Once their grandmother, Queen Victoria, died in 1901, Ernie and Ducky were finally free to do what everyone sorta kinda understood they should: divorce. But sovereigns don’t divorce, so the situation became a scandal in the Royal Houses of Europe, and in Russia, Ernie’s sister, Empress Alexandra, blamed Ducky for it all. This became a…
Category: Episodes
Episodes
31. Ernie and Ducky, Part One (Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
Queen Victoria’s efforts to make suitable matches for her dozens of grandchildren was in no way a flawless endeavor. Take today’s subjects, for instance. First cousins Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (nickname: Ernie) and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (nickname: Ducky), became the subject of intense Royal meddling as…
30. Queen Victoria and Hemophilia
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had a plan to use their nine children to unite Europe’s various monarchies into one big, happy family. Unfortunately for those royal houses, Queen Victoria herself appears to have spontaneously developed a gene mutation for the inherited clotting disorder hemophilia. With son Leopold affected, and two of her daughters as…
29. Prince Albert Victor of England
Before he was King Edward VII, Queen Victoria’s son “Dirty Bertie” lived a few different lives. There was his endless womanizing and brothel-patronizing, which prompted that nickname, as well as “Edward the Caresser.” But after a particular romantic scandal that Queen Victoria blamed for his father’s death, Bertie married and fulfilled his duties to the…
28. Young Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany
As we continue looking at the lives and times of Queen Victoria’s children and grandchildren, we’re going to keep bumping into people who changed the course of human history, often for the worse. But when it comes to Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, Queen Victoria’s first grandchild, events beginning with his breech birth lend a bit…
27. Princess Charlotte of Prussia
While the thesis of this podcast is that our betters have always behaved badly, there are examples that really take it to the next level. Meet Princess Charlotte of Prussia, the first granddaughter of Queen Victoria, daughter of Princess Royal Victoria, and sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose reputation for using people as pawns became…
26. Queen Victoria’s Nine Children
In her first decade and a half on the throne, Queen Victoria was pregnant for more than 40% of it. This was an irony, as she herself disliked the condition of pregnancy, and was no fan of small children, either. And yet, her lusty romance with her husband ultimately produced nine children, and a new…
25. The Red Archduchess | Elisabeth Marie of Austria
Crown Prince Rudolf’s death left a young daughter in mourning, but her grandfather, Emperor Franz Joseph, stepped into the breech to become guardian of young Elisabeth Marie, future Archduchess. Though the two were close, Elisabeth was a fiery child who balked at convention, much like her father. She cajoled her grandfather into approving her first…
24. Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and The Mayerling Incident
Content warning: Suicide This week, we take a little trip over to the Austro-Hungarian Emprire in the latter half of the 19th century to meet one of the more scandalous figures of his age – and a man whose death most likely put the world on the path toward World War I. Crown Prince Rudolf…
23. Victoria and Albert’s True Romance and Unusual Victorian Pastimes
We tend to think of Queen Victoria attired in black, with a dour countenance, but as a young queen she was anything but. Her marriage to Prince Albert was the rare love match, and according to her surviving letters and journal entries, the two enjoyed a vibrant intimacy, albeit in an era where birth control…