Author Dana Schwartz explores the stories of some of history’s most fascinating royals: the tyrants and the tragic, the murderers and the murdered, and everyone in between. Because when you’re wearing a crown, mistakes often mean blood.
286 episodes transcribed[CONTENT WARNING: this episode contains depictions of violence and spousal abuse.] On November 7, 1974, John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan committed a ho...
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 Quee...
Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi lived many lives—as political researcher, congressional wife, Playboy model, and actress. But it would be her role as wife o...
Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of the most famous women in European history for good reason. After annulling her marriage from the King of France, she wo...
TRIGGER WARNING: this episode contains references to sexual content. The Marquis de Sade, the namesake of "sadism," is famous for his writings catalo...
Robert Dudley is famous for being the favorite of the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I, but the death of his first wife, Amy Robsart would be his most endur...
Alexander Dumas is famous for his swashbuckling novel The Count of Monte Cristo, but more thrilling than fiction is the real-life story of his father,...
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was raised like a fairy tale princess — but she would reign over one of the most tumultuous periods in European hi...
When her council forced her to marry, Tamar immediately knew their selection was the wrong choice. When he would eventually try to lead an invading ar...
Dana is joined by the Tudor historian—and Joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces—Tracy Borman to discuss her latest book, Anne Boleyn and Eliza...
The story of King Henry VIII is famous, as are the stories of his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. King Henry's only son, the sickly Edward VI, had a sh...
The men knew they needed to get rid of Lorenzo de Medici, they just didn't know how. In the end, they decided the right place would be High Mass, on a...
Lorenzo de Medici was the center of power in Florence. Three men—Girolomo Riario, Francesco de Pazzi, and Francesco Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa—were...
Our two part series on the Chevalier de Saint-Georges continues, with our hero rubbing elbows with Whig politicians and fighting for freedom during th...
In the late 1700s, one man became a celebrated fixture of Parisian salon culture: he was a prodigy fencer, and then a brilliant composer and violinist...
When it comes to fairy tales, most people know Charrles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. Fewer know of Madame d'Aulnoy, whose own life of murder and p...
More than a hundred years before the selfie became commonplace, a woman in France used photographs to immortalize her favorite subject: herself. But a...
TW: This episode contains discussions of violence towards children that might be disturbing for some listeners. For decades, one woman was the heart a...
In August 1661, the superintendent of finance in France threw the party of the century. In September, he was arrested. The lesson: don't fly too close...
In the aftermath of World War I, aristocratic Germans were clinging to whatever sense of identity and social structure they could. They relished the o...
