x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

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

history

All Episodes

30:09

Elizabeth I: Love & Death (Part 3)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/03/29

When you receive more than twenty-six proposals from Europe’s most powerful men, why should you refuse them all?In this final episode of our trilogy on Elizabeth I, we step into the most personal — and most politically dangerous — question of her reign: marriage. From the moment she becomes queen, Elizabeth is treated as a prize. Kings, princes and emperors line up to claim her, each proposal promising alliance and stability.At the centre of it all stands Robert Dudley: not a king, nor even a

en

36:57

Elizabeth I: Warrior (Part 2)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/03/23

When the most powerful empire in Europe sends an Armada to invade your country, what do you do?In this episode of our trilogy on Elizabeth I, we reach the moment everyone associates with England’s most famous queen: the looming threat of the Spanish Armada. But the great showdown of 1588 did not arrive out of nowhere. It was the result of years of political intrigue, espionage, religious tension — and a dangerous rivalry with Philip II of Spain.Along the way we meet the other woman whose shadow hung

en

28:09

Elizabeth I: Survivor (Part 1)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/03/16

She was born a princess and declared a bastard before she could walk.In this episode, we go back to the beginning of Elizabeth I: a child of extraordinary promise, born into splendour, then cast into uncertainty by the fall of her mother, Anne Boleyn. Courtly favour turned to suspicion. Affection turned to danger. And survival became a skill learned early.From the shadow of Henry VIII’s volatile court to the careful education that shaped her formidable intellect, this is the story of a girl

en

33:19

Hamnet: History meets Hollywood

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/03/09

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 Alice Loxton to explore the extraordinary new film Hamnet — the Oscar-tipped adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel.Set in late 16th-century Stratford-upon-Avon and plague-stricken London, the film imagines the private world of William Shakespeare, his wife Anne Hathaway — here called Agnes

en

34:36

The Kennedy Curse - Part 3

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/03/02

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 Kennedy gunned down just five years later, the dynasty’s hopes shifted once more — to the younger generation. Could the flame stay lit? Or was tragedy now woven into the Kennedy name itself?From Ted Kennedy and the shadow of Chappaquiddick, to Jackie’s controversial marriage to Aristotle Onassis, and the

en

36:42

The Kennedy Curse - Part 2

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/02/23

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 three special episodes, we move from ambition to power, and from power to catastrophe. With John F. Kennedy now President, the Kennedys became global royalty: glamorous state visits, televised debates, Jackie dazzling Europe, and a youthful administration promising civil rights, a man on the moon, and a

en

33:22

The Kennedy Curse - Part 1

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/02/16

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 of a dynasty, forged in ambition and driven by a patriarch who expected greatness and tolerated nothing less. In the Kennedy household, sons were groomed for the presidency, daughters for perfection, and failure was not merely disappointing… it was unthinkable.Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams

en

25:01

Royal Love: The Gaveston Affair

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/02/09

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 courtier, Piers Gaveston — a friendship (or something more) so intense it detonates the English court. Why did the barons loathe Gaveston so much? Who gets the stuffed-crust portion of medieval “pizza” of land, titles, and power, and who’s left starving?And then comes the infamous comeuppance: the

en

25:24

The Royal Vampire

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/02/02

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 modern royal history. King Charles III’s long-standing fascination with Romania turns out to involve more than rural preservation and beautiful churches — it also leads back, genealogically, to Vlad III, the ruler whose brutality helped inspire the Dracula legend.But Vlad is not the region’s only

en

29:15

The Last King of America - Part 3

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/01/26

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 historian, broadcaster, and Gilded Age expert Julie Montagu, Countess of Sandwich, they trace how glamour, war, royalty, and politics combined to create the modern Anglo-American world.From Edward VII’s fascination with wealthy, irreverent Americans, through the cultural explosion of Hollywood and jazz, to

en

28:36

The Last King of America - Part 2

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/01/19

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, uncertain struggle of what independence actually meant. Joined by a special guest, historian, broadcaster, and Gilded Age expert Julie Montagu, Countess of Sandwich, they explore the years after 1776, when the war dragged on, loyalties fractured, and victory was anything but assured.From Yorktown and

