We have come to the last of our episodes about the merriest of monarchs, Charles II. He had a great run for half a century, but the good times for Chuck and his court stop in 1685. What might be the cause of his death? And what happens to the ladies he left behind? All…
187. The Wives of Julius Caesar | Cossutia, Cornelia, Pompeia, and Calpurnia
Though the Ides of March is long gone for the year, Alicia is engaged in some oratory this week and wanted to revisit a past episode about another famous orator – Gaius Julius Caesar. We’re taking stock of his life and times through his marriages, both the ones we’re sure happened, the one we aren’t…
186. Lady Colin Campbell
Lady Colin Campbell has led quite a life in her day, and one very connected into our upcoming storytelling journey. Today, it is crossover all about her trashy divorce, sticky royal spiderwebs, and so much more as we enter Lady Colin Campbell into our cinematic universe as a future player and source too. Listen ad-free…
185. Henry the Impotent | Enrique IV of Castile
The 15th century was a chaotic time the kingdoms that would eventually form modern Spain. Castile, Navarre, and Aragon – as well as Portugal – were constantly jostling for advantage, even though the rulers were generally all related to each other by blood, marriage, or both. For Castile, the last of these weak, bumbling rulers…
184. Hortense Mancini’s Wild English Adventure
After escaping her abusive husband, Hortense spent some time on the lam. She published her memoirs, which made her a celebrated author, and then, at the urging of the English ambassador, headed to London to “see her niece” – and within months, was yet another mistress of Charles II. And soon after, Charles II’s eldest…
183. Hortense Mancini and Her Marital Misadventure
The Restoration court of Charles II is known not for governing, but for the seemingly endless bed-hopping antics of the Merry Monarch. Today, in this Trashy Divorces crossover, we meet the last mistress to join that odd club, Hortense Mancini. Born to a big brood in Rome – Hortense was the eighth of ten –…
181. Grace O’Malley, Ireland’s Pirate Queen
A century and a half before the “Golden Age of Piracy,” an Irish woman of noble birth was conquering the inland seas and coastlines on the western edge of the island. Gráinne Ó Máille, anglicized to Grace O’Malley, hailed from the Umhaill line, a seafaring clan of Connacht, and while the family did conduct legitimate…
180. Charles II in Midlife | Louise de Kerouaille Comes to Court
Born into a noble French family in Brittany, Louise de Kerouaille’s road to the English Court, and to Charles II’s bed, passed through Charles’s sister, Henrietta Anne Stuart, Duchess of Orleans. Her family, focusing on a well-worn path to prominence, originally tried to have Louise noticed by Louis XIV of France and become a royal…
179. Charles II About Town | Pretty, Witty Nell Gwyn
One of the big changes Charles II made upon his return to his kingdom was to reopen the theaters that Cromwell and his zealots had shuttered 18 years earlier, at the start of the English Civil War. He also encouraged theaters to hire women, creating England’s first class of actresses. And Charles being Charles, he…
178. Empress Anna of Russia
It feels safe to say that when Russians recall a leader’s reign as a “dark era,” we’re into some deeply, deeply dark events. Empress Anna, a niece of Peter the (Not So) Great, had survived many humiliations before Russia’s Supreme Privy Council elevated her to Empress; they thought she would be easy to control, but…