Noble Blood

The Bewitched Events at the Tour de Nesle

04 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

King Philip IV had three sons, who he married to three girls (two of whom happened to be sisters themselves). In 1314, a group accusation of adultery ...

Libuše and Her City Touching the Stars

27 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's a legend, nothing more, about the founding of Prague, but in the story of a woman allegedly from the 8th century, we see the power of myth and th...

Queen Elizabeth II's Greatest Regret

20 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The death of Queen Elizabeth is the death of a symbol: after 70 years on the throne, she is the only English monarch many of us have ever known. The s...

The Love of the Duchess of Devonshire, Part 2

13 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After Georgiana Cavendish gave her husband an heir, she was free to pursue extramarital lovers. But her affair with Charles Grey would leave her force...

The Love of the Duchess of Devonshire, Part 1

06 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When she was seventeen years old, Georgiana Spencer married William Cavendish and became the Duchess of Devonshire. Almost overnight, she charmed ever...

The Legend of the Trung Sisters

30 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Two sisters raised an army in 1st century Vietnam against Chinese colonialists. Over the next two thousand years, their story would change and twist. ...

The Duke and Adolf Hitler

23 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry a twice-divorced American woman named Wallis Simpson. Just a few short months later, ...

The White Ship on the English Channel

16 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

William the Conquerer's youngest son, Henry, had to scheme and fight to become King of England. But his dreams of peacefully united England and Norman...

The Adult Sons of the Hanover Line in Crisis

09 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Even though King George III had 13 living children, in 1817, he only had a single legitimate grandchild: Princess Charlotte. And then the unthinkable ...

The Royal Suffragette

02 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sophia Duleep Singh was the granddaughter or Ranjit Singh, the 'Lion of Punjab,' but she had been born and raised in England, a goddaughter of Queen V...

Surgery of the First World War, with Lindsey Fitzharris

26 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

"[T]he science of healing stood baffled before the science of destroying." The consequences of World War I weren't limited to deaths on the battlefiel...

Ivan the Terrible and his Oldest Son

19 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A living, male heir was essential to a monarch in the 16th century who wanted a secure dynasty. So why did Ivan the Terrible, the first Tsar of Russia...

Queen Victoria, in White, in Black, in White

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Queen Victoria wore white to her wedding, to emphasize that she was not just a monarch but also a loyal, obedient wife. The rituals of her life became...

Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Before the HBO Max series, 'Our Flag Means Death,' Stede Bonnet was a footnote of history, an aristocrat who partnered with, and then was betrayed by,...

The Safavid Princess in Power

28 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When the Shah of the Safavid empire died in 1576, three of his sons would eventually become Shah. But the real power behind the scenes was their siste...

The First New Chronicle

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1600, Guaman Poma began writing what would become a nearly 1,200-page open letter to King Philip III of Spain. Part history, part social critique, ...

The Princess Imprisoned in her Celle

14 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sophia Dorothea of Celle was forced to marry a cousin she loathed. Stuck alone in restrictive Hanoverian court, her one happiness was the affair she b...

The Argyll Scandal

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Margaret Whigham Sweeney Campbell was the most notorious tabloid figure of her day. Her divorce from Ian Campbell, Duke of Argyll, would be the longes...

Jeanne de Clisson, Pirate Terror of France

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the 14th century, Jeanne de Clisson's husband was accused of being a traitor and beheaded by the king of France. In response, Jeanne decided to get...

The Death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

24 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The day began with an explosion, and it ended in death, and it changed the course of history forever. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes and ...

The Life of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

17 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Franz Ferdinand (the Archduke, not the band) is a central figure in the history of Europe, known the world over for being the target of the assassinat...

Medieval History with Dan Jones

10 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Jones is a historian, television presenter, the author of a dozen books of history and the upcoming novel ESSEX DOGS. We chat about medieval histo...

Ra Ra Rasputin

26 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The rumors about Rasputin—the mad monk who treated the hemophilia of the Tsar and Tsarina's only son—range from comical to absurd. But the...