en

27:21

The Last King of America - Part 1

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/01/12

Celebrating the 250th anniversary of American Independence - unfolding the momentous history.Robert and Kate kick off a three-part deep dive into one of history’s significant break-ups: how George III went from being “King of America” to the monarch who lost an entire continent. From the earliest English colonies - Jamestown’s swampy gamble, and the Puritans braving the Mayflower crossing - to the booming, self-confident 13 colonies of the 18th century, the stage is set for a spectacular

en

25:01

Eleanor: England's Lost Queen

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2026/01/05

Love. Loss, and a queen who deserves to be famous again. Listen now.This week, Kate is joined by historian and broadcaster Alice Luxton, whose new book follows a wonderfully bonkers idea: walking 200 miles in December to retrace the funeral route of Eleanor of Castile, England’s “lost queen.”Eleanor was no mild medieval consort. She introduced carpets and forks, built dazzling Castilian-style gardens, amassed a property empire, travelled endlessly while almost constantly pregnant, and inspired her

en

24:59

The Royal Pantomime

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/12/29

Behind every coronation, balcony wave and solemn procession lies a simple truth: royalty is theatre.In this sparkling, story-packed episode of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams pull back the velvet curtain on the royals’ surprisingly long, and often hilarious, love affair with pantomime.From Henry VIII discovering Anne Boleyn through a masked performance, to the Restoration actresses who scandalised a queen, to Queen Victoria’s sentimental family

en

26:03

What's So Royal about Christmas?

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/12/22

A seasonal cracker from the podcast that loves Royals and history - listen now.In this special edition of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams unwrap the surprisingly rich, and frequently eccentric, festive legacy of the monarchy. From a 10th-century duke reinvented as a Victorian Christmas hero, to Henry VIII moonlighting as a carol writer, to the Tudor court’s rather questionable idea of “seasonal cheer,” it turns out the royals have been shaping our

en

30:55

Wars of the Roses: Rise of the Tudors (Part 2)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/12/15

The real-life Game of Thrones continues - listen now.In the second part of our deep dive into the Wars of the Roses, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams pick up the story at England’s bloodiest moment: the Battle of Towton. From boy kings and warrior queens to vanishing princes and spectacular betrayals, this is the era when the crown changed hands with alarming regularity.We follow Edward IV’s meteoric rise, Warwick the Kingmaker’s dramatic change of sides, the astonishing comeback of Henry

en

33:12

Wars of the Roses: The Fighting Begins (Part 1)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/12/08

The Wars of the Roses is thereal-life Game of Thrones- the conflict that inspired George R. R. Martin’s world of rival houses, contested thrones, formidable queens, and sudden, shocking reversals of fortune. But long before fantasy claimed it, this struggle was one of thepivotal turning points in British history.In the first of a two-parter, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams trace the origins of a conflict that splintered a dynasty and set two branches of the same royal family on a

en

29:48

The Execution of Anne Boleyn

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/12/01

A queen knelt, a sword flashed, a dynasty shifted.This episode looks at how and why the execution of Henry VIII’s second wife became one of the most iconic, mesmerising moments in British history.Professor Kate dives straight into the charged final minutes of the execution, peeling back the myths, the melodrama, and the emotions of that fatal walk to the scaffold.Anne hoped, right up to the last, that the King might intervene. She rehearsed her courage. She made jokes. She forgave people she

en

34:48

Royals in Crisis: The Diana Years - Part Three

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/11/24

What is Princess Diana’s legacy?In our final episode on the Princess of Wales’s life, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams pick up the story attheturning point: the Royal separation that launched the most consequential chapter of her life, her emergence as a global humanitarian supernova.Diana shakes hands with patients in AIDS wards, embraces children with leprosy, confronts the landmine crisis in a bulletproof vest, and rewrites the royal rulebook with empathy and emotional intelligence. We

en

31:03

Royals in Crisis: The Diana Years - Part Two

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/11/17

The fairytale is starting to fall apart ... In the second part of our Diana deep dive, Kate Williams and Robert Hardman pick up the story just after that balcony kiss, and follow the new Princess of Wales through the most dazzling and difficult years of her royal life.From the Riviera honeymoon aboard Britannia to the birth of Prince William, from the Australian tour that electrified a nation to the famous dance with John Travolta at the White House, this episode charts the meteoric rise of a young

en

115 results

Similar Podcasts

The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

جنود خلدهم التاريخ

ALSUMOOD PODCAST

Film History - Daily

Inception Point Ai

Madonna - Biography Flash

Inception Point Ai