would have been right for Clara. As she grew up, the pressures of adulthood loomed large. At one school, Clara wrote in her diary, quote, The humdrum life is not for me. I must feel, must have emotions, ordinary marriage, and smug respectability appalled me. I feel that it would be a joy to marry a murderer, end quote. She made good on her promise to live an extraordinary life, but thankfully stopped short of

marrying a murderer, at least that we know of. By the time Clara turned 16, her mother's wanderlust had kicked in as well. Catherine was ready to leave Canada, so she left her second husband behind in Toronto and moved to Paris, her beautiful but rebellious daughter in tow. There Catherine opened up the salon and enrolled Clara in yet another boarding school. French schools were no better match for Clara, so Catherine set out to do the next logical thing, find her daughter a good husband. Catherine and Clara traveled throughout Europe, looking for a suitable match. A wealthy man from a good family wasn't enough for Catherine.

Clara was an heiress. Catherine wanted her daughter to have a title. If you've watched the Gilded Age or listened to our earlier episode on American Dollar Princesses, you might already know that this was a common occurrence during this period. Wealthy young American women being married off to Europeans, heavy with nobility and prestige but light in liquid assets. Clara needed legitimacy and elevation in her social standing. Her husband would need money to repair a crumbling old mansion.

Sounds romantic, doesn't it? It did to Prince Joseph de Karaman Chimei of Belgium. The 32-year-old nobleman was a cousin of King Leopold II, with an impressive pedigree matched only by his mountain of debt. He saw Clara one night when she attended the opera in Nice with her mother. Reportedly, the whole audience turned to stare at the young woman as she entered the theater. Joseph was captivated by her beauty or by her obvious wealth, or more likely by some combination of the two.

Regardless of the reason he made his move, and the two were married in Paris in May of 1890, one month before Clara turned 17. Initially, Clara resisted the union. She did not love Joseph, who was twice her age, but Catherine was determined. After all, Catherine was a woman who married a wealthy man 30 years older than she was, and then successfully made off with her stepchildren's inheritance.

For all of Clara's small-time teenage rebellion, there was never a chance that she'd win this war against her mother. But marriage would not change Clara Ward. If anything, it only strengthened her drive to live an unconventional life. In a short time, the confines of marriage would prove as unbearable for Clara as the confines of boarding school. At 16 years old, Claire Ward became Princess de Karaman Chimei overnight, joining the ranks of American dollar princesses who exchanged their fortunes for European titles. She paid off her new husband's massive debts, then put a large chunk of money towards fixing up the family home, a crumbling castle named Chateau de Chamee. The couple settled down in Chimey, and real life began to creep in. Joseph kept himself busy with hunting.

Clara gave birth to two children, but quickly grew restless and bored. The brash American princess who rejected tradition was a hit with the public, but not so much with the aristocracy. They resented her free-spirited nature and refusal to fall in line and behave herself. there were rumors of affairs, which didn't seem to bother her husband. She would later describe Joseph as a good man but, quote, cold as ice. But eventually the other man in Clara's life became too big to ignore. King Leopold II at that point in his 60s made his affections for Clara quite clear, as she stated in a later interview, quote,

From the very first moment that I arrived in Brussels, King Leopold showered me with attentions. By his favoritism, the jealousy and hatred of the entire court was aroused against me. I defied them, as I have all my life defied everyone. The attentions of the king were pleasing to me, and I encouraged them. End quote. By 1896, the situation in Belgium had become untenable, with Clara finding herself, in her own words, quote, a social pariah.

So the family packed up and moved to Paris. Perhaps Joseph thought this would calm his wife, but it had the opposite effect. Clara, now just 23 years old, threw herself into the city's endless parade of parties drinking and dancing. She quickly earned a reputation as the most riotous American in town. One night, Clara and Joseph were dancing at the Cafe Goyard, an exclusive nightclub. A violin player was going from table to table, playing for the guests. It's unclear the exchange that happened that night between Clara and the musician, a charming Hungarian man named Janshi Rigo.

