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Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things

120 episodes — Page 2 of 3

S3 Ep 31Rotten Spares: The Prince Andrews & Harrys of History - Part 2

Are Princes Andrew and Harry the most troublesome ‘spares’ in royal history?You might think so — but buckle up, because history is littered with spares who partied harder, plotted darker and pushed the Crown to breaking point.Welcome to Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, where royal biographers Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams take you inside the palace doors to meet the heirs… and the headaches. Every monarchy needs a backup but what happens when the backup goes rogue? From regency playboys who bankrupt the nation, to sword-swinging dukes suspected of murder, to princesses who perfected the art of rebellion, we reveal the royals who made even today’s headlines look tame.Join us for the royal stories the courtiers hoped you’d never hear.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.

Oct 27, 202524 min

S3 Ep 30Rotten Spares: The Prince Andrews & Harrys of History - Part 1

Prince Harry may have put the word spare on the map, but he and his uncle Prince Andrew are not the first royal to grumble about being second in line. In this week’s episode, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams dig into centuries of royal runners-up — from Elizabeth I to George V — the siblings who weren’t meant to rule, yet somehow stole the show.From party-loving princes to quietly competent sisters, being “the spare” has always been a tricky business. Some plotted their way to the throne, some partied their way out of it, and others just got on with the job — usually in glorious frustration.And as for Harry, is history repeating itself, or breaking the royal mould entirely? Who thrived in the shadow of the crown? Who went gloriously rogue? And could Harry himself one day surprise us all?Tune in for a rollicking history of royal back-ups, brides recycled and brothers upstaged — only on Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things. LISTEN NOWHosts: 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.

Oct 19, 202525 min

S3 Ep 29Churchill & The Queen

Was Churchill her favourite PM — and who did the Queen secretly loathe?Find out in this week’s royally revealing episode of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things! Robert Hardman is joined by royal biographer Andrew Morton — yes, the man behind Diana: Her True Story — to spill the palace secrets behind Queen Elizabeth II’s fifteen Prime Ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss.From Churchill bursting into tears during audiences to Thatcher trudging through the Balmoral mud in high heels, from John Major quietly becoming the boys’ guardian after Diana’s death to Edward Heath’s icy froideur over Europe, it’s a whistle-stop tour through seventy years of royal-political drama.Who made her laugh? Who bored her senseless? And which PM nodded off next to her at dinner?With anecdotes of horse talk, coronation nerves, backstairs gossip, and power struggles behind palace doors, this episode lifts the velvet curtain on one of history’s most enduring double acts — the monarch who never flinched, and the politicians who tried to keep up.Hosts: 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.

Oct 12, 202528 min

S3 Ep 28Spies & The Crown - Part 2

Royals in taxis, Groucho Marx glasses on ski slopes, and a Soviet mole hiding in the Queen’s drawing room — this episode has it all. Listen Now.In their second episode of Spies & The Crown, Kate Williams and Robert Hardman go full cloak-and-dagger as they unmask Anthony Blunt — the Queen’s own art adviser turned KGB spy — and dig into the bizarre world of undercover royals. From Princess Elizabeth sneaking into the VE Day crowds, to Prince Harry insisting he was just “Bob” in a nightclub, history proves the Windsors have never been short on disguises.And then there’s the bombshell: how close did treachery really get to the heart of Buckingham Palace? And could it happen again?Listen now to Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things — where the palace walls whisper, and the spies are sometimes already inside.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.

Oct 5, 202525 min

S3 Ep 27Spies & The Crown - Part 1

From the Tudors to King Charles III, the royals have always been close to spies. Listen to find out!Today’s monarchs get discreet MI5 briefings — but back in Elizabeth I’s day, her spymaster Francis Walsingham was inventing the modern secret service with beer-barrel dead drops, forged letters, and a plot that sent Mary Queen of Scots to the block.This episode of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things dives into the wildest tales of royal espionage: Christopher Marlowe, the playwright who may have been a double agent; John Dee, the Queen’s astrologer signing his reports “007”; and Queen Victoria’s Indian confidant Abdul Karim, hounded as a foreign spy by jealous courtiers. Fast forward to World War II and you’ll find Hitler’s agents scheming to kidnap Edward VIII and put him back on the throne as a Nazi puppet.Plots, paranoia, and velvet cushions hiding sharpened daggers — when royalty meets espionage, the truth is stranger than any Bond film.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive 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.

Sep 28, 202523 min

S3 Ep 26Can Royals Be Jailed?

“Off with his head!” may be the most famous royal sentence ever passed — but what happens before the axe falls? Can kings and queens actually be locked up like the rest of us? Listen to find out!On today’s episode of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, Kate Williams and Robert Hardman dig into the murky history of royal captivity — where velvet cushions meet iron bars, and sovereign immunity doesn’t always save the day.We’ve got Charles I, the would-be master of disguise who chopped off his beard, called himself “Harry,” and still managed to end up wedged in a castle window like Winnie the Pooh after too much honey. We’ve got Mary Queen of Scots, forever scheming her way out of tower rooms and washer-woman costumes, until Elizabeth I finally lost patience. And we’ve got Marie Antoinette, who began her confinement with upholstered chairs and charity visits, but ended it humiliated, stripped of dignity, and walking towards the guillotine while the crowd jeered.Not all prison stories end with a block and blade. Some are quieter — and crueller. George III was never convicted of treason, never even plotted escape, yet he spent his last years effectively locked up in Windsor, a prisoner of his own mind and his doctors’ brutal “cures.” And in the 20th century, Hitler’s Colditz Castle became a surreal jail for royal hostages — cousins of the Queen turned into bargaining chips in the dying days of the war.So — can royals be jailed? History’s answer is complicated. Some lost their heads. Some lost their freedom. And some, like poor Princess Alice, were locked away simply for being inconvenient.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive 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.

