Queens Podcast

We've got a VERY special guest aboard the Queens ship! Greg Jenner, historian, author, and host of the BBC's You're Dead to Me, joins Katy and Nathan to discuss two of the most infamous women of the Golden Age of Piracy: Anne Bonny and Mary Read. Were Anne and Mary besties? Lovers? Just two women trying to make it in a very dangerous, very male-dominated world? The historical record is messy, the...

Mary Tudor has already lost her title, her mother, and any illusion that her father is going to come to his senses. And somehow… things are about to get even messier. In Part 2, Anne Boleyn is out, Mary is bullied into submission, and she's finally welcomed back into Henry VIII’s good graces. We follow her through new stepmothers, the brutal execution of Margaret Pole, and an uneasy reconciliation...

Before she became Mary I of England, the queen history remembers as “Bloody Mary,” Mary Tudor was Henry VIII’s beloved only daughter. Born to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon in 1516, Mary grew up ridiculously educated, wildly privileged, and fully expecting to become a queen. Then came the King’s Great Matter. As Henry fought to end his marriage to Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn, Mary’s world...

Eleanor of Aquitaine was Queen of France, Queen of England, Duchess of Aquitaine, mother to Richard the Lionheart and King John, and one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages. While we get our Season 10 premiere ready, we’re sharing Katy’s visit to Right Answers Mostly, where she joined hosts Tess Bellomo and Claire Donald to tell the story of Eleanor’s marriages to Louis VII and Henry II,...

Before there was Dubya, there was Ann Richards the sharp-tongued, silver-haired Democrat who went from schoolteacher to Governor of Texas. Ann Richards battled alcoholism, got sober, transformed the Texas Treasury, and became a national political star after her unforgettable speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. But first, she had to survive one of the wildest gubernatorial races in T...

This week we're peeking behind the Patreon wall with one of my favorite Katy's Corner episodes! When Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, was accused of witchcraft in 1441, was she actually casting spells... or simply too close to the English throne at the wrong moment? We follow Eleanor's rise from noblewoman to one of the most powerful women in England, her romance with Humphrey, Duke of Glouc...

She was hanged. Declared dead. Buried... almost. This week we're sharing one of our favorite stories from the Queens Podcast Patreon vault: the unbelievable tale of Margaret "Half-Hanged Maggie" Dickson, one of the most famous women in Scottish history. Join us as we travel to Edinburgh's Grassmarket, explore the history behind public executions, body snatchers, and the city's infamous medical sch...

This week we're joined by our friend Bash from Historical Homos to tell one of the most unbelievable stories we've ever covered. Meet the Chevalier d'Éon: an 18th-century French noble who somehow managed to be a spy, soldier, diplomat, bestselling author, blackmailer of the King of France, celebrity fencer, and one of the earliest people in history to have their gender officially recognized by the...

This week, Katy and Nathan take a break from queens and head into the world of UFO cults. In 1950s Chicago, housewife Dorothy Martin began receiving messages through automatic writing from beings she believed lived on the planet Clarion. With the help of a small group called the Seekers, she spread a startling prediction: a catastrophic flood would soon destroy Earth, and flying saucers would arri...

In the Season 9 finale of Queens, we're back in Russia with Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Tsarina of the Russian Empire. When we last left Alexandra, she had married Tsar Nicholas II and stepped into one of the most powerful—and unforgiving—courts in Europe. Now, the pressure to produce an heir, her son Alexei's devastating hemophilia diagnosis, and the arrival of Grigori Rasputin will change the...

We’re back with a completely reworked and expanded 2026 version of one of our most requested redo episodes: Alexandra Feodorovna, the last empress of Russia. Originally covered way back in 2018, we realized there was so much more to unpack about the woman who would become the tragic final tsarina of Imperial Russia. So this time, we’re slowing down, diving deeper, and fully embracing the gaudy, dr...

We’re back for part 2 in our Caroline of Brunswick series—and the drama only escalates. After her disastrous marriage to George IV, Caroline becomes Britain’s ultimate “people’s princess” while her husband doubles down on being the worst. In this episode, we cover the birth of Princess Charlotte, George IV’s infamous will, and how Regency-era tabloids fueled Caroline’s rise in public support. From...