The Romantics of Villa Diodati

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A volcanic eruption turning 1816 into the "year without a summer." A group of Romantic poets stuck inside would change literary history forever. Suppo...

Empress Sisi's Beating Heart

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She was a beauty icon with long, chestnut brown hair that came down, allegedly to her ankles. B...

The Princess That England Lost

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Princess Charlotte of Wales was England's grand hope for the future, directly in line for the throne after the infirm King George III and the buffooni...

The Ghost Princes and Richard III

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1483, the two sons of the late King Edward IV went into the Tower of London, preparing for the older son's coronation. Instead, their uncle, Richar...

The 'Six' Wives: An Interview with Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow of 'Six'

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow were students at Cambridge University, they co-wrote a musical about the six wives of Henry VIII. From Edinburgh Fringe...

The Rice Box

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Prince Sado of Korea had gone mad. He was prone to violent fits of rage; he would assault and threaten and even kill servants at court. His father, Ki...

The Queen's Goddaughter

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Sarah Forbes Bonetta was seven years old, she was enslaved in the African kingdom of Dahomey and presented as a gift to a visiting British naval ...

Boudica Victoria

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Boudica is one of the most famous folk-heroines of Great Britain, a woman who led thousands of troops in 61 A.D. against the Roman occupiers. Though h...

A King Legitimate and Illegitimate

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In a small town in the northeast of Spain, in a small pub, a man named Albert Solà works as a waiter. He might also be the rightful King of Spain.Sup...

Trial By Combat

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 1386 France, Jean Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris faced each other in a fight to the death. The two were former friends turned bitter enemies. Le Gri...

Murder, Madness, and Eric XIV

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout history, there have been stories of royals going mad. But very few kings have committed murder in their fits of insanity.Support Noble Bloo...

The Tiger of Mysore

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of the 1700s, Tipu Sultan was the leader of the Kingdom of Mysore, facing off against the encroaching invasion of the British East India Tr...

Darya Saltykova, Serial Killer

26 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the 18th century in Russia, a noblewoman named Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova was well known in her area for treating her serfs with unique cruelty. B...

The Blood Countess Elizabeth Báthory

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth Báthory is famous for being one of history's most prolific serial killers, a Hungarian Countess who tortured and slaughtered hundreds of yo...

The Mistress, the Murderer

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

King Edward VIII is notorious for abdicating the British throne to marry a twice-divorced American woman. But Wallis Simpson was far from his most not...

The Runaway Duchess

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hortense Mancini is perhaps most famous for being a royal mistress, but her life was a series of adventures and scandals. Hortense was willing to do w...

The Schemes of Countess Frances Carr

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Frances Howard wanted to divorce her first husband and marry someone else. Someone was standing in the way. [Support Noble Blood on Patreon here: http...

The Beheading of the Cousin Queen

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I is stuff of legends: neighboring queens, cousins, opposites, and deadly opponents. [Su...

The Prince's Marriage Test

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Vincenzo Gonzaga's first marriage ended in a humiliating divorce by non-consummation,. His next set of would-be in-laws wanted to make sure the same p...

Lovers and La Maupin

20 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A bisexual, sword-fighting, opera-singing, 17th century arsonist... no wonder there are so many stories about her. [Side note: I wrote a book! It's a ...

The Later Life of Bloody Mary

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Mary rode into London to claim her crown, she was met with celebration the likes of which had never been seen before in the city streets. Five ye...

The Early Life of Bloody Mary

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The oldest daughter of Henry VIII, Mary Tudor, is commonly known today as "Bloody Mary" for her persecution of Protestants in England during her reign...

Queen Christina Removed Her Own Crown

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Christina of Sweden is one of the most compelling figures of the 17th century, a queer Catholic convert who rejected social norms and stepped down as ...

Historical Mythbusting Spectacular!

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For our 50th (!) episode, Noble Blood is tackling historical rumors: "Let them eat cake," Elizabeth I being a man, the lost dauphin of France, and.......

The Mad Tyrant, Hey Hey!

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In American history books, King George III is painted as the despotic villain keeping us from our independence. That he was "mad," then, makes perfect...

The Double Agent

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Chevalier d'Éon was a diplomat, spy, traitor, and international celebrity. She's also sometimes regarded as one of the most prominent transgender...

In the Shadow of the Great

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Catherine the Great's son, Paul I, idolized his deceased father Peter III and resented his powerful mother. Unfortunately for him, when he finally bec...

The First and Last Emperor of America

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of the 19th century, a man in San Francisco declared himself the Emperor of the United States. Was he mad? Possibly. But he also became a b...

From Poland with Love

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The daughter of a Jewish heiress and Polish count went on to become one of the most infamous secret agents in British history. The story of Krystyna S...

The People's Princess (with Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall)

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Thanks to the popularity of the television series The Crown, a new generation has become captivated by Princess Diana—her life and her tragedy. She ...

The Three Husbands of Lucrezia Borgia

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Her first lover was found dead in a river. Her second husband was strangled in his bed. Perhaps it's no surprise that in popular culture, Lucrezia Bor...

Queen Njinga's Cleverness

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Queen Njinga ruled the united kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba while facing off against the constant threat of Portuguese colonization. All it took was ...

All Germany Talking of It

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the winter of 1891, a group of 15 Prussian visited a hunting lodge in the woods for what was supposed to be an ice-skating party. Instead, it becam...

Juana La Loca

05 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Depending on which stories you read, Juana of Castile is either a woman who went mad after the death of her husband, or a maligned figure who was mani...

The Devil and the Duchess de Praslin

22 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Duke and Duchess de Praslin were originally a love match. But two decades—and a beautiful, young governess—led to growing tensions and resentm...

Piers Gaveston, the King's Favorite

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The great love of King Edward II's life was a man named Piers Gaveston. As one contemporary wrote, “I do not remember to have heard that one man so ...

King George Washington I

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most enduring stories about the founding of the United States of America is that before George Washington accepted the position as Presiden...

Charles the Beloved, the Mad, the Fool

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While feverish and riding on a hot day, King Charles VI had a fit of madness, and murdered one of his own men. For the rest of his reign, he would be ...

The Beggar Princess of Bristol

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On April 3, 1817, a strange woman in a turban and ruffled black dress appeared in a small village to the north of Bristol. She would claim to be a Pri...

What Crown Prince Wilhelm Left Behind

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Georg Friedrich, the great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II is embroiled in a legal battle with Germany, attempting to reclaim millions of euros wo...

The Blood Sacrifice of the Tang Emperor

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Yang Guifei is considered one of the four great beauties of China. But her role as imperial consort would have deadly consequences and spell the end o...

Grand Princess Olga of Kiev Takes Her Revenge

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 945, Olga's husband, Igor I, was murdered by a subjugated tribe. Olga then became the de-facto ruler of Kievan-Rus, and she would let the Drevlians...

How Tycho Brahe Saw the Stars

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tycho Brahe was the heir to several lines of Danish nobility. Rather than spend his life as a bureaucrat, he devoted himself to astronomy and collecte...

The Távora Executions

18 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the words of Omar Little, "When you come at the king, you best not miss." A possible bungled assassination attempt on the King of Portugal in 1758 ...

The Red Paint on Leopold II

04 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Leopold II, King of the Belgians, was a man obsessed with the profits that came with colonization. Using smokescreens of charities and shell corporati...

Queen Caroline Matilda's Personal Doctor

21 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

King George III's "criminal sister" was sent to marry the King of Denmark when she was a teenager. Her husband wanted very little to do with her, and ...

ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: The Tilly Cult

07 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 2001, a woman named Ghislaine de Védrines befriended a charming man named Thierry Tilly. The rest of her close-knit aristocratic family soon becam...

The Bloody Queen of Madagascar

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Stories from history are not kind to Queen Ranavalona of the Kingdom of Imerina. They call her bloodthirsty, mad, a "female Caligula." People were kil...