Sep 21, 202529 min

S3 Ep 25Trump Royale

Trump’s coming to town — welcome to the towers of Windsor Castle. Hope you like ghosts!Royal biographer Robert Hardman and Prof. Kate Williams whisk us through the protocols of a state visit, Windsor-style: Air Force One → helicopter → the quadrangle, where (yes) the guest correctly walks in front of the monarch for the Guard of Honour. We peek into that turret guest suite with the Long Walk view, the St George’s Hall mega-table laid to the centimetre, and the post-1992 kitchens that keep 130 plates piping hot.We’ve the gossip: the day the Secret Service gave way and allowed Prince Philip to drive Barack Obama. Kate pits today’s three courses against Tudor 20-dish feasts (whale and dolphin, anyone?), and Robert explains why Windsor beats Buckingham Palace for security — and for dodging protests. We even invent a house cocktail: blood-red, jewel-bright, mildly dastardly.Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things now drops every Monday — Royal etiquette decoded, history demystified, and just enough hauntings to keep you peeking over your shoulder.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive 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.

Sep 14, 202526 min

S3 Ep 24Monstrous Royals: Bloody Mary v The Serpent Queen

Who was the most monstrous queen — England’s Bloody Mary or France’s Serpent Queen? Listen to find out!This week on Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things, royal historian Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams pit two formidable women against the seven deadly sins.Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, fought her way onto the throne and set out to restore Catholicism by fire. Three hundred Protestants met their end at the stake, earning her the chilling epithet “Bloody Mary.” Catherine de Medici, the Italian-born queen of France and mother of three kings, gained her own dark reputation as the “Serpent Queen.” Legend has her inventing high heels, perfecting the poisoned glove, and masterminding the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre.From pearls and palaces to phantom pregnancies and poisoned perfumes, the judges weigh whether these reputations were deserved or distorted — and whether misogyny shaped how history remembers them.It’s England versus France, pyre versus poison, bonfires versus bechamel. Which queen was the deadlier sinner?Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive 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.

Sep 10, 202544 min

S3 Ep 23Monstrous Royals: King John v Richard III

Who was the most rotten king of all — treacherous John of England or Shakespeare’s wicked Richard III? Listen to find out!This week on Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things, royal historian Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams drag two of England’s most notorious monarchs into the dock of history.Armed with the seven deadly sins as their scorecard, they weigh up pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Richard III — the hunchbacked villain of Shakespeare, buried for centuries under a Leicester car park — is accused of dispatching nephews in the Tower and grasping for the throne at any cost. King John, youngest son of Henry II, nicknamed “Lackland” and “Softsword,” loses battles, loses crown jewels, and nearly loses his kingdom through arrogance, greed, and disastrous quarrels with the Pope.The judges weigh sanctuary ignored at Tewkesbury, excommunications, ill-fated marriages, and even a death by peaches and cider. From Robin Hood cartoons to scoliosis scans, this is royal villainy at its most grotesque — and occasionally absurd.It’s England v England, Plantagenet v Plantagenet, Shakespearean bogeyman v medieval tax-collector-in-chief. May the worst king win.And the royal rumble continues: next week it’s Bloody Mary v Catherine de Medici — a deadly contest of queens.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive 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.

Sep 3, 202537 min

S3 Ep 22Monstrous Royals: Henry VIII v Louis XIV

Who was history’s most monstrous monarch — Henry VIII of England or Louis XIV of France? Listen to find out!This week on Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things, royal historian Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams sharpen their quills and their wits.Armed with the seven deadly sins as a scorecard, they put these two titans of royal misbehaviour through their paces. Pride? Henry struts about in padded sleeves and bans the middle classes from wearing fur. Louis builds Versailles — all 2,300 rooms of it — just so the Sun King can bask in his own reflection. Greed? Henry smashes up the monasteries and pockets the loot; Louis keeps ledgers in his pocket as if they were sweet wrappers. Lust? Both monarchs are formidable contenders — one leaves a trail of wives and mistresses (and the odd execution), the other an entire shadow dynasty of illegitimate children.From whale meat and beaver tails to an autopsy revealing a stomach three times the normal size, gluttony is not in short supply either. And when it comes to wrath, Henry’s temper ensures that being “close to the king” could mean being close to the executioner.It’s England versus France, Tudor versus Bourbon, axe versus wig — with laughs, learning, and a dash of horror along the way.And the royal rumble doesn’t stop here: next week it’s King John v Richard III, followed by Bloody Mary v Catherine de Medici.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Aug 27, 202526 min

