The SCANDAL Mongers Podcast

Despite all their recent family scandals, Beatrice and Eugenie attended a high profile royal wedding last week. And Prince William made sure the press could see his friendly feelings toward them both. So is it right that these two young royals should - or could - be back into the fold, and what value could they bring to a rather under-staffed royal family? Or should they be made to stand outside t...

Phil has recently spoken very positively about the way King Charles is handling his reign. But there’s a story about his earlier - and much more controversial - life that’s hardly ever been told. In his bachelor days and as a young man recently married to Diana Spencer , Charles was heavily under the influence of some seriously strange - even dangerous - people. So who were the men...

Yes, Andrew is back once again with news of the paperback of his hugely successful book ENTITLED, which includes a new, long and scandal-packed chapter all about the astonishing events of the last 6 months. Andrew is at his feisty and funny best in this rather hair-raising interview with Phil. You can get the new book here - at our own bookshop!... https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/entitled-the-rise...

Phil has never been a fan of King Charles - especially in the Diana era - but should he reassess in the light of the recent royal tour of the USA, and his undoubted diplomatic triumphs there? Phil is then joined by writer and friend Antonia Senior to discuss her gripping new book - already on the best seller lists - and how it brings the story of the Cambridge Spies to life in a completely new way...

Former Times royal correspondent Valentine Low joins the pod once again to talk about Harry and Meghan's current ‘pseudo royal’ visit to Australia, the state of the royal family and his upcoming book on relations between the palace and the press across many years and many reigns.  Valentine’s most recent book is available here at our own scandal mongers bookstore... https://uk.bookshop.org/p/...

As the testimony of Prince Harry’s latest law suit against the tabloids concludes, we learn that Harry himself was sending flirty messages to journalists. Has he sunk his own case? Phil is then joined by Prof Mark Stoyle, an expert on 16th and 17th Century Britain to talk about the world of Samuel Pepys, one of the greatest - and most honest - diarists of all time. Phil and Mark explore the filth...

Everyone is talking about the new Tom Bower book on Meghan and Harry - and Phil is no exception. But how much of it is real, and how much is simply ‘deranged gossip’, as one critic called it. As a former royal biographer, Phil explains how damaging personal royal stories like these come out…and why! Then this week’s guest is Simon Dinsdale a very entertaining ex police detective who...

Phil is joined this week by historian Caroline Sharples to discuss her brand new book on the facts of Hitler’s death - but also what she calls ‘the emotional history’ of an event that was hoped for by many, feared by some, and pre-planned by many people, including Hitler himself. So just how did the world learn of this historic event - and how was it proved to the satisfaction of global opinion. H...

Phil begins with his reaction to the latest royal news as the police finally move to arrest Britain’s disgraced former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. He’s then joined by writer Neil Root to talk about the incredible life, and untimely death, of Peter Rachman, the most notorious landlord in 1950 and 60s London. His life intersected with many of the dangerous - but also glamorous - men and women...

Phil is very much occupied by Australia this week. He starts by sharing his thoughts on a recent boycott of an important Writer's Festival in Adelaide because of a row about open support for Hamas and its murderous actions on 7/10. The boycott was by mostly left-of-centre wing writers and broadcasters, some of whom Phil has worked with and knows well. He doesn’t think they were right! Then - in th...

In the first episode of 2026 Phil talks to his old friend Stephen Moss, one of Britain’s leading bird watchers. It’s a colourful and amusing conversation - full of surprises.  ‘Birding’ has become very popular in recent years as more and more of us take an interest in conservation and the natural world.  But, even amongst the normally placid ’twitching’ community, there are man...

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! In this extended episode Phil reviews his year then welcomes his old pod-pal Andrew Lownie back to discuss the continuing fall out from his bestselling book on Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, and to drop some major hints about his next project - the marriage of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. What truth lies behind the rumours of his multiple af...

During WW2, Allied propaganda portrayed Adolf Hitler as….er…lacking in certain areas of male physique. Recently, the world’s leading forensic DNA scientists have extracted Hitler’s genetic material from an old bloodstain - and discovered some remarkable things about his health, his mental state and, yes, the likely state of his genitals. Historian Guy Waters - an expert on the Nazis - joins Phil t...