In this episode of Queens Podcast, we dive into the chaotic early life of Caroline of Brunswick, the future Princess of Wales and one of the most controversial royal figures of the Regency era. Raised in isolation in the Duchy of Brunswick, Caroline’s childhood was anything but typical—marked by family dysfunction, social restriction, and a deep craving for attention that would follow her into adu...

Note: This episode was previously released in our Patreon vault and is now available on the main feed for the first time. TRIGGER WARNING: EVERYTHING. If you thought you’d heard every shocking true crime story… you haven’t. In 2008, a case out of Austria stunned the world: a woman held captive for 24 years in a hidden basement by her own father, Josef Fritzl. In this episode, we break down the ful...

Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba is one of the most formidable rulers in African history, and in this episode of Queens Podcast, Katy and Nathan dive into her extraordinary life. In this episode, we explore Nzinga’s early life, her tense relationship with her brother, and the political chaos that followed his rule. We also get into her legendary 1622 meeting with the Portuguese governor, where s...

Isabella of Angoulême: The Scandalous Queen of England Who Helped Spark a War In this episode of Queens Podcast, Katy and Nathan unpack the chaotic life of Isabella of Angoulême, the controversial Queen of England and wife of King John. Married at just twelve to the 33-year-old king, Isabella’s union helped ignite political turmoil between England and France, contributing to the loss of Normandy a...

This week’s episode is a crossover we’ve been manifesting forever: Katy welcomes Ann Foster of the Vulgar History podcast for a messy, delightful deep dive into the Regency era—and one of its biggest villains: George IV. Ann brings the tea from her new book, Rebel of the Regency, as we unpack Regency vibes vs. reality, the absolute chaos of royal relationships, and why Caroline of Brunswick became...

In Part Two of our series on Charlotte of Belgium (Empress Carlota of Mexico)… we wish we had better news. When we last left our neglected princess, she and her husband, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, had been approached by Napoleon III and offered the crown of Mexico. Charlotte—starved for purpose and convinced this is her destiny—is all in. Max is less sure, but with the blessing of Pope Pius I...

With a new Wuthering Heights movie on the way (directed by Emerald Fennell), I’m dropping Part One of my Patreon Katy Reads the Classics So You Don’t Have To series on the main feed. This episode kicks off a six-part recap of Wuthering Heights. If you’ve always meant to read Wuthering Heights but don’t have time before the movie comes out, I’ve got you. Normally this full six-part series is availa...

This week, we’re kicking off a two-part series on Charlotte of Belgium (sometimes known as Carlota of Mexico) while sipping on a Ranch Water. In Part One, we meet Charlotte as a beloved child turned purpose-driven young woman, then follow her whirlwind courtship with Archduke Maximilian of Austria and her arrival at the rigid Habsburg court. If that court sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been h...

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a 17th-century Mexican nun, poet, playwright, composer, and all-around intellectual menace to the patriarchy. In this episode of Queens Podcast, we trace Sor Juana’s rise from hacienda library goblin to celebrated court intellectual and how she used wit, logic, and theology to argue that women deserved education because women are people. Radical stuff. Paired with a t...

Today we’re diving into the wildly dramatic life of Mary Shelley, the mother of science fiction and the ultimate OG Goth Girl. From radical feminist and revolutionary parents, to graveyard hookups, to the stormy summer that gave us Frankenstein, Mary’s life was just as haunting as her work. In this episode, we unpack how Mary Shelley’s grief, genius, and chaotic social circle shaped one of the mos...

In this episode of History’s Mysteries, we’re diving into one of the bloodiest and most debated events in early modern Europe: the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Thousands of French Protestants were brutally murdered in August 1572, after what was supposed to be a royal wedding that symbolized peace. Historians have argued for centuries about who was responsible — and today, we’re asking the big...

Welcome back to another Queens Kiki for December 20, 2025. This week we’re talking tragic losses, Vanity Fair doing what it does best, horror films finally getting their flowers at the Golden Globes, and the pop culture chaos keeping us afloat. We break down Rob Reiner’s legacy, dissect the now-infamous Vanity Fair Trump cabinet photo spread, argue (passionately) about whether Michael B. Jordan de...

We’re back with Part 2 of our deep dive into Helena Blavatsky—the controversial, chaotic, and endlessly woo woo founder of modern occultism. In this episode, we follow Madame Blavatsky’s journey to America, where she teams up with Henry Steele Olcott and steps fully into her era as a spiritualism celebrity. From the founding of Theosophy to her many scandals, disputed “miracles,” and the wild amou...