S3 Ep 21Help! The Royals are Coming for Tea - Part 2

From meat mountains to one lonely kiwi fruit — the royal appetites that shocked history. Listen Now!What’s worse than one demanding royal houseguest? A whole history of them — and in Part Two of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, Robert Hardman and Kate Williams dig even deeper into the guest lists from hell. From Henry VIII arriving with a thousand-strong entourage and an appetite for entire herds, to George IV’s ruinous dining habits (and total lack of return invites), to Louis XIV’s epic, toothless feasts, this is royal hospitality at its most exhausting.You’ll discover which monarch forced hosts to build entirely new buildings just to serve them tea, which biscuits owe their names to the royals (and which ones hid the Crown Jewels), and how a simple “drop-in” could strip a nobleman’s pantry bare for months. It’s a whirlwind of Tudor meat mountains, Regency excess, and the occasional sensible snack — such as the Princess Royal’s legendary one kiwi fruit.Expect tall tales, staggering menus, and a fair amount of sympathy for the poor souls who dared to open their doors. Whether you’d serve up a banquet or hide behind the curtains, this episode is your ultimate survival guide to entertaining history’s hungriest and haughtiest VIPs.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Aug 20, 202520 min

S3 Ep 20Help! The Royals are Coming for Tea - Part 1

Royal visits gone wrong: the tantrums, the takings, and the tartest tongues in history.This week, Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things throws open the palace doors to a line-up of monarchs and princes who’ve turned “popping in for tea” into a full-scale ordeal. From Princess Margaret’s legendary put-downs (“How unfortunate”) to Queen Mary’s habit of going home with your best chairs, Robert Hardman and Kate Williams swap outrageous stories of royal visits gone deliciously wrong.You’ll hear about the Queen’s unexpected snowstorm stopover at a country pub, complete with Corgis demanding table service, and a Prince of Wales visit so badly timed the host hid in the loo thinking he was about to be arrested. Expect tantrums, tiaras, and the occasional singalong that ends in boos (yes, Francis Bacon, we’re looking at you).This is history served with gossip, wit, and a large slice of Dundee cake. So pull up a chair, pour yourself something strong, and prepare to meet the royals who could empty your pantry, ruffle your dignity, and leave you with a story you’ll be telling for decades.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Aug 13, 202521 min

S3 Ep 19Dragons & The Royals - Part 2

Pull up a velvet throne and grab your alchemy kit – in this episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams swirl together Arthurian legends, royal superstition, and some seriously dodgy medieval science. Listen now!Is the Holy Grail real? Can gold be made from stones? Did Diana really have a psychic on speed-dial? And why exactly did Queen Victoria try to give a clairvoyant a watch?From King Arthur’s suspiciously round table (equal rights, medieval-style!) to Queen Elizabeth I's astrologer with stage-magician energy – and a creepy sidekick who claims angelic permission to bed his boss’s wife – this episode dishes the royal gossip with a side of sorcery.Expect conjurers, clairvoyants, and chalices promising immortality. We meet John Dee, who mixed mathematics and magic (and questionable life choices), and peer into Queen Victoria’s séance-filled mourning rituals, featuring a moody Scottish manservant who may or may not be possessed by Prince Albert.And yes, we go full ghost story – haunted bedrooms and spectral jesters.History gets a magical makeover in this entertaining and insightful journey through fact, folklore, and the royal fondness for the utterly bizarre.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Aug 6, 202528 min

S3 Ep 18Dragons & The Royals - Part 1

Welcome to the only podcast where royal scandal meets fire-breathing lizards. Listen Now!In this hilarious and history-soaked episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things, Daily Mail columnist Robert Hardman and history wiz Professor Kate Williams team up to explore the very real roots behind the blood-soaked fantasy TV series Game of Thrones.You’ll learn:Why the dragons in GoT are basically airborne spitfires with scales.How Queen Cersei’s “walk of shame” was inspired by a real-life royal mistress who had a very awkward walk through London in her underwear.Why never to accept a dinner invitation from a Scottish nobleman in the 1400s—especially if a black bull’s head shows up on the table.And why Henry VIII’s Welsh dragon was the ultimate medieval hype beast.Oh, and if you're learning Welsh on Duolingo, you’ll finally understand why "I am a dragon" is one of the first things you’re taught.Packed with gory betrayals, royal revenge, scholarly banter, this episode proves once and for all: fantasy isn't that far from fact.Download. Then maybe don’t RSVP to any mysterious royal feasts for a while.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive 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.

Jul 30, 202525 min

S3 Ep 17Royal Family Blunders

What’s the worst Royal blunder of the modern age? Listen to find out!The Royal's public image is a delicate balance; attempts to entertain or appear modern can be seriously cringe.Thumbs up for the late Queen Elizabeth II and her James Bond cameo at the Olympic opening ceremony, but two thumbs down for that ultimate pie-in-the-face moment: the 1987 televised game show, "It's a Royal Knockout." Who was to blame for the Windsors dressing up for a pantomime gameshow? Why did it go so very wrong? Was it a turning point for the public perception of the Royals?Professor Kate Williams has a theory … perhaps the Royals could be saved from further blunders by taking a tip from history - employing a Royal Jester! We look back at some of those merrymakers, like ‘Roland the Farter’ (it’s much worse than it sounds!).However, could a jester really have saved the Royal’s public image from the 101 gaffes of the late Duke of Edinburgh? Some of his jokes were funny, others, these days, would have the Royals cancelled!Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Jul 23, 202532 min

