Pride Month: Hortense Mancini

This week we're joined by our friend Bash from Historical Homos to tell one of the most unbelievable stories we've ever covered. Meet the Chevalier d'Éon: an 18th-century French noble who somehow managed to be a spy, soldier, diplomat, bestselling author, blackmailer of the King ...  Show more

This week, Katy and Nathan take a break from queens and head into the world of UFO cults. In 1950s Chicago, housewife Dorothy Martin began receiving messages through automatic writing from beings she believed lived on the planet Clarion. With the help of a small group called the ...  Show more

Hortense Mancini is perhaps most famous for being a royal mistress, but her life was a series of adventures and scandals. Hortense was willing to do whatever it took to be a woman who lived on her own terms in the 17th century.

Hortense and Marie Mancini tried to make a place for themselves in 17th-century Europe, defying all kinds of conventions along the way. Their lives were full of adventure and daring, but they were also both stuck in abusive marriages.  

Research:

Is this strangest threesome in royal history?!We're endlessly fascinated with the lives of royal mistresses, and this has to be one of the most notorious.It takes place in 16th century France between Henry II, his wife Catherine de Medici and his much older mistress, Diane de Poi ...  Show more

This is our first episode from 2011, there's a do-over for this doomed, yet fascinating and glamorous queen in episodes 53 and 54! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices