Rotten Spares: The Prince Andrews & Harrys of History - Part Two
Are Princes Andrew and Harry the most troublesome ‘spares’ in royal history?You might think so — but buckle up, because history is littered with spares who partied harder, plotted darker and pushed the Crown to breaking point.Welcome to Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, where royal biographers Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams take you inside the palace doors to meet the heirs… and the headaches. Every monarchy needs a backup but what happens when the backup goes rogue? From regency playboys who bankrupt the nation, to sword-swinging dukes suspected of murder, to princesses who perfected the art of rebellion, we reveal the royals who made even today’s headlines look tame.Join us for the royal stories the courtiers hoped you’d never hear.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Bella SoamesHosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella SoamesA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Sign up to Palace Confidential, the FREE royals newsletter from the Mail's top experts. Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday, it's the smartest way to stay in the royal inner circle. Just head to dailymail.co.uk/palaceconfidential to sign up today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Rotten Spares: The Prince Andrews & Harrys of History - Part 1
Prince Harry may have put the word spare on the map, but he and his uncle Prince Andrew are not the first royal to grumble about being second in line. In this week’s episode, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams dig into centuries of royal runners-up — from Elizabeth I to George V — the siblings who weren’t meant to rule, yet somehow stole the show.From party-loving princes to quietly competent sisters, being “the spare” has always been a tricky business. Some plotted their way to the throne, some partied their way out of it, and others just got on with the job — usually in glorious frustration.And as for Harry, is history repeating itself, or breaking the royal mould entirely? Who thrived in the shadow of the crown? Who went gloriously rogue? And could Harry himself one day surprise us all?Tune in for a rollicking history of royal back-ups, brides recycled and brothers upstaged — only on Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things. LISTEN NOWHosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella SoamesA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Sign up to Palace Confidential, the FREE royals newsletter from the Mail's top experts. Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday, it's the smartest way to stay in the royal inner circle. Just head to dailymail.co.uk/palaceconfidential to sign up today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Churchill & The Queen
Was Churchill her favourite PM — and who did the Queen secretly loathe?Find out in this week’s royally revealing episode of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things! Robert Hardman is joined by royal biographer Andrew Morton — yes, the man behind Diana: Her True Story — to spill the palace secrets behind Queen Elizabeth II’s fifteen Prime Ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss.From Churchill bursting into tears during audiences to Thatcher trudging through the Balmoral mud in high heels, from John Major quietly becoming the boys’ guardian after Diana’s death to Edward Heath’s icy froideur over Europe, it’s a whistle-stop tour through seventy years of royal-political drama.Who made her laugh? Who bored her senseless? And which PM nodded off next to her at dinner?With anecdotes of horse talk, coronation nerves, backstairs gossip, and power struggles behind palace doors, this episode lifts the velvet curtain on one of history’s most enduring double acts — the monarch who never flinched, and the politicians who tried to keep up.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella SoamesA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Sign up to Palace Confidential, the FREE royals newsletter from the Mail's top experts. Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday, it's the smartest way to stay in the royal inner circle. Just head to dailymail.co.uk/palaceconfidential to sign up today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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28:32
Spies & The Crown - Part 2
Royals in taxis, Groucho Marx glasses on ski slopes, and a Soviet mole hiding in the Queen’s drawing room — this episode has it all. Listen Now.In their second episode of Spies & The Crown, Kate Williams and Robert Hardman go full cloak-and-dagger as they unmask Anthony Blunt — the Queen’s own art adviser turned KGB spy — and dig into the bizarre world of undercover royals. From Princess Elizabeth sneaking into the VE Day crowds, to Prince Harry insisting he was just “Bob” in a nightclub, history proves the Windsors have never been short on disguises.And then there’s the bombshell: how close did treachery really get to the heart of Buckingham Palace? And could it happen again?Listen now to Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things — where the palace walls whisper, and the spies are sometimes already inside.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Bella SoamesHosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella SoamesA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Sign up to Palace Confidential, the FREE royals newsletter from the Mail's top experts. Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday, it's the smartest way to stay in the royal inner circle. Just head to dailymail.co.uk/palaceconfidential to sign up today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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25:14
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25:14
Spies & The Crown - Part 1
From the Tudors to King Charles III, the royals have always been close to spies. Listen to find out!Today’s monarchs get discreet MI5 briefings — but back in Elizabeth I’s day, her spymaster Francis Walsingham was inventing the modern secret service with beer-barrel dead drops, forged letters, and a plot that sent Mary Queen of Scots to the block.This episode of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things dives into the wildest tales of royal espionage: Christopher Marlowe, the playwright who may have been a double agent; John Dee, the Queen’s astrologer signing his reports “007”; and Queen Victoria’s Indian confidant Abdul Karim, hounded as a foreign spy by jealous courtiers. Fast forward to World War II and you’ll find Hitler’s agents scheming to kidnap Edward VIII and put him back on the throne as a Nazi puppet.Plots, paranoia, and velvet cushions hiding sharpened daggers — when royalty meets espionage, the truth is stranger than any Bond film.Hosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella SoamesHosts: Robert Hardman and Professor Kate WilliamsSeries Producer: Ben DevlinProduction Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Bella SoamesA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular.Sign up to Palace Confidential, the FREE royals newsletter from the Mail's top experts. Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday, it's the smartest way to stay in the royal inner circle. Just head to dailymail.co.uk/palaceconfidential to sign up today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things looks at the Royal Family - the secrets, the palace intrigues, and the Crown's bloodiest moments. Hosted by Royal Historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams, this series mixes factual storytelling with debate - and a splash of fun ... like its parlour game to discover the most monstrous royal of all time! Coming up in its new season: How the Royal Family deals with terror plots (and how Meghan Markle took a survival course) | An in-depth exploration of King Edward and Wallis Simpson | King Charles III and his magic tricks | Prince Harry's days at boarding school | The rogue who tried to steal the Crown Jewels | Queen Elizabeth II and the exorcism .... and many more Royal stories from history. New episodes out every TUESDAY, wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.