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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

Royals in Crisis: The Diana Years - Part One

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/11/10

The first episode in our deep-dive exploration of the most influential figures in modern royal history - Diana, Princess of Wales.It begins as the greatest love story of the age: a shy nursery assistant, a lonely prince, and a glittering wedding watched by nearly a billion people. But before the heartbreak, the revenge dresses and the headlines, there was the young Lady Diana Spencer - awkward, funny, occasionally lost, and totally unprepared for what came next.In this episode, Robert Hardman and

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22:23

The Royal Woof!

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/11/03

OMRG*, we’ve got a genuinely Royal corgi in the studio, a four-legged, waggy-tailed world exclusive on Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things. Listen NowJoining Kate and Robert is Lee, a champion pedigree Welsh corgi descended directly from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s own beloved dogs, alongside her breeder, Mary Davies, who once met the Queen herself to arrange an aristocratic “blind date” between their corgis.Yes, we’re going barking mad in the best possible way, as we talk royals and their

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24:43

Rotten Spares: The Prince Andrews & Harrys of History...

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/10/27

Are Princes Andrew and Harry the most troublesome ‘spares’ in royal history?You mightthinkso — but buckle up, because history is littered with spares who partied harder, plotted darker and pushed the Crown to breaking point.Welcome toQueens, 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

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25:48

Rotten Spares: The Prince Andrews & Harrys of History...

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/10/19

Prince Harry may have put the wordspareon 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,

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28:32

Churchill & The Queen

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/10/12

Was Churchill her favourite PM — and who did the Queen secretly loathe?Find out in this week’s royally revealing episode ofQueens, Kings & Dastardly Things!Robert Hardman is joined by royal biographerAndrew Morton— yes, the man behindDiana: Her True Story— to spill the palace secrets behindQueen Elizabeth II’s fifteen Prime Ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss.FromChurchill bursting into tears during audiencestoThatcher trudging through the Balmoral mud in high heels, fromJohn Major

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25:14

Spies & The Crown - Part 2

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/10/05

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,

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23:39

Spies & The Crown - Part 1

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/09/28

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

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29:45

Can Royals Be Jailed?

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/09/21

“Off with his head!” may be the most famous royal sentence ever passed — but what happens before the axe falls? Can kings and queens actually be locked up like the rest of us? Listen to find out!On today’s episode of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, Kate Williams and Robert Hardman dig into the murky history of royal captivity — where velvet cushions meet iron bars, and sovereign immunity doesn’t always save the day.We’ve got Charles I, the would-be master of disguise who chopped off his beard,

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26:18

Trump Royale

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/09/14

Trump’s coming to town — welcome to the towers of Windsor Castle. Hope you like ghosts!Royal biographer Robert Hardman and Prof. Kate Williams whisk us through the protocols of a state visit, Windsor-style: Air Force One → helicopter → the quadrangle, where (yes) the guest correctly walks in front of the monarch for the Guard of Honour. We peek into that turret guest suite with the Long Walk view, the St George’s Hall mega-table laid to the centimetre, and the post-1992 kitchens that keep 130 plates

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44:50

Monstrous Royals: Bloody Mary v The Serpent Queen

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/09/10

Who was the most monstrous queen — England’s Bloody Mary or France’s Serpent Queen? Listen to find out!This week on Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things, royal historian Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams pit two formidable women against the seven deadly sins.Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, fought her way onto the throne and set out to restore Catholicism by fire. Three hundred Protestants met their end at the stake, earning her the chilling epithet “Bloody

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37:32

Monstrous Royals: King John v Richard III

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/09/03

Who was the most rotten king of all — treacherous John of England or Shakespeare’s wicked Richard III? Listen to find out!This week on Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things, royal historian Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams drag two of England’s most notorious monarchs into the dock of history.Armed with the seven deadly sins as their scorecard, they weigh up pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Richard III — the hunchbacked villain of Shakespeare, buried for centuries under

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26:18

Monstrous Royals: Henry VIII v Louis VIV

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/08/27

Who was history’s most monstrous monarch — Henry VIII of England or Louis XIV of France? Listen to find out!This week on Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things, royal historian Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams sharpen their quills and their wits.Armed with the seven deadly sins as a scorecard, they put these two titans of royal misbehaviour through their paces. Pride? Henry struts about in padded sleeves and bans the middle classes from wearing fur. Louis builds Versailles — all 2,300 rooms

