Show overview
Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things has been publishing since 2023, and across the 3 years since has built a catalogue of 113 episodes, alongside 2 trailers or bonus episodes. That works out to roughly 60 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a fortnightly cadence, with the show now in its 3rd season.
Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 25 min and 37 min — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language History show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed yesterday, with 34 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2025, with 41 episodes published. Published by Daily Mail.
From the publisher
Expert history with a wicked twist: Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things is the podcast that goes behind palace doors and beyond the balcony smiles, to uncover the stories that the history books have politely skipped. Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things reveals the schemers, lovers, plotters and even the pets who’ve made the British monarchy the world’s longest-running reality show.Hosts, Royal biographers Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams trace how power, passion and paranoia have shaped every crown. There are queens who ruled better than their husbands, and princes who partied harder than their people. We meet saints, sinners and those hovering somewhere in between – from the man formerly known as Prince Andrew to the less-vilified Richard III.Sometimes we get reflective: how monarchy survives scandal, how image-making began long before Instagram, and why royal women have always been the best crisis managers in the room. Other times we’re just here for the gossip: who wore what, who slept where, and who accidentally started a war over breakfast.Think of it as history with its crown slightly askew. If you like your royal stories with equal parts grandeur and chaos, step into the world of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things because behind every coronation lies a cover-up, behind every portrait a scandal, and behind every great monarch… a very patient servant wondering how to get the blood out of the carpet.New episodes out every MONDAY, wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Latest Episodes
View all 113 episodesThe Aragon Girls
Tudor Season: The Bloody End
Tudor Season: Monstrous Henry
Tudor Season: The Queen Killer
Tudor Season: Anne Boleyn
Tudor Season: Rise of a Tyrant
Rebel Princess: The Patty Hearst Story
The Real Citizen Kane: Inside America's Most Scandalous Castle
America & the Monarchy
The Royal X-Files
Secrets of a Stately Home
The Death of Queen Cleopatra
Queen Cleopatra: Her Rise to Power
The Fall of Roman Britain
Boudicca: Britain's Warrior Queen
Julius Caesar's British Invasions
Queen Catherine Howard: Vixen or Victim?
Queen Elizabeth and Sir David Attenborough: Global Pioneers
Queen Elizabeth and Sir David Attenborough: A Royal Friendship
S3 Ep 55Elizabeth II: The Inside Story (Part 2)
What made Queen Elizabeth II smile?In this special centenary episode, we look back at some of the happiest moments in the life of Queen Elizabeth II — the flashes of humour, the unexpected freedoms, and the small, human pleasures behind the crown.Rather than the grand set-pieces of state, we focus on something more elusive: what actually made her smile. From dancing anonymously into the crowds on VE Day, to the rare, almost ordinary happiness of life in Malta as a young naval wife, these are the moments when the future queen stepped briefly outside the constraints of her role.We revisit the Balmoral barbecues, where guests found themselves quietly astonished to see the monarch doing the washing up — and the curious aftermath of a gifted pair of yellow rubber gloves. We explore her lifelong love of animals, the joy she took in horses and racing, and the particular satisfaction of seeing her daughter succeed in the saddle.There are glimpses, too, of her connection to a wider world: wartime memories that stayed with her for life, encounters that carried emotional weight long after the cameras had gone, and the enduring appeal of simple routines — driving, walking, small domestic rituals — that offered a sense of normality within an extraordinary existence.Along the way, we ask a deceptively simple question: in a life so defined by duty, where did happiness really reside?Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Bella SoamesHosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Content Editor: Joseph PalmerExecutive Producer: Bella SoamesA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Sign up to Palace Confidential, the FREE royals newsletter from the Mail's top experts. Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday, it's the smartest way to stay in the royal inner circle. Just head to dailymail.co.uk/palaceconfidential to sign up today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.