Monarcast

We hope you finished your summer reading! But, if not, we read Finding Freedom so you don’t have to (unless you want to)! Join us as we discuss the summer’s most excerpted book, and whether it accomplishes the goals of the authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Duran. We can all now put the tiara drama to rest!

The British Monarchy has still not officially acknowledged its role in the beginnings of the British slave trade and subsequent profiting off of it. Can the royals responsibly lead the Commonwealth while continuing to ignore the roots of its founding?

How many lyrics from Hamilton can we quote in this episode? We just couldn't help ourselves, because today we are talking about George III! Was he mad? Yes. Was he the oppressive tyrant American colonists made him out to be? Listen and find out!

Was King Juan Carlos of Spain brought down by bad PR? He’s led a very interesting life as head of Spain’s ruling family: born in exile, maybe killed his brother, groomed successor to a dictator, and abdicated due to his kids’ financial shenanigans. Things are definitely not boring in Spain!

The Monaco royal family is no stranger to the spotlight, and today we are talking about the headline generating Princess Stephanie, plus a catch up on modern royal gossip!

That time a Royal purse swap led to the Hundred Year's War.

Monarcast is back to distract you with a bit of today's royal gossip and some tales of royal gossip past. First up? Someone once tried to kidnap Princess Anne and learned...not to try to do that.

Edward II and his cronies were the original thugs and gangsters, apparently. How did he come to run his kingdom this way, and why did his wife help oust him? We talk all this and more about England’s maybe murdered, maybe not murdered Edward.

Harold Godwinson dies on the battlefield in Hastings and a Norman rules England. How does it get to that end? This episode, we talk about Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror, and Harold, and how you can’t really have one without the other.

The last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family were famously killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918. What led to their downfall? Was it the thrall of Rasputin? The indifference of an Autocrat toward his people? We dive in to the themes that contributed to the end of the Romanovs.

Harry and Meghan dropped a bomb on the Royal Rota last week, announcing they would be “stepping back” from their roles as Senior Royals and splitting time between North America and England. What does it mean? We break down their statement, any precedents, the reactions of the other royals and the press, and try to decide if we are sympathetic or cynical about the whole thing.

And now we’ve come to maybe the most famous beheading of all! Yes, this week we are talking Marie Antoinette and how she was unfairly blamed for France’s troubles due to xenophobia, run of the mill misogyny, and some slight overspending, which was expected of her position! This girl got a bad reputation, and it was undeserved.

It’s a Holiday Bonus! In this week’s episode, we are taking a break between royal beheadings to chat about how the royals have celebrated Christmas and New Year’s throughout the centuries. Starting with William the Conqueror’s coronation on Christmas Day through Queen Elizabeth II’s annual broadcast, traditions have evolved!

How does a government decide to behead their King? Religious disagreements get bad enough in England that some of Parliament decide they'd rather do without a King, and Charles I becomes the first (and last) English monarch to lose his head.

Welcome to the My Favorite Murder episode of Monarcast! We talk about the most famous cold case in English royal history, the princes in the tower. Who killed them? How did they die? Why did Edward V’s Uncle Richard seize the crown? Shakespeare didn’t even have to try to make this stuff up!

And now we get to the Wars of the Roses! You may know it through the life of Elizabeth Woodville, but this time we are telling the side of the men. Spoiler alert: they mostly die! We start with King Henry VI, whose poor rule and mental illness lead his nobles to frustration, and ultimately, to a deadly conk on the head.

Did Richard II cause the Wars of the Roses generations later? No…but kinda? We open up our fifth series with that question as we go through the bumpy reign of Richard II and his ultimate removal from the throne.

We are talking about Royalty today, or should I say Royal Tea? Uh, sorry, we had to pun. But really, it works on both levels, because we do have to pause every now and then and ask ourselves, what is the importance of Royal tea in our modern times? And if you take a step back, you can really start to see the importance the gossip machine plays in keeping monarchs relevant. It’s a love/hate relationship on both sides, with few real winners, but oh my, is it fascinating!

This time, we talk about Suleyman the Magnificent, Ottoman contemporary of Henry VIII. He also had a unique approach to marriage, actually getting married! He and his wife Roxelana set a new precedent for Ottoman Sultans and concubines, one that was never repeated but blazed a trail for powerful women to follow and started a new approach to succession.

This time, we say “Aloha!” to the Kingdom of Hawaii, and then “Aloha!” about a century later. Yeah, they weren’t going for Japanese-style longevity there. But even if the Hawaiian royals were a mere blip in the islands’ long history, its a fascinating blip, and surprise surprise, America doesn’t come off so well in the story of the only monarchy in its borders.

This week, we delve into the man behind the Conquest of Istanbul, nee Constantinople. Who was Mehmed II, how did he come to ride his horse into “the city” as a conquering hero? We talk about all that, plus, a surprise Dracula cameo!