S3 Ep 16Royal Blind Dates - Part 2

Which Royal blind date ended with the burning of six witches? Listen to find out!In the second of two episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams explore the often awkward and disastrous Royal first encounters. Discover which king ran from the room, demanding brandy when his blind date was revealed.  However, love is also in the air as Kate and Robert celebrate the truly remarkable and touching story of George III’s marriage.And there’s also Robert’s confession: the cunning ruse he often used to get himself a date!Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Jul 16, 202525 min

S3 Ep 15Royal Blind Dates - Part 1

Which aristocratic lady ‘swiped left’ when Henry VIII went looking for a new wife? Listen to find out!In the first of two episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams look at the highs and lows of Royal first encounters. Welcome to the strange world of regal dating: marriages at first sight, bedding ceremonies, and proxy consummations. Pity the poor teenage girls who dutifully married Kings who were much older - or preferred the company of men in their bedchambers!But Cupid’s Royal arrows do sometimes find their mark. Kate and Robert reveal that it’s possible for Royals to find ‘true love’.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Jul 9, 202524 min

S3 Ep 14The Sex Life of Queen Victoria

Revealing the surprising sex life of Queen Victoria. Listen Now! A special edition of our podcast in collaboration with History Hit’s Betwixt the Sheets. Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams team up with author, podcaster and sex historian Kate Lister to explore Queen Victoria’s intimate personal diaries. They reveal that she enjoyed "heavenly love and happiness" with her husband, Albert, and the "bliss of watching him shave and the joy of him helping her put on her stockings."  Also discussed, the two enduring myths: Victoria’s ‘sex button’ by her bed that triggered automatic door locking, ensuring privacy during her nights of passion, and Prince Albert’s alleged metal appendage - you know where! Hosts then broaden their discussion to dual sexual morality of the Victorian Age. Publicly, Victorians promoted a repressed morality, especially the middle classes, contrasting with the notorious Georgians who were more openly sexual. This Victorian attitude fuelled a seedy underworld of pornographic photography and sex work. The strangest phenomenon to arise was the advent of ‘bicycle porn’, women being photograph in their new cycling bloomers. All very shocking.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Jul 2, 202546 min

S3 Ep 13Royals in Crisis: Edward & Mrs Simpson - Part 3

Find out how Edward and Mrs Simpson cosied up to Adolf Hitler. Listen now!Learn about the fury of the Royal Family and how the couple were shunned, and we reveal that Edward may have advised Hitler to bomb Britain into submission.The final episode of a three-part deep dive into the controversial relationship between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, examining its impact on the monarchy and revealing the truth behind rumours that both were Nazi sympathisers. Both historians delve deep into this royal relationship – drawing on extraordinary anecdotal evidence and documents from the National Archives.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive 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.

Jun 25, 202537 min

S3 Ep 12Royals in Crisis: Edward & Mrs Simpson - Part 2

Find out the truth about Wallis Simpson and the rumours of her sex lessons in a Chinese brothel. Listen now!Learn about one of the cast-aside lovers of Edward who devoted her life to spreading dark rumours about Wallis Simpson,and hear a blow-by-blow account of the abdication crisis that nearly brought down the monarchy.The second of a three-part deep dive into the controversial relationship between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, examining its impact on the monarchy. Professor Kate Williams believes that Edward’s wife Wallis Simpson may not be the ’scarlet women’ that history paints her to be: “I believe she genuinely loved Edward, but she also craved attention and was dazzled by all the jewels – she had so many jewels!” Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Jun 18, 202528 min

S3 Ep 11Royals in Crisis: Edward & Mrs Simpson - Part 1

Find out about King Edward VIII's cruel nanny and the courtesans who shaped his view of women. Listen Now!Learn how Edward scandalised the court and upset his father with a string of affairs with married women, and we reveal how he got bored of ‘Princing’ – an early indication that he wasn’t cut out for the duties of being a King.The first of a three-part deep dive into the controversial relationship between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, examining its impact on the monarchy and revealing the truth behind the rumours. Royal Biographer Robert Hardman maintains: “Edward was selfish, greedy, and even treacherous; he cosied up to Adolf Hitler when the world knew the evils of his regime”. Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Hosts: 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.

Jun 11, 202524 min

S3 Ep 10Royals & Dastardly Thieves - Part 2

More tales of thieves who couldn’t resist the sparkle of jewels belonging to the Crown. Listen Now!Who stole the so-called Irish Crown Jewels? What are the Cambridge Emeralds? And how did Scottish nationalists manage to drag the Stone of Destiny out of Westminster Abbey on Christmas Eve - a modern story with deep roots in British history.The podcast also discusses the suspicious theft of Wallis Simpson's jewels in 1946, raising questions about insurance fraud and inside knowledge. And it also reveals King Edward VIII's appropriation of the Prince of Wales coronet, later replaced with a fake for Prince Charles' investiture.Finally, join us for the debate on whether the crown jewels themselves are hot property, containing gems that many believe should rightfully be returned to India and South Africa.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Jun 4, 202529 min