But ten days later, the two ran away together. As you might expect, the press lost. their minds. They had been following Clara's unconventional life for years, but a princess abandoning her children to elope with a Romani musician. This was the story of the century, and they chased the new couple from Paris to Budapest, documenting every scandalous detail. Prince Joseph, who had turned a blind eye to so much of his wife's behavior, apparently had his limits. He filed for divorce and won custody of the children. Clara was ordered to pay $15,000 a year in alimony, which she seemed happy to do.

I am done with it all, she declared, I want to be free. And free she was. Clara and the musician Yanchi married as soon as her divorce was final, and they quickly jumped into a lavish, chaotic life. A few years prior, Clara had come into a $3 million trust, about $100 million in today's dollars, and she wasted no time in spending her hefty allowance. The couple traveled the world, Clara showering her new husband with gifts that included a white marble palace in Egypt and a zoo full of exotic animals.

The press followed their every move reporting on. on dramatic fights and mountains of debt. Before long, Clara's family intervened, and her uncle was made conservator of her estate. The money tap began to run dry, and for the first time in her life, Clara had to find a way to support herself. She and her new husband returned to Paris,

where Clara decided to lean into their public personas and capitalize on their new fame. Clara posed for photographs, both solo and with her new husband. In some of the pictures, she wore a bodysuit so tight it created the illusion of nudity. These images sold and spread like wildfire in Paris, until the police shut down their distribution at Prince Joseph's request. Undeterred, Clara pivoted to advertising, allowing her portrait to be used to sell. everything, from cigarettes to bicycles to postcards. Clara and Yanchi became masters of publicity, feeding the press exactly what it craved. The Hungarian violinist was a gift to newspaper editors.

His Romani heritage, combined with his musical talent and undeniable charisma, made him the perfect romantic figure. I obviously won't be using the G-sler. I obviously won't be using the G-sler in this episode, but as I'm sure you can imagine, it was being thrown around quite liberally in this day. Here was the, quote, exotic musician who had stolen a princess from her palace, a story that practically wrote itself. The pair hit the nightclub circuit, with Yanshi playing the violin, while Clara performed which she called poses plastiques. Sensuous tabloes that she would hold while her husband accompanied her. She earned big money for these shows and booked residencies across Europe. It was brilliant, it was scandalous, and it brings us full circle to that electric night at the Moulin Rouge, where we began

our story. Clara Ward, the rebellious heiress who defied boarding schools, Belgian courts, and social conventions, was now literally center stage. turning her notoriety into cold, hard cash. But even this new chapter of Clara's life would be complicated by the men from her past. Prince Joseph put up with a lot from his ex-wife, but the mother of his children, spicy dancing with her new husband in front of a paying crowd,

was where he drew the line. He let his feelings be known in a way he knew would speak to his wife, dramatically in full view of the public. The shutdown of Clara's theatrical career marked the beginning of the end for her second marriage, though it would take a little time for the cracks to fully show. Reports began surfacing about private performances she would give for wealthy clients. The exact nature of these shows remains unclear, but they were lucrative enough. to keep her in the lifestyle she'd grown accustomed to, and controversial enough to infuriate her husband.

The passionate romance that had once set Europe ablaze was curdling into something uglier. Stories appeared of screaming matches that could be heard through walls. Whispers of infidelity followed them from city to city, and by 1903, newspapers were already reporting that Clara had grown tired of her fiddle player. The divorce came in 1904, ending a relationship that started on a wild note and just kept getting wilder from there. But Clara Ward was not one to remain single for long. Within months of her divorce while traveling in Italy, Clara met her next romantic conquest at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Giuseppe Ricciardi was working the twilight. The tourist railway that wound its way up the famous volcano. But accounts differ on whether he was a ticket

agent, waiter, or baggage handler. But his exact job title hardly mattered. He was 22 and handsome. Clara was 31 and infatuated. They were married within three months of meeting. The marriage lasted seven years before Giuseppe filed for divorce in 1911, claiming his wife was having an affair with their butler. Clara denied the accusations vehemently, but her actions post-divorce don't do much to back up her claims. No sooner was she free that she married again, this time to a man named Abano Castellado. The timing raised eyebrows, as did Castellado's profession. He was described in various reports as either a chauffeur or, rather pointedly, a butler. Was he the same butler, Giuseppe accused her of carrying on with?

That's the thing about Clara Ward. Anything is possible. However outlandish the rumors and theories about her were, the truth was guaranteed to be even juicier. Clara and her new husband, Abano, settled in northern Italy, and this fourth marriage would turn out to be her last. Details about their life together are sparse, as the woman who had once commanded headlines across two continents, began to fade from public view.

In 1916 at 43 years old, Clara Ward died of pneumonia and their village in Padua. Her family back home in America learned of her death, not from official channels, but from a letter, written by Abano himself. Claire Ward packed more drama, romance, and scandal into her 43 years than most people could manage in several lifetimes.

Was she reckless? Sure, but she had the means and ability to follow her heart, and she followed the hell out of it, for better or for worse. She had loved passionately, spent recklessly, and refused to be contained by the expectations of her time. Around the time of her third marriage, a prominent psychologist took it upon himself to write an article titled The Erratic Erotic Princess Chimei,

a psychological analysis. In the article, the doctor, who never treated Clara, diagnosed her as being an, quote, aeropath with a, quote, limitless financial abuse, for self-indulgence. He recommended medication and commitment to a sanitarium to treat her alarming behavior. But I think we can see now that her, quote, alarming behavior would have probably just raised some eyebrows, but nonetheless been acceptable, were she a man? Certainly not fodder for an unsolicited medical diagnosis. As Nagel says in his book, quote, a strong individual

woman, Clara left the husband she did not love and chose to live her life on her own terms. She did not care about contravening the social norms of the era in which she lived. These actions showed a similarity to traits her father possessed and demonstrated throughout his professional career. While Clara was not driven to create a business empire like her father, she created a kingdom based upon her own set of rules, regardless of the expectations of society. Clara's goal was to live a life of excitement on her own terms. And quote, whether you see Clara Ward as a tragic figure or a flawed figure or a triumphant one probably depends on how you measure a life well lived, in an era when women typically have

had few choices, Clara Ward took her privilege and insisted on her independence, regardless of what it cost her. The humdrum life is not for me, she had written in her schoolgirl diary. We must assume that the teenager would look at the life she did live and be proud. That's the story of Clara Ward, but keep listening after a brief sponsor break for a bit more about her delicious legacy. Hey there, folks. Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes here. And we know there is a lot of news coming at you these days from the war with Iran to the ongoing Epstein fallout, government shutdowns, high-profile trials, and what the hell is that Blake lively thing about anyway?

We are on it every day, all day. Follow us, Amy and T.J. for news updates throughout the day. Listen to Amy and T.J. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey there, folks, Amy Robach and TJ Holmes here. And we know there is a lot of news coming at you these days from the war with Iran to the ongoing Epstein fallout, government shutdowns, high-profile trials, and what the hell is that Blake lively thing about anyway? We are on it every day, all day. Follow us, Amy and TJ for news updates throughout the day. Listen to Amy and TJ on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

While you can't travel back in time and snag a front-row seat at one of Clara Awards' legendary nightclub performances, there is one delicious way to connect with her story today. In the cafes of Budapest, you'll find Rigo Yanchi, a cake named after Clara's second husband. Hungarians put their last names first. The cake's origins are as disputed as the couple themselves. Some say Rigo worked with a pastry chef to create this sweet surprise for his American bride, while others claim an enterprising confectioner simply capitalized on the couple's tabloid notoriety. Wherever the dessert comes from, it sounds delicious.

Chocolate sponge cake layered with chocolate cream and a thin layer of apricot jam, all covered in a dark chocolate glaze. It's a dessert that makes no apologies for its richness, and it requires you to indulge, very much in the spirit of its namesake's very famous wife. But, come on, by all right, this cake should really be named after Clara. After all, it's passionate, indulgent, maybe a little too intense for everyday life, but undeniably fabulous. Noble Blood is a production of I-Hawood.

Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Courtney Sender, Amy Height, and Julia Milani. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producer Rima Il Kali, and executive producers Aaron Manky, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio,

visit the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is Amy Roboc alongside T.J. Holmes from the Amy and T.J. podcast. And there is so much news, information, commentary coming at you all day and from all over the place. What's fact? What's fake? And sometimes what the F. So let's cut the crap, okay? Follow the Amy and T.J. podcast, a one-stop news and pop culture shop to get you caught up and on with your day. and listen to Amy and T.J. on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.