Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things

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...

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 ."...

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...

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 duti...

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" w...

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 re...

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 be...

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 relatio...

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...

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 enlar...

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...

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 adapte...

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? Wh...

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 visit...

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 Qu...

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...

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 pa...

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...

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 Rob...

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 Profess...

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 Shakespearea...

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 m...

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 be...

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...

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 1...