S3 Ep 9Royals & Dastardly Thieves - Part 1

Welcome to the ultimate rogues gallery - those thieves who’ve grabbed the crown jewels! Listen to find out more.In the first of two episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams explore the story of Colonel Blood who hammered down a royal crown so that he could slip it into his trousers. And discover royal secrets: how Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation crown had to be enlarged to fit the head of King Charles III, and how George VI wore his crown while gardening!Hosts also explore the early jewel heists, like that of King John in 1216, which remains shrouded in mystery, with suspicions that the King staged the loss of his crown to cover financial misdeeds. And then there's the more definitive case of Richard of Pudlicott in 1303 who pilfered royal treasures from Westminster Abbey, leading to a medieval black market for royal gems.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

May 28, 202527 min

S3 Ep 8Terror at the Palace - Part 3

Which Royal has survived the most assassination attempts? Listen to find out!In the final of three extraordinary episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams look at dastardly plots from history - from fiendish schemes to poison royal saddles to terrorists taking pot-shots at the theatre. Discover the Royal whose courage inspired a change to the National Anthem, and the Queen who refused to carry a bullet-proof parasol. And, finally, the hosts discuss which King and Queen in history showed the most grace and courage under fire.Also ... find out what happens when you keep Prince Andrew waiting - you’ve been warned!Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

May 21, 202530 min

S3 Ep 7Terror at the Palace - Part 2

Which Royal defiantly stood up to an armed attacker outside Buckingham Palace? Listen to find out!In the second of three extraordinary episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams look at the motives and mindset of those who have sought to bring harm to the Royals. When are Kings and Queens at their most vulnerable as targets and how has their entourage of security adapted to challenges over the years?History reveals that the Royals have always faced a dilemma - they have a duty to be seen in public but they all know from bitter experience that it's a dangerous thing for them to do!Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

May 14, 202525 min

S3 Ep 6Terror at the Palace - Part 1

What’s it like being a Royal living in constant fear of assassination and kidnap? Listen to find out!In the first of three episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams reveal the shocking attempts to harm the Royals. How did two Queens react when they found intruders in their bedrooms? Did King Charles III maintain his ‘stiff upper lip’ when someone took a shot at him? What training did Meghan, Duchess of Sussex , and Catherine, Princess of Wales, receive to safeguard their lives!Also, get an insight into the rough and tumble of Prince Harry’s days at boarding school!Each week, Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things offers a light, historical look at the scandals, intrigues, and often bloody history of Britain's royal family.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

May 7, 202525 min

S3 Ep 5Royal House Guests from Hell - Part 2

Which visitor to Buckingham Palace caused Queen Elizabeth II to be angrier than anyone had ever seen her before? Listen to find out!In the second of two episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams reveal the worst Royal house guest in history! Clue: they were one of the world’s most notorious tyrants, and the Queen’s corgis had good reasons to be suspicious of this visitor.Also, a royal family skeleton is revealed - which blood soaked tyrant are the modern royals related to? Download now!Each week, Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things sneaks a peak behind palace curtains - from Richard III to King Charles III. The hosts offer insights into the lives of the royal family - from Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, to Elizabeth I; the scandals and intrigues, and the often bloody histories of those that have worn the crown.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 30, 202524 min

S3 Ep 4Royal House Guests from Hell - Part 1

Who was the worst house guest at Buckingham Palace? Listen to find out!In the first of two episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams look through the visitors book for Buckingham Palace to discover the tyrants and troublemakers who’ve come to stay. How did Queen Elizabeth II react to the infamous and brutal African dictators Idi Amin and Mobutu, and is it true that Queen Victoria took a surprising shine to the lustful Shah of Persia? All will be revealed, along with the elaborate and secret details involved in laying out the red carpet for an official state visit.Each week, Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things takes a look behind palace curtains at royal history - from William the Conqueror to King Charles III. The hosts offer exclusive insights into the lives of the royal family - from Meghan Markle to Anne Boleyn; the royal scandals and intrigues, and the turbulent and bloody history of the crown.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 23, 202524 min

Worst Royal Wedding Nights

The shocking truth about royal ‘bedding ceremonies’. Listen to find out!Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams look at how royals throughout history have had their intimate bedroom moments witnessed. And that’s not all! Young royals would have their bedchambers exorcised of demons, and courtiers would then cheer on the couples as they performed their royal ‘duties’. No wonder some royals suffered from performance anxiety! But which ones?Also, discover Robert Hardman’s own wedding night secret - a fiasco with parallels to the extraordinary nuptials of Atilla the Hun!All will be revealed in the new season of the Daily Mail’s podcast, Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 16, 202524 min

S3 Ep 2The Whip and Royal Education

Are British royals raised through tough love and tales of chivalry? Listen to find out!Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams look at the extraordinary schooling of royals throughout history, from ‘whipping boys’ to rosy-cheeked governesses and cold Scottish boarding schools. Where will young Princes George and Louis go to school when they become teenagers - and will their parents have learned a lesson from royal history?Also, hear the scandalous story of ‘Crawfie’, the woman who was shunned by the royals for writing a memoir of her days with the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.All will be revealed in the Daily Mail’s podcast, Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 9, 202528 min

S3 Ep 1Do Royals Have Magic Powers?

