Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things

Expert history with a wicked twist: Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things is the podcast that goes behind palace doors and beyond the balcony smiles, to uncover the stories that the history books have politely skipped.

Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things reveals the schemers, lovers, plotters and even the pets who’ve made the British monarchy the world’s longest-running reality show.

Hosts, Royal biographers Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams trace how power, passion and paranoia have shaped every crown. There are queens who ruled better than their husbands, and princes who partied harder than their people. We meet saints, sinners and those hovering somewhere in between – from the man formerly known as Prince Andrew to the less-vilified Richard III.

Sometimes we get reflective: how monarchy survives scandal, how image-making began long before Instagram, and why royal women have always been the best crisis managers in the room. Other times we’re just here for the gossip: who wore what, who slept where, and who accidentally started a war over breakfast.

Think of it as history with its crown slightly askew. If you like your royal stories with equal parts grandeur and chaos, step into the world of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things because behind every coronation lies a cover-up, behind every portrait a scandal, and behind every great monarch… a very patient servant wondering how to get the blood out of the carpet.

New episodes out every MONDAY, wherever you get your podcasts.

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Avsnitt(105)

Hamnet: The Truth Behind The Oscar-Winner

Shakespeare, Hollywood, the Oscars, the plague, and a little boy called Hamnet.In this episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams are joined by historian...

9 Mars 33min

The Kennedy Curse - Part 3

The Kennedy Curse didn't end with the assassination of JFK - far from it!In this final episode of our Kennedy trilogy, we ask what happened after Camelot fell. With John F. Kennedy gone and Robert Ken...

2 Mars 34min

The Kennedy Curse - Part 2

The assassination of JFK - an unforgettable moment in a changing and volatile world: the Berlin Wall rising, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and then came the shocking events of Dallas.In this second of th...

23 Feb 36min

The Kennedy Curse - Part 1

JFK’s assassination, plane crashes, scandals, and untimely deaths. Is there really such a thing as a Kennedy curse?In this first of three special episodes, we go back to the beginning — to the making ...

16 Feb 33min

Royal Love: The Gaveston Affair

For Valentine’s Day, Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things goes full royal romance-with-a-body-count.Robert Hardman and Prof Kate Williams delve into the whispered love story of Edward II and his dazzling ...

9 Feb 25min

The Royal Vampire

Welcome to royal history with bite.In this episode of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams head east to Transylvania to unravel one of the strangest threads in ...

2 Feb 25min

The Last King of America - Part 3

Royals, hot dogs, Hollywood, and the making of the “special relationship”Robert and Kate conclude their deep dive into Britain and America’s long and complicated partnership. Joined once again by hist...

26 Jan 29min

The Last King of America - Part 2

Revolution, the American divorce, and the true history of the sandwich! Robert and Kate return to the American War of Independence as the story moves beyond declarations and slogans, and into the long...

19 Jan 28min