Noble Blood
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Noble Blood
Author Dana Schwartz explores the stories of some of history’s most fascinating royals: the tyrants and the tragic, the murderers and the murdered, and everyone in between. Because when you’re wearing a crown, mistakes often mean blood.
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The Affair of the Poisons
In the 17th century, aristocratic France was set on high alert—women were procuring poisons and using it for nefarious, murderous means. It was a scan...
Very Special Episodes: The Cabbage Patch Crisis
In 1983, a cherubic, homely doll triggered something close to national hysteria. Parents fought in store aisles. Shelves were stripped bare. Even the...
The Mitford Communist (With Carla Kaplan)
The glamorous Mitford sisters—six daughters of a Baron—have captivated the public imagination for decades. One became a duchess, one a famous novelist...
How Lola Montez Took Down a King
Though she was born in Ireland with no Spanish blood, the self-named "Lola Montez" captivated Europe with her charm and sexuality, eventually entangli...
Very Special Episodes: Skylab Is Falling
NASA's Skylab was one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 1970s. But in 1979, the 77-ton space station suddenly began to fall. As the world...
The Noblewoman Marooned on the Isle of Demons
While sailing from France to the New World, Marguerite de La Rocque and her lover were punished, marooned on an island where they would be tormented b...
BONUS: “Remain: A Supernatural Love Story” (with Kal Penn)
Listen to Dana Schwartz's conversation with Kal Penn on his podcast Earsay: An Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club, where they dive into Remain: A Super...
The Kennedy Marchioness
One of the most glamorous members of the Kennedy clan, Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy dazzled and scandalized British society. But her story would ultimately...
Husbands of the Scottish Queen
Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, was murdered under mysterious circumstances. How Mary reacted, and what happened next, would lead to...
Sing Me a Song of a Lad That Is Gone
After the Battle of Culloden, the Bonnie Prince Charlie needed to escape to safety. His salvation would come in the form of a young woman named Flora...
![How a Texas Grocery Store Ended the Cold War [Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/50d76ebb-9042-480c-9b54-b393000f2ea1/image.jpg?t=1762912218&size=Large)
How a Texas Grocery Store Ended the Cold War [Very Special Episodes]
In 1989, Boris Yeltsin walked into a Houston supermarket — and walked out ready to end an empire. What he saw in Texas that day would shake the founda...
The Example of an Honest Courtesan
As a courtesan, Veronica Franco would entertain Henry III of Valois in her Venetian home. But her greatest accomplishments would be a literary career...
Revolutionaries on Cato Street
In 1820, a group of desperate radicals came up with a violent plan for complete social and political reform in England: murdering the entire cabinet a...
King James VI's Stolen Crown (with Tracy Borman)
On her deathbed, the unmarried "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I declared that her successor would be King James VI of Scotland. Or at least, that's the stor...
Very Special Episodes: A High School Brawl in the Panama Canal Zone
In the 1960s, there were 36,000 Americans living in the Canal Zone. They had Friday night high school football games, sock hops, and Hollywood movies...
Lady of the Mercians
Æthelflæd's father was Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons, and he married her to the leader of Mercia to seal an alliance. But Æthelflæd's hus...
Æthelstan and a United England (with David Woodman)
Why does William the Conqueror get all of the credit when Æthelstan was king of a united England in 927? David Woodman (Professor of History at Cambri...
Introducing: SNAFU with Ed Helms - Season Four!
Hi Noble Blood listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts’ newest season of SNAFU with Ed Helms.
SNAFU with Ed H...
Sentencing His Son to Death
When Peter the Great's son and heir was on trial for treason, the emperor instructed the jury to treat him as they would any other man. If he were to...
The Princess Onstage at the Moulin Rouge
Clara Ward was a "dollar princess" from Michigan who married a Belgian prince. But her adventurous spirit soon had her eloping with a Hungarian musici...
More Malatesta Murders
The bloody murder of an adultrous brother and wife was just the beginning for the Malatesta family, whose family tree would be dotted with murders and...
Very Special Episodes: When Big Bird Went to China
During one of the most delicate periods for international relations, the United States sent Bob Hope to China with the ultimate wingman. Together, the...
The First Malatesta Murder
In Dante's Inferno, Dante meets two lovers, Paolo and Francesca. Francesca was married to Paolo's brother, but the two had a secret affair, until they...
Renaissance Man (with Peter Weller)
Frederick II was celebrated as a "renaissance man" who championed education and the arts. But his conflicts with the Pope would lead to multiple excom...
An Earl, a Priest, and Martha Ray
When Martha Ray was 18, she met the Earl of Sandwich. The married Earl took Martha as his mistress, and they spent years living together as husband an...
The Drillmaster of Valley Forge
When Baron von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge, he was met with a dismal sight. The soldiers were starving, undisciplined, and freezing. The Baron had...
Who's Afraid of the Duchess of Newcastle (Part Two)
Virginia Woolf compared her to a giant cucumber plant. Had she read that, Margaret Cavendish might have thought it a compliment.
Support...
Who's Afraid of the Duchess of Newcastle (Part One)
In 'A Room of One's Own,' Virginia Woolf writes of Margaret Cavendish's reputation: "Evidentally the crazy Duchess became a bogey to frighten clever g...
The Real King Arthur
King Arthur is arguably the most famous monarch in British history, the subject of countless films and books of both non-fiction and fantasy. But ther...
Hoax! | E1 | Cottingley Fairies
In 1917, two young cousins returned from the creek behind their house with thrilling news: they had photographed fairies! Their parents were skeptical...
A Smoking Gun in the Spanish Royal Family
King Juan Carlos I had an astonishingly eventful life and ruled as King of Spain for nearly four decades. But a tragic event when he was a teenager ma...
Beethoven's Immortal Beloved, Part 2
Beethoven wrote an effusive, romantic letter, to a woman identified only as his "Immortal Beloved." Her (or his!) identity remains a matter of debate,...
Beethoven's Immortal Beloved, Part 1
After Beethoven died, his secretary published an effusively romantic letter the composer had written to someone identified only as his "Immortal Belov...
Pope of Math and Dark Magic
Continuing the theme of exploring Papal history, we discuss Gerbert of Aurillac, AKA Pope Sylvester II, who's scientific and mathmatical mind lead him...
The Thousand-Day Conclave
Continuing the theme of exploring Papal history, we discuss Gerbert of Aurillac, AKA Pope Sylvester II, who's scientific and mathmatical mind lead him...
Teaching People Manners
In 1921, Katherine Mansfield wrote a letter to Princess Bibesco which began, "I am afraid you must stop writing these little love letters to my husban...
The Murder of the Last Korean Queen
Queen Min was the de facto power behind the throne in Korea, and so she had plenty of enemies. Eventually, a coup would come to the palace.
Supp...
Count and Cavalry Commander
Through sheer force of will, Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski came to America and forced the Continental forces to allow him to create a cavalry unit....
The "Wild" Nobleman of French Court
Petrus Gonsalvus was born with a rare genetic condition that meant he was entirely covered in hair. His life took him to French court, where he lived...
A Scandal at Tranby Croft
Queen Victoria's son, Albert Edward, was gambling with his friends at a country estate when the host's son noticed one of the guests cheating. Eventua...