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20:52

Help! The Royals are Coming for Tea (2)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/08/20

From meat mountains to one lonely kiwi fruit — the royal appetites that shocked history. Listen Now!What’s worse than one demanding royal houseguest? A whole history of them — and in Part Two of Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things, Robert Hardman and Kate Williams dig even deeper into the guest lists from hell. From Henry VIII arriving with a thousand-strong entourage and an appetite for entire herds, to George IV’s ruinous dining habits (and total lack of return invites), to Louis XIV’s epic,

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21:08

Help! The Royals are Coming for Tea (1)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/08/13

Royal visits gone wrong: the tantrums, the takings, and the tartest tongues in history.This week, Queens, Kings & Dastardly Things throws open the palace doors to a line-up of monarchs and princes who’ve turned “popping in for tea” into a full-scale ordeal. From Princess Margaret’s legendary put-downs (“How unfortunate”) to Queen Mary’s habit of going home with your best chairs, Robert Hardman and Kate Williams swap outrageous stories of royal visits gone deliciously wrong.You’ll hear about the

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28:21

Dragons & The Royals (2)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/08/06

Pull up a velvet throne and grab your alchemy kit – in this episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things, Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams swirl together Arthurian legends, royal superstition, and some seriously dodgy medieval science. Listen now!Is the Holy Grail real? Can gold be made from stones? Did Diana really have a psychic on speed-dial? And why exactly did Queen Victoria try to give a clairvoyant a watch?From King Arthur’s suspiciously round table (equal rights, medieval-style!)

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25:20

Dragons & The Royals (1)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/07/30

Welcome to the only podcast where royal scandal meets fire-breathing lizards. Listen Now!In this hilarious and history-soaked episode of Queens, Kings and Dastardly Things, Daily Mail columnist Robert Hardman and history wiz Professor Kate Williams team up to explore the very real roots behind the blood-soaked fantasy TV series Game of Thrones.You’ll learn:Why the dragons in GoT are basically airborne spitfires with scales.How Queen Cersei’s “walk of shame” was inspired by a real-life royal mistress

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32:14

Royal Family Blunders

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/07/23

What’s the worst Royal blunder of the modern age? Listen to find out!The Royal's public image is a delicate balance; attempts to entertain or appear modern can be seriously cringe.Thumbs up for the late Queen Elizabeth II and her James Bond cameo at the Olympic opening ceremony, but two thumbs down for that ultimate pie-in-the-face moment: the 1987 televised game show, "It's a Royal Knockout."Who was to blame for the Windsors dressing up for a pantomime gameshow? Why did it go so very wrong? Was it

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25:02

Royal Blind Dates (2)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/07/16

Which Royal blind date ended with the burning of six witches? Listen to find out!In the second of two episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams explore the often awkward and disastrous Royal first encounters. Discover which king ran from the room, demanding brandy when his blind date was revealed. However, love is also in the air as Kate and Robert celebrate the truly remarkable and touching story of George III’s marriage.And there’s also Robert’s confession: the cunning

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24:50

Royal Blind Dates (1)

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/07/09

Which aristocratic lady ‘swiped left’ when Henry VIII went looking for a new wife? Listen to find out!In the first of two episodes, Royal historians Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams look at the highs and lows of Royal first encounters. Welcome to the strange world of regal dating: marriages at first sight, bedding ceremonies, and proxy consummations. Pity the poor teenage girls who dutifully married Kings who were much older - or preferred the company of men in their bedchambers!But

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46:21

The Sex Life of Queen Victoria

Queens, Kings, and Dastardly Things ·

2025/07/02

Revealing the surprising sex life of Queen Victoria. Listen Now!A special edition of our podcast in collaboration with History Hit’sBetwixt the Sheets.Robert Hardman and Professor Kate Williams team up with author, podcaster and sex historian Kate Lister to explore Queen Victoria’s intimate personal diaries.They reveal that she enjoyed "heavenly love and happiness" with her husband, Albert, and the "bliss of watching him shave and the joy of him helping her put on her stockings."Also discussed, the

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