The Royal Studies Podcast

This episode focuses on RSJ Issue 12.1 (June 2025) a special issue on 'Material Culture and Built Heritage: Manifestations of Scotland's Royal Past, Present and Future', guest edited by Drs Lucinda H. S. Dean and Amy Hayes. The issue features six full length articles on various aspects of Scotland's rich material culture from the Stuart period ranging from the reign of James IV...

In this episode, host Amy-Jane Humphries interviews Natalee Garrett, Sarah Betts and Rosalind Freeborn to discuss (fictional) representations of regency royalty. Guest Bios: Sarah Betts is a PhD candidate at the University of York working on a thesis exploring cultural memory and public histories of the English Civil Wars from the Seventeenth Century to the present day. She has wider interests in...

In this episode, host Victoria Barlow is joined by guest Susannah Lyon-Whaley to discuss the royal links with early 17th century gardening practices and the A Queen's Book of Flowers exhibition running until the end of June in York. Listen in to be transported into the charming landscape of queen Henrietta Maria’s England and the exotic plants that were being cultivated there. For more inform...

In this episode, host Dr Susannah Lyon-Whaley interviews Marlene Daut on her new book  The First and Last King of Haiti , giving us an insight into this unusual example of Caribbean monarchy. An award-winning author, scholar, and professor specializing in Haitian history and culture, Marlene L. Daut's most recent book, The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe (K...

Dr Vincent O’Malley FRHistS FRSNZ is an award-winning and bestselling historian who has written and published extensively on the history of Māori and settler relations in New Zealand. His book Voices from the New Zealand Wars/He Reo nō ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (BWB, 2021) won New Zealand’s premier book award for non-fiction in 2022, and he received a Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement t...

Saira Baker chats with senior curator of photographs at the Royal Collection Trust and curator of the exhibition, Alessandro Nasini , in The King’s Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. ‘Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography ’ charts the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present day, revealing the stories behind the creation of some of the most iconic i...

Megan Shaw is an art historian who recently completed her PhD at the University of Auckland with her thesis entitled ‘A Female Favourite: Katherine Villiers, Duchess of Buckingham (1603-1649)’. Megan’s doctoral research was supported by a Junior Fellowship with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Her article on York House in the Furniture History journal includes a transcription of...

In this episode host Ellie Woodacre interviews Noel Cox about his upcoming book: The Coronation and the Constitution: The political, legal and theological functions of the ceremony in the British tradition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). We discuss a range of topics including what makes British coronations distinctively different, the political, legal and theological functions of a coronation, and wha...

In this episode host Susannah Lyon-Whaley interviews Emily Chambers about her research on the lives, relationship and networks of the women of the Tudor court. They discuss several important female figures including regnant queen Mary I, Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, Frances Brandon, mother of Lady Jane Grey, and many more who were all born c. 1510 and were peers in the volatile mid-Tudor...

In this episode, Johanna Strong speaks with Dr Alexander Courtney about his research on James VI of Scotland and I of England, focusing on his recent monograph James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth’s Heir, 1566–1603 . Alex's forthcoming works include an edited collection, co-edited with Michael Questier, on James VI and I: Kingship, Government and Religion , coming in March...

In this roundtable episode, hosted by Victoria Barlow, Nicole Maceira Cumming and Charlie Spragg discuss their research and the upcoming 'Understanding James VI&I 400 Years On' conference. We delve into the importance of how this shrewd monarch presented himself and his royal dominion not only as king of Scotland, but later of England as well. Having co-organised a conference taking...

In this episode, Dr Johanna Strong speaks with Dr Jade Scott about Jade's new book, Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots (Michael O'Mara Books, 2024). They explore why Mary's letters are so critically important for understanding her influence, agency and power even during her lengthy captivity in England.   Dr Jade Scott is an affiliate in Scottish History at...

In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews Natalee Garrett about her new biography of Queen Charlotte (Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, consort of George III of Britain). We discuss Charlotte's enhanced visibility in popular culture thanks to Bridgerton, her role and reputation as a mother, and the challenges of being a queen consort.  GUEST BIO: Natalee Garrett received a PhD in Histo...