Do British Queens and Kings have the power to cure illness through their ‘Royal Touch’. Listen to the Daily Mail’s new season of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things to find out!Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams explore the secret ceremony at coronations that is said to give royals magical powers. Find out which Queens and Kings were the Hermoine Grangers and Harry Potters of history.Also, discover the superstitions of the modern royals, the member of the Windsor family who’s in the Magic Circle, and what Professor Kate Williams did to earn a ‘Brownie badge’.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Studio Manager: Sam Chisholm Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 2, 202528 min

S2 Ep 12Bonus Episode: Edward VII's Sex Chair

Robert and Kate are back with a dastardly Bonus Episode in which they are asking one of history's most pressing questions: did Queen Victoria's son have TWO thrones? Edward VII was famed for his lurid love life, but did our raunchiest 20th Century monarch really have his own ‘sex chair’ in a Paris brothel? And if so, how on earth did it work? Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode of Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsResearcher: Tom Sankey Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Jan 13, 202518 min

S2 Ep 11Christmas Special: What was the Worst Royal Christmas Ever?

Robert and Kate are back with a dastardly Christmas Special in which they are exploring royal Christmases from yesteryear... did Queen Victoria really invent Christmas? Were Tudor children whipped on Christmas Day? And could there be any Christmas worse than Elizabeth II's Annus Horribilis? Listen to find out! Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Ben Devlin Researcher: Tom Sankey Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Dec 23, 202426 min

S2 Ep 1010: The Princes in the Tower

This week – in the final episode of Season One – Robert and Kate tackle one of history's most scandalous, unsolved mysteries: what on earth happened to the Princes in the Tower? The disappearance of Edward V and his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York, has sparked centuries of speculation. Were they murdered, and if so, by whom? Was it Richard III – their own uncle, and that great Shakespearean villain – in a bid to secure the throne? Or, could other powerful figures have been involved? Join Kate and Robert as they separate fact from fiction and each offer their views on surely one of the juiciest royal scandals of all time.Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Oct 2, 202438 min

S2 Ep 99: The Royal massacre you've never heard of

The Nepalese Massacre was one of the most dramatic, bloody royal events to ever happen – and the chances are that most listeners won’t have heard of it. On a summer’s evening in Kathmandu in 2001, Nepal’s royal family was almost entirely wiped out, in a single night. Hours later, the alleged killer lay in a hospital bed in a coma, having been proclaimed King the moment that his father died. The man in question – Crown Prince Dipendra – allegedly went on a murderous rampage, killing nine members of his own family, including his parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, before taking his own life. In this episode, Robert Hardman and Kate Williams will guide listeners through three turbulent Centuries of Nepalese history, tracing the build up to, and the fall out from, this shocking event. Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Sep 25, 202431 min

S2 Ep 88: The Duke of Cumberland and the slit throat mystery!

On 31st May 1810, the Duke of Cumberland – George III’s fifth child, and notorious 19th Century wrong’un – was attacked while asleep in his apartments in St James’ Palace. And, hours later, one of the Duke’s valets, Joseph Sellis, was found dead in his room. His throat had been cut with a razor. It was a grisly crime scene. Sellis’ head was nearly severed from his body, and blood had soaked the bedclothes, furniture, and walls. Join Kate and Robert as they delve into the circumstances surrounding Sellis’ death by reconstructing what exactly happened on the night of the murder; exploring the Duke of Cumberland’s scandalous background and his subversive relationship with both Joseph Sellis, and his other valet. Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Sep 18, 202424 min

S2 Ep 77: Was Anne Boleyn unfaithful?

This week Robert and Kate tackle one of history's biggest questions: was Anne Boleyn guilty of everything that Henry VIII accused her of? Over the centuries, historians have spilt vast quantities of ink dissecting the evidence, the political intrigue, and the motives behind the charges that led to Anne's tragic demise. Robert and Kate explore the wider context of Anne’s astronomical rise and rapid fall; the key players in her trial; and, whether her alleged infidelities were fabrications to justify Henry VIII’s desire for a new wife, and that longed for son… Join Kate and Robert as they separate fact from fiction and uncover the truth behind surely one of the juiciest royal scandals of all time. Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Victoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Sep 11, 202439 min

S2 Ep 66: Did Rasputin really cause the Russian Revolution?

Despite being immortalised in the iconic song by Boney M, the life and death of Grigory Rasputin remains shrouded in mythology and mystery. A mystic healer, political saboteur, and renegade monk, Rasputin’s life – and his ‘member’ – casts a long shadow over Russian history, not least in the questions surrounding his role in formenting the opposition to the Russian Tsar that ultimately caused the 1917 Revolution, a cataclysmic event that overturned Russia’s social and political order forever, and preceded wider social change in Europe and beyond. Join Robert and Kate for the second episode of Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things as they unpack the life and times of Russia’s greatest love machine – surely one of very few dastardly historic icons for whom genital warts and cataclysmic social upheaval can justifiably be included in the same sentence. Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Victoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Sep 4, 202440 min

S2 Ep 55: Charles II: Britain’s sex-mad monarch?