In this second part of Phil’s conversation with investigative writer Andy Webb, they explore perhaps the most troubling part of this saga - a BBC cover up that involved some of the most senior figures in British broadcasting and which kept the truth about this interview hidden for almost 30 years. It’s a story that reflects very badly on the BBC and the UK ‘establishment’, in which brave whistle b...

When Diana, Princess of Wales sat down with BBC Panorama reporter Martin Bashir in November 1995 she shook the British monarchy and changed the course of her own life. Bashir obtained this interview by - allegedly - using forged bank statements and telling Diana a series of lurid stories about her husband getting their nanny pregnant, plans to have her killed, the imminent death of the Queen and t...

After updating on the latest scandals to shake British politics, Phil returns to the greatest royal story of the decade - the fall of (ex)Prince Andrew.  Joining him this special double episode is Shauna Kay from The Vintage Read. Phil and Shauna jointly reviewed Virginia Giuffre’s autobiography last week - and there are some matters outstanding! Shauna and Phil discuss the latest news a...

Phil is back from Australia and will be certain to share a few stories and photos. He’s returned to find Britain’s Labour government beset with scandals old and new - about grooming gangs, the influence of China on espionage cases and on the shadowy funding of Keir Starmer's own election campaign. What’s going on? But the main story of the week is the continuing saga of Prince Andrew’s connec...

Phil is in Australia this week, combining a holiday in some of his favourite cities with several talks about 1945 The Reckoning. But before he left he spoke to Roger Moorhouse about his fascinating new book on U Boats in WW2. Roger tells the story almost exclusively through the eyes of the German Navy, and the men who risked and very often lost their lives in submarines. It makes for a surprising...

This week Phil discusses how the British royals handled Donald Trump’s recent visit and gets excited about his upcoming trip to Australia.  Then historian Steve Tibble makes his second appearance on the podcast to talk about hi new book Assassins and Templars - a rip-roaring account of intrigue, conspiracy and murder in the bloody age of the Crusades. Or - as Phil puts it - history as if...

This week Phil is delighted to welcome super well-informed writer Valentine Low back onto the podcast. Valentine has a new book out this week on the relationship between the royal family and British governments. It's full of juicy and revelatory stories - such as Queen Elizabeth intervening in the Scottish independence referendum, and a teenage Queen Camilla fighting off an attacker with a well ai...

This week Phil is delighted to welcome Brittany from the Royal News Network to discuss the secret lives of European royal families, especially those of Spain, Belgium and Norway. Brittany has a remarkably detailed knowledge of royalty - and a great flair for storytelling. And we’ll also hear what she thinks of Harry and Meghan’s current level of popularity in the USA. You can check out Brittany’s...

Phil’s old pod pal Andrew has written a groundbreaking and highly controversial new book on the Yorks - and he is returning to the pod with all the best stories! He’s also going to share just how hard it was to get this book across the line, and the various obstacles put in his way. This book - for Andrew - is the culmination of years of fighting to get access to royal records, especially financia...

Phil has just returned from a week Northern Ireland - a place where he worked during ‘the Troubles’. It prompted him to think about the peace process there, today’s fashionable support for the pro-IRA (and allegedly pro Hezbollah) band called Kneecap, and why history tends to be kind to extremists. Then Sam Kelly joins from America to discuss his fantastic, often scandalous and sometimes very funn...

Is there a peace process underway between Prince Harry and his father? Recent photographs suggest that there is. But inside the feuding royal households, just who is backing peace and who isn’t? And what will Meghan and Catherine think about it? Phil has been working his contacts to find out more. Then Phil returns to WW2 with a completely new angle on a story he knows very well - the Battle of Br...

Phil is a self confessed ‘cricket tragic’ and he’s not the only one. This week Tim Wigmore joins him to reveal the real story of Test cricket - the international version of the game. It’s a tale packed with moments of great sporting endeavour, triumphs and disasters, human courage…and a lot of scandal. You can buy Tim’s book here... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Test-Cricket-Definitive-History-Today/dp...