In this episode, we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Royal Studies Journal. Host Saira Baker interviews Ellie Woodacre, in her capacity as Editor-in-Chief of the RSJ to discuss the development of the journal and how this links to the overall growth of the field of royal studies. Saira and Ellie also discuss new developments for 2025, including the relaunch of the Royal Studies blog, whi...

In this episode, Dr Amy Saunders and Dr Johanna Strong join Susannah to speak about their Royal Studies Journal Cluster, “Queenship and Cross-Confessional Identity”. The Cluster features in the December issue of the Royal Studies Journal and is available open-access through the RSJ  website .   Guest Bios: Amy has recently completed a PhD in early modern history and heritage at the University of W...

In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews Alban Schmid and Alison J. Miller to discuss queenship in East Asia. We discuss K-Dramas and real life palace intrigues in Choson Korea and the role of Japan's empresses in the visual propaganda of the Meiji Restoration period. Both authors reflect on to what extent we can apply the idea of queenship to monarchies in East Asia and royal women wh...

In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews three guests on their recently released works on medieval queens in Routledge's Lives of Royal Women series. We talk to Matt Firth, Gabby Storey and Caroline Wilhelmsson about the development of queenship in the early and high Middle Ages, the key elements of the exercise of the queen's office, how these women were styled (or styled themsel...

In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews Stephanie McCarter about her new book Women in Power: Classical Myths and Stories from the Amazons to Cleopatra (Penguin Books, 2024). As we discuss in the episode, this work brings together excerpts from Classical texts which discuss the life and rule of a variety of women, from mythical figures like the Amazons, to a range of ruling queens includin...

In this roundtable episode, host Ellie Woodacre is joined by a panel of five experts on monarchy in premodern Asia--including the Indian subcontinent, China and Southeast Asia. This episode captures a vibrant discussion on the impact of Buddhism on the ideals and practice of monarchy in the region, drawing on their respective research. Speaker Bios:  Stephanie Balkwill is Associate Professor of Ch...

In this episode, Ellie Woodacre interviews three members of the organizing committee for next year's Kings & Queens 14 conference: Manuela Santos Silva, Maria Dávila and Inês Olaia. We talk about the conference theme, plans for the conference (including the much loved excursions), celebrating the anniversary of Leonor de Lencastre's death and tips for those who are planning to attend...

In this episode, Magdalena Biniaś-Szkopek and Darius von Güttner join host Susannah Lyon-Whaley to discuss their Polish Queens project, which examines Polish queens' roles as spouses, mothers, and queens. The project is also interested in looking into the emotional side of queenship and the emotions of the individual women themselves. Guest Bios: Magdalena Biniaś-Szkopek, Ph. D., Professor at...

In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews Dr Mishka Sinha, co-curator of the Untold Lives: A Palace at Work exhibition at Historic Royal Palaces (running until 27 October 2024). In the interview we discuss how the development of the exhibition. the ways it which it reveals the hidden histories of palace courtiers and servants and the unexpected modern twist which brings the past and present...

In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews Charlotte Boland, the curator of the Six Lives exhibition currently running at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In this interview we discuss the inspiration behind the exhibition, new approaches to the history of the Six Lives and the unusual and diverse selection of visual and material culture in the exhibition. The exhibition is running until...

CONTENT WARNING: Please be aware that there are brief discussions of infant and child mortality in this episode. In this episode Susannah Lyon-Whaley interviews Alexandra Forsyth on her fascinating research on the dauphines of late medieval France. Guest Bio: Alexandra is a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Auckland. Her doctoral thesis examines the fertility, maternity, and child...

To celebrate the release of the Royal Studies Journal special issue 'Defining Aristocracy' (issue 11.1: June 2024), we have two roundtable episodes with the guest editor, Cathleen Sarti, and her contributors--one in English and another in German: a first for our podcast! This episode (in English) is hosted by Ellie Woodacre and features Cathleen Sarti and two contributors, Alexander Isac...