Charles II's sexual appetite was infamously compared to a racehorse, and he revelled in reversing the social strictures that Oliver Cromwell had strictly enforced during the Interregnum. Unsurprisingly, Charles II had mistresses. And lots of them. But Charles II’s mistresses were so much more than footnotes in a new era of frivolity, parties and hedonism – many of these women wielded significant power in their own right, and played pivotal roles in court politics and international relations. Their close relationship to Charles II during an intense period of social and political change means that they played a key role in shaping the course of English history. Join Robert Hardman and Kate Williams as they explore the stories of three of these fascinating women – Barbara Castlemaine, Nell Gywnne, and Lucy Walter – and ask what their stories reveal about the wider history of the period. Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Victoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Aug 28, 202437 min

S2 Ep 44: Did a diamond necklace end the French monarchy?

What do you get when you mix a $20 million diamond necklace; a sycophantic cardinal; a con-artist; and Marie Antoinette? Only one of French history’s biggest royal scandals – a scandal that, arguably, led to the abolition of nearly a thousand years of French monarchy and the demise of France's final two monarchs on the guillotine. Join Kate Williams and Robert Hardman for a rollicking ride through a royal scandal that really does have it all: sex, lies – and Marie Antoinette: one of the most iconic – and most misunderstood – female figures of the 18th Century. Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Victoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Aug 21, 202443 min

S2 Ep 33: James II and his fake heir scandal!

On June 10 1688, Queen Mary of Modena, the Catholic wife of James II, gave birth to a son, James Francis Stewart. Or did she?Join Kate Williams and Robert Hardman as they dive into one of royal history’s juiciest, and often forgotten, scandals: an event that should have been a joyous moment (a male heir - hurrah!) but one that instead unleashed a chain of events that would lead to mother, father, and child being driven out of England to spend the rest of their lives in… exile. Robert and Kate will explore whether Queen Mary really did give birth to a healthy son, or if – as many English Protestants, unwilling to see a Catholic heir on the throne, claimed – the pregnancy was all a ruse. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram @queenskingspod, and email us at @[email protected] Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Victoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Aug 14, 202432 min

S2 Ep 22: Did Queen Victoria secretly marry her servant?

Did Queen Victoria find comfort and love in the arms of a servant following the death of Prince Albert? What can we conclude from the Queen’s disregard for public, parliamentary and family concern about her close relationship with John Brown, the Scottish servant who found himself resident at Buckingham Palace? And, was the Queen so devoted to John Brown that they secretly married?Professor Kate Williams and Robert Hardman reveal all about this mysterious royal relationship that captivated the Victorian public and continues to mystify royal historians and commentators today. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram @queenskingspod, and email us at @[email protected] Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Victoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Aug 7, 202433 min

S2 Ep 11: Did Mary Queen of Scots murder her husband?

When the peace of an Edinburgh night is shattered by an explosion and the Queen of Scotland’s husband is found dead, but no murderer can be found, the question is not only who killed the King Consort but why?Join Professor Kate Williams and Robert Hardman as they uncover the suspects, the events and the motives behind a murder that definitively changed the course of Mary Queen Of Scots’ reign.Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram @queenskingspod, and email us at @[email protected] Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Victoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Aug 6, 202437 min

Coming Soon... Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things

trailer

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things is the Daily Mail's unmissable podcast that promises listeners a weekly dose of royal history and intrigue by unpacking a different royal scandal each week. Hosted by Daily Mail columnist and royal biographer Robert Hardman and historian Professor Kate Williams, each episode delves into the juiciest parts of royal history from eras past, and present... but mainly past. New episodes out every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram @queenskingspod, and email us at @[email protected] Presenters: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsProducer: Rich Jarman Production Manager: Victoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella Soames Thanks to Dr. Fern Riddell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Jul 31, 20241 min

S1 Ep 2525: Wolferton Splash (The Crown Season 1, Episode 1)

Join Robert Hardman and Natasha Livingstone for an analysis of "Wolferton Splash" the first episode of season 1 of The Crown.This episode focuses on the wedding and early years of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip's marriage, and the failing health of Princess Elizabeth's father King George VI.Find out:Did Winston Churchill heckle at Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip’s wedding?Did King George VI have surgery at Buckingham Palace? How did King George VI’s plans for an overseas tour dictate the timing of 1951’s general election?Did King George VI ever wear makeup?Was the truth of King George VI’s illness kept from him?Plus much more.Email us at [email protected] send us a message or voicenote on Whatsapp:07796657512 (start your message with "The Crown" so we know which show you’re getting in touch with.)Make sure you're following The Crown: Fact Or Fiction so you don't miss an episode. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-crown-fact-or-fiction/id1714259572 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

May 2, 202437 min

S1 Ep 2424: Moondust (The Crown Season 3, Episode 7)

Join Robert Hardman and Natasha Livingstone for an analysis of "Moondust" season 3, episode 7 of The Crown.This episode of The Crown shows Prince Phillip having a mid life crisis as he considers his faith and his place in the universe, all put into context as Neil Armstrong steps on the moon and a new Dean of Windsor is appointed.Find out:Is there evidence that Prince Phillip was having a mid life crisis around the time of the moon landings?Did The Crown get the astronaut's visit to Buckingham Palace right?How did Prince Phillip really feel about the creation of St George's House? Were the Queen and Prince Phillip space fans?And, how many stags roam the grounds of Windsor Castle?Plus much more.Tell us which episodes of The Crown are your favourites and we might give them the Fact or Fiction treatment on the next episode of the podcast!Email us at [email protected] send us a message or voicenote on Whatsapp:07796657512 (start your message with "The Crown" so we know which show you’re getting in touch with.)Make sure you're following The Crown: Fact Or Fiction so you don't miss an episode. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-crown-fact-or-fiction/id1714259572 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 25, 202432 min