The Crown Prince and His Lover Dead

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Archduke Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, retreated to his hunting lodge in Mayerling with his teenage lover in 1889 to enact a gristl...

Survived

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Katherine Parr was Henry VIII's sixth wife. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for p...

Beheaded II

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Catherine Howard was Henry VIII's fifth wife. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for...

Divorced II

28 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Anne of Cleves was Henry VIII's fourth wife. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for ...

Died

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jane Seymour was Henry VIII's third wife. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Beheaded

31 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Anne of Boleyn was Henry VIII's second wife. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for ...

Divorced

17 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Catherine of Aragon was Henry VIII's first wife. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener ...

The Witch-Hunter King

03 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

During a post-wedding detour in Denmark, James VI of Scotland learned of the evils of witches, and he brought his anti-witch fervor with him when he r...

The Ghosts that Haunted the Female Emperor

18 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 7th-century China, Wu Zetian went from low-tiered concubine to Empress and then, finally, to Emperor in her own right. Her legacy is murky and stra...

Catherine the Great and her Husband the Mediocre

04 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Catherine the Great, Russia's most famous Empress, wasn't born in Russia—she was a minor German princess engaged to the future Emperor. But less tha...

Today We Leave for Mexico

21 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

She was born Charlotte of Belgium, before fate re-named her Carlota of Mexico. She and her husband were high-minded, idealistic imperialists, ready to...

The Swan King Went Mad

07 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Only days after he was deposed, King Ludwig II of Bavaria died in an apparent suicide. But was it murder? Or was it just the final act of a king who h...

The Neck and the Necklace

24 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

"The Queen's death must be dated from the Diamond Necklace Trial." The nation turned against Queen Marie Antoinette when she became an unwitting pawn ...

The Ice Queen

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Bitterly lonely and abandoned by her family, Anna Ivanovna grew to hate love. And when she became the unlikely Empress of Russia she used her power to...

The Wedding Ended in Blood

26 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The wedding between Margot of Valois and Henry of Navarre was meant to end religious fighting in France. It didn't. Learn more about your ad-choices ...

Let Him Be Hanged There for a Lamb

12 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Lord Byron has become synonymous with the romantic, creative hero. But it may have been Lady Caroline Lamb, his most famous lover, who truly embodied ...

The Marquise and Her Poisons

29 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Marquise de Brinvilliers is a subject of operas and stories, a larger-than-life villainess who murdered her family with poison and almost got away...

The Butler, in the Bedroom, with a Sabre

15 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the middle of the night on an otherwise quiet spring evening, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was attacked in his bedchamber by an assailant w...

The Maybe Queen Arbella

01 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Arbella Stuart was a pawn her entire life—a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I and a valuable marriage prospect to be dangled before foreign pr...

What Eye Has Wept for George IV?

17 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When King George IV died, his obituary in The Times read: “There never was an individual less regretted by his fellow-creatures than this deceased k...

Until We Meet Again

03 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The same day Queen Liliuokalani proposed a new constitution for Hawaii that would restore power to the monarchy and grant native Hawaiians the right t...

Ever Dearest Cousin Nicky

20 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

King George V and Tsar Nicholas II were first cousins who looked so much alike that people often jokingly called them twins. When one cousin's crown c...

The Butcher Baronet

06 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An Australian man comes to England claiming to be a long-lost heir thought dead in a shipwreck. What happened next sparked a trial lasting 188 days—...

The Desperate Young King Charles II

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

By the time he was 17, Charles II was a prince in exile. When his father, the King of England, was beheaded, the country became a protectorate without...

The Second Death of Marie Antoinette

09 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In 1793, the infamous Marie Antoinette was moved to the Conciergerie in Temple Prison. A woman who became synonymous with indulgence spent her final m...

Noble Blood - Official Trailer

02 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Your first sneak peek of Noble Blood, a brand new podcast from executive producer Aaron Mahnke and iHeart Podcasts. Join author Dana Schwartz on a nar...