We’re finally talking about the Ottomans! But first, we set the scene for the rulers with a rundown of the rise of the Ottoman Empire. It changed the course of history, but it wasn’t an overnight rise. We walk through the early years and the rising threat to Byzantium and Western Christendom, before the triumphant capture of Constantinople by Mehmed II.

This week, we discuss Japan’s brief early history of female rule, both legendary and historical, and talk about how that all officially ended with the Meiji Restoration, leading indirectly to today’s possible succession crisis. Who run Japan? Not girls!

Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicated his throne on April 30, 2019. What are the implications for the Imperial Family and how does this tie into the context of Japan’s recent past?

We’re back and we are talking Baby Sussex, Baby Sussex’s name, and royal titles! We mean it, this episode might be our longest to date, but it’s full of everything you didn’t know you needed to know about royal titles, who gets them, and what they mean. It’s confusing, to say the least, with plenty of fun English spellings vs. pronunciations to trip us up! Plus, we catch up on five months of royal gossip and movie reviews!

Mary of Teck was perhaps England’s first modern Queen Consort, enduring the hardships right along with her subjects, including two world wars and a succession crisis. She was a constant to her husband and her family, and to the monarchy itself, showing that a successful consort can be a drama free consort. That she did it all absolutely dripping in jewels, well, all the better. It was wartime rationing at its sparkliest!

Elizabeth Woodville, Cinderella story? This week, we talk about England’s first “commoner queen” and her marriage to Edward VI. She’s got a bad reputation, but is it earned? Her politics and family connections were messy, but how much of that is due to a grasping woman trying to improve her station in life or to events beyond her control? Whatever the case, she became matriarch to an impressive royal lineage, not bad for a woman with few connections doing the best she could during the Wars of the Roses.

This week, we discuss Eleanor of Aquitaine, famous Lady of Courtly Love, Queen of both France and England, and regent for two sons (trust us, Disney got this tale all wrong).

In 1840, a young man aimed a pistol at Queen Victoria as she rode in her carriage. Throughout the remaining 60 years of her reign, similar events happened no less than 7 more times. Why was her public trying to kill her? Were they just insane? Were they even trying to shoot her? This week, we discuss all of these questions and more, as we chart the rule of the Queen in the Victorian Era and into the 20th century, and all the new forms of terror and threat that brought.

400 years before Edward VI’s succession concerns, England faced the question of female rule for the first time, and the ultimate answer was very different. Matilda set a precedent for female power to be wielded in a less direct way, through male heirs or husbands, but her precedent was set through 20 years of civil war.

It’s Mary, Queen of Scots vs. Elizabeth I this week, as two women find themselves in history’s favorite gossip drama, the female catfight! But really, there’s a lot of family history and religious drama at play, and each woman firmly believed in her right wear the crown of England. History is told by the winners, so we unpack Mary’s story and whether she truly tried to push her cousin off the throne.

A Queen for England! Edward VI is dying, and England once again is facing the idea of religion vs. legitimacy, as, for the first time, a woman will rule England. But which woman? Will it be Henry VIII’s daughter Mary (legally illegitimate, problematically Catholic) or the Lady Jane Grey (Henry’s great-niece, properly Protestant)? Join us, as we discuss the age old tale of pitting woman against woman, in modern gossip and historical record!

We’re back! This series we are talking Queens of England (and some wannabe Queens), beginning with the first Queen of Great Britain, Queen Anne, Protestant niece of Charles II. But first, we catch up on all the gossip, discussing the Sussex baby, tiara drama, and Allie’s close-up glimpse of the Invictus Games!

Did you ever wonder if the King in Ever After was a real person? He was! Kind of! Please excuse our French this week while we chat about Francis I of France, the last corner of our regal trifecta of monarchs dealing with Henry VIII and his shenanigans. Like Charles, Isabella and Henry, Francis dealt with religious issues and war (with an Ottoman alliance thrown in for a plot twist!) as well as matters of the…heart.

This week, we are learning how to be royal! Or at least passably behave like royals. There’s so much to consider! What not to wear, how to eat, how to sit, how to travel. If you are a woman? I hope you are good at following rules! We specifically take issue with the forks, but also, Claire has a PSA for all you buffet managers re proper shellfish labeling.

This week, it’s a full length “Royal Oops” episode as we finally answer the question, “What is the Holy Roman Empire?” Maybe. We hope. Charles V was the most titled and powerful man in Europe, King of Castile & Aragon, Duke of Burgundy, ruler of Hapsburg Austria, Holy Roman Emperor, and nephew to Catherine of Aragon. Yet this powerful man didn’t come to his Aunt’s aid in her divorce struggle. Why not? Well, he had some other troubles happening with Lutherans in Germany, Ottomans everywhere, and dealing with the Pope and the French in Italy. He was just like, so stressed out right now, ok?