S1 Ep 2323: Scoop with Sam McAlister

Robert Hardman and Natasha Livingstone sit down with Sam McAlister for a very special episode of the The Crown Fact or Fiction that focuses on Scoop, Netflix's film about Prince Andrew's disastrous Newsnight interview. Scoop is based on Sam's first hand experience of booking Prince Andrew for Newsnight. Hear Sam tell the story behind the meetings, the planning, the recording and aftermath of the interview - what it was like to work on the biggest interview in the world, and how Netflix captured it for the screen. Sam's book Scoops is available now:https://amzn.eu/d/6qPhhfn Scoop is streaming on Netflix now. Tell us which episodes of The Crown are your favourites and we might give them the Fact or Fiction treatment on the next episode of the podcast!Email us at [email protected] send us a message or voicenote on Whatsapp:07796657512 (start your message with "The Crown" so we know which show you’re getting in touch with.)Make sure you're following The Crown: Fact Or Fiction so you don't miss an episode. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-crown-fact-or-fiction/id1714259572 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 18, 202433 min

S1 Ep 2222: Marionettes (The Crown Season 2, Episode 5)

Join Robert Hardman and Natasha Livingstone for an analysis of "Marionettes" season 2, episode 5 of The Crown.This episode of The Crown depicts Queen Elizabeth II facing criticism from Lord Altrincham following a tone deaf speech at a Jaguar factory in Coventry before taking to the airwaves for the first ever televised Christmas message. If you'd like us to analyse a favourite episode of The Crown, write to us at: [email protected] out in this episode of The Crown Fact Or Fiction:Did the Queen address the workers at a Jaguar factory with a tone deaf speech? Was Lord Altrincham punched in the face following his criticism of the Queen?Did the Queen send for Lord Altrincham to discuss his criticisms?Does Buckingham Palace have a network of secret doors and tunnels for monarchs to stealthily navigate the palace?Plus much more. Tell us which episodes of The Crown are your favourites and we might give them the Fact or Fiction treatment on the next episode of the podcast!Email us at [email protected] send us a message or voicenote on Whatsapp:07796657512 (start your message with "The Crown" so we know which show you’re getting in touch with.)Make sure you're following The Crown: Fact Or Fiction so you don't miss an episode. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-crown-fact-or-fiction/id1714259572 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 11, 202433 min

S1 Ep 2121: Aberfan (The Crown Series 3, Episode 3)

Join Robert Hardman and Natasha Livingstone for an analysis of "Aberfan" season 3, episode 3 of The Crown.This episode of The Crown depicts a reluctant Elizabeth 2nd questioning the appropriateness of her visiting Aberfan in the days following a disaster in the Welsh town, despite the insistence of those around her. Our thanks to Claire Heeley, Melissa Clark and Kelly Woods who all wrote in to suggest the episode this week. If you'd like us to analyse a favourite episode of The Crown, write to us at: [email protected] out in this episode of The Crown Fact Or Fiction:Was the Queen as emotionless as she is depicted in this episode?Was the Queen as reluctant to visit Aberfan as depicted in The Crown?Did The Crown accurately depict Prince Phillip’s attendance at Aberfan?Did the Queen only attend Aberfan after the government briefed the press against her? Plus much more. Tell us which episodes of The Crown are your favourites and we might give them the Fact or Fiction treatment on the next episode of the podcast!Email us at [email protected] send us a message or voicenote on Whatsapp:07796657512 (start your message with "The Crown" so we know which show you’re getting in touch with.)Make sure you're following The Crown: Fact Or Fiction so you don't miss an episode. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-crown-fact-or-fiction/id1714259572 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Apr 4, 202430 min

S1 Ep 2020: Ipatiev House (The Crown Season 5, Episode 6)

Join Robert Hardman and Natasha Livingstone for an analysis of "Ipatiev House" season 5, episode 6 of The Crown.This episode of The Crown delves into the history of the British royal family and portrays a strained marriage between the Queen and Prince Phillip while Britain forges a new relationship with Boris Yeltsin's Russia. Our thanks to Hannah from Hertfordshire who wrote in and suggested the episode this week. If you'd like us to analyse a favourite episode of The Crown, write to us at: [email protected] out in this episode of The Crown Fact Or Fiction: Did The Crown get the Romanov family's fate right?Did Boris Yeltsin order Russian scientists to find the bones of the Romanov's after meeting the Queen and Prince Phillip? Was Coach driving one of Prince Phillip's passions?Did Prince Phillip's friend Penny Knatchbull attend Christmas mass with the Queen to quell rumours and speculation?Plus much more. Tell us which episodes of The Crown are your favourites and we might give them the Fact or Fiction treatment on the next episode of the podcast!Email us at [email protected] send us a message or voicenote on Whatsapp:07796657512 (start your message with "The Crown" so we know which show you’re getting in touch with.)Make sure you're following The Crown: Fact Or Fiction so you don't miss an episode. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-crown-fact-or-fiction/id1714259572 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHosts: 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.

Mar 28, 202440 min