We discuss Isabella (and Ferdinand) of Spain this week, in-laws to Henry VIII and Catholic overseers of Castile and Aragon. Isabella and her husband launched Spain's reconquering of Granada, the Inquisition, and sponsored a small voyage west across the Atlantic that led to rich, unforeseen discoveries and opportunity for Spain.

This week, we wrap up our series on Henry VIII with his final wife, Catherine Parr. They had the most successful of his later marriages before his death. We discuss their time together, the succession, and his ultimate legacy.

As we discussed last time, Henry VIII spent seven years trying to divorce Catherine of Aragon. It only took him another 7 years to rack up 4 more wives, so he definitely learned to get on with it. Join us this week for a tale of hypocrisy, beheadings, love, childbed fever and more! We trace Henry VIII’s journey from romantic reformist to a tyrant king who learns the swiftest way to get what he wants is the execution block. He didn’t turn into a tyrant overnight, but his journey through wives 2-5 got him there in the end. Just fair warning, 16th century executions were gruesome, y’all! As are our pronunciations this episode, sorry.

This week we cover the start of Henry VIII's relationship with Anne Boleyn and its consequences. His desire to annul his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne led to the King's "Great Matter," his six year quest for divorce. Henry tried many methods to navigate the religious and political obstacles in his way, and his ultimate solution would set England on an irreversible course toward Reformation.

And we're off into the saga of Henry VIII! Was he a tyrant, a killer of wives, a reformist, or was he just a man who really, really, needed a son? We chat his early years as a young, dashing king, his early, power couple years of marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and the reasons it all started to sour. There's war, continental politics, Papal kidnapping and more!

We're Back! Since we've been gone we've had a royal baby, a royal wedding, and so much more! Join us as we catch up on what's been happening in the Kensington world over the last few months! We also briefly chat the history of the Wars of the Roses, as we get into our next royal subject, Henry VIII! Was he just a British Bluebeard, or was the situation more nuanced than that?  

This week, we play the royal baby name game! How do the British royals pick their names? Who do the babies get named after? There’s a relatively short list of traditional options, and we break them down for you, then take our best shot at guessing the name of the new baby Cambridge. We think everything is a contender for a boy’s middle name, but we’re a bit stuck on the first name. As for a girl, we see you Catherine Middleton, we’re giving you a middle name honor!

This week, we chat everything you ever wanted to know about British royal weddings! Who made the weddings more public? What flowers are in the bouquet? Who had the most 80’s dress of them all? Tune in to this week’s ep to find out!

How do you keep your throne when your cousins are all losing theirs and your family legacy when you’re in danger of seeming just a wee bit too German for the British public? George V knew the answer: just change the family name! Also in this ep, like everyone else, we cover Spanish family drama and maintaining royal protocol during holidays with your in-laws.

This week, that D-word comes back, as we talk about the ramifications of Henry VIII divorcing the pope in order to divorce his wife, and what that meant for his descendants and his country over the next 200 years. It all culminates in a German dude ascending to the english throne. Hallo, Georg Ludwig!

In this episode, the heart of the matter is once again the big D, DIVORCE. We discuss Edward VIII’s short rule and abdication, and the three major problems that led to his decision. Was it just that he couldn’t have the crown and the queen he wanted? Or, beyond “that woman”, did his Nazi sympathies lead to a conspiracy to push him off the throne? Was he just the wrong fit for king, personality-wise? Listen to find out!

This week, we go through a brief history of English Queens and their consorts in Royal Oops, we still aren’t sure what a “commoner” is, and we are disgusted with the whole conversation about Kate’s fingers. We also talk about the parallels between Princess Margaret and Prince Harry’s searches for love with divorced commoners, and discuss how one affair was a huge scandal and the other, 60 years later, is a cause for celebration.

In Part III of our series on Queen Elizabeth II, we talk about the succession and future of the British monarchy. How do you stay relevant in a social media age? How do you rebuild the goodwill the Queen has earned over the last 60 years? How do they not become the British Kardashians? What is the legacy of Britain’s most long-reigning woman when she’s followed by three men?

The 1980s and 1990s brought new challenges to Queen Elizabeth’s reign, with an increasingly bold British press, a female Prime Minister, family scandals, and at the end of the Millennium, tragedy. We discuss how and why this era modernized the Monarchy and perhaps opened the Queen up to new ways of thinking. Also, would you want the spice girls to perform at your wedding? Will Meryl play Margaret Thatcher on The Crown?

Queen Elizabeth II became Queen on February 6, 1952, and since then has ruled England as monarch, wife, mother, and grandmother. Her first three decades on the throne saw many changes in England, from the hard post-WWII years to the rise of television, to changing gender norms in her own family. What does it mean to be a woman on the throne and the head of your entire family at age 25 and beyond? Where does your husband fit into all of this? Listen in as we discuss these